Dunedin fashion designer Georgie Veitch is on the brink of having her garments selected for New Zealand Fashion Week.
The 22-year-old was chosen by fashion week judges as one of 10 finalists in the national Westpac Young Designer Competition.
Her menswear collection will be subject to public voting for another week, then the three finalists with the most votes will be invited to show their work to an international audience at New Zealand Fashion Week in Auckland next month.
Miss Veitch grew up in Dunedin and went to Otago Girls' High School.
She moved to Wellington in 2009 to study fashion design at Massey University and now creates clothes from home, while also working full-time in fashion retail.
Miss Veitch said she entered the national competition with her fingers crossed.
''I knew about 10 others entering from my course alone, so I knew the competition was going to be pretty tough. I was really happy when I found out I was in the top 10.''
It was the first major fashion competition she had entered and, as well as exposure within the fashion industry, it offered financial help for the winning designer.
The award comprised $5000 cash, mentoring from a leading New Zealand fashion designer for one year and business banking advice from Westpac.
It was open to fashion students and recent graduates.
''It pretty much sets you up,'' Miss Veitch said.
The winner will be announced by judges during New Zealand Fashion Week.
The other finalists are Wynn Hamlyn-Crawshaw (Te Puke), Petra Benton (Auckland), Grant Davy (Hamilton), Louella Huang (Auckland), Steve Hall (Wellington), Ayla Rorvik (Wellington), Zoey Radford-Scott (Wellington), Sean Kelly (Wellington) and Matt Hickmott (Wellington).
