Is it too much to ask?
It is not too much to ask if one is attending the opening of iD Dunedin Fashion Week.
From the entrance in George St, from plinth to plinth as the Golden Centre mall hall rolled out before the attendee, stood the most glamorous ambassadors of humankind, so terrifically dressed.
Was it dull on the stage, standing so still for so long?
''It's all right - I don't mind,'' a statuesque Georgia Vosper said, asked if she felt slightly odd on the stand.
The event, of course, was an opportunity for the designers, models, organisers and sundry hangers-on to drink and chat and laugh as the 16th fashion week got under way.
There was a tight group of very tall and deeply glamorous Shanghai models.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull was there in ''my usual little black number'', an ensemble of black leather jacket, black pants and white shirt.
There were tweed skirts, cheeky black lace outfits, floral prints, tattoos, and hair in shades from bright pink to red to blond to grey.
The ladies looked terrific, as only the very best Dunedin ladies can.
It was fashionable - very, very fashionable.
In her speech, fashion week committee chairwoman Susie Staley noted the demise of the Wellington fashion week, which was recently cancelled a week from its intended start.
Asked later about the special aspect of the week, Ms Staley said ''that we're actually doing it'' was one.
''It's been a big ask this year.''
The event was ''financially pretty strained'' after last year.
''There was vigorous debate as to whether we would do it this year.
''We pressed the button, and off we went.''
That decision meant, however, one of the attractions Ms Staley enjoyed about fashion week.
''You can notice a real difference in town.
''For me that's a real highlight.''
And even the dimmer members of society could get something from iD Fashion Week.
''Even you blokes understand'', she said. There's a certain glamour about in Dunedin.
