By Ali Ikram
When The Sun reported Lady Gaga was going to wear a hat that included live cockroaches it was quickly dismissed as a rumour too strange even for the queen of bizarre acts.
But little did anyone know a 13 year old living in a remote part of New Zealand was already making an insect hat of her own.
The cicada spends up to 17 years underground, and only a brief three weeks flying, chirping and mating before perishing.
And it was this metamorphosis that so inspired Miya Austin-Dobie's cicada city hat, when confronted by the theme "everything old is new again".
“In summer there are heaps of cicadas at our place and I saw the shells climbing up the tree and thought they were pretty cool and when I saw the theme for this creative competition I thought it would be a good idea because cicadas become a new creature when they shed their shell.”
Miya won the wearable arts section of the first Youthtown Young Designer Awards, despite the challenges of working her trusty electric glue gun living in a Marlborough house built by her parents with no power.
It's not often you go to a fashion shoot where the designer is younger than the model, as 14-year-old Hanne de Ridder of Plimmerton winning the fashion design section of the awards.
“There are lots and lots of beautiful clothes in the world you can make your own style by mixing things,” Hanne says.
The quirky individuality of the outfit had the judges predicting a big future for Hanne.
Despite the inspiration of her home environment Miya and her family are right now making the most of the hot running water in their Auckland hotel.
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