By Annabelle Tukia
ID Fashion Week has kicked off in Dunedin, with 27 emerging designers today showcasing their collections in front of industry experts.
Bright colours, bold patterns and a brief look at the fashionistas of the future.
This year’s crop of emerging designers is impressing the judges with their creativity and innovation.
“There’s some incredible pattern-making work that in lots of cases is perfect and often, with emerging designers, you don’t see that,” says ID judge Margarita Robertson.
The 27 finalists were selected from more than 100 entries submitted on paper last year.
“Concept to reality can often be completely different. So it’s good to be able to see those things because I do recognise a few of the garments from their original concept drawings,” says Ms Robertson.
Australian designers Akira Isogawa knows exactly what the budding designers are going through. His collections have shown on international catwalks for over a decade.
“It takes a lot of courage. I imagine you get to such a vulnerable situation where you’ve got to expose your creativity in such an intimate environment,” he says.
AUT graduate Sarah Atkins is one of 13 New Zealand finalists. She says she didn’t get much sleep last night thinking about the big day ahead.
“I was meant to be writing my speech last night, but I couldn’t really concentrate,” she says.
“I was thinking about how the garments were going to fit and stuff like that.”
But for these young designers the anxious wait is not over just yet – the winners will be announced in an awards ceremony in Dunedin tomorrow night.
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