If making the iD judges laugh took contestants any closer to winning first prize at the International Emerging Designer Award, Sydney designer Mat Lee took a big step forward yesterday.
His idiosyncratic Epidermis collection uses lace and silicone but also fur with some unusual intentions by the designer.
One piece hung from a model's front ‘‘like a hairy chest'', while another hung, he told them, ‘‘like hairy testicles''.
That was enough to set the judges off, a moment of levity in a hectic day of judging in the Dunedin Centre.
The graduate of the Fashion Design Studio at Sydney TAFE arrived with a collection ‘‘inspired by the sensuality of the human skin''.
He included the accessories as ‘‘I like my collection to have a light sense of humour''.
‘‘My collection was all about places people think are taboo.''
It also included print and textures using screen-printing, with flocking, embroidery, puff and foiling to duplicate goose pimples and hair on the skin.
Mr Lee had no misapprehensions about the industry.
‘‘Fashion is a business, so I feel like you need to have wearable pieces in the collection.
‘‘I plan to go into the markets and sell - start off small and then break big.''
Of his seven minutes in front of the judges, he said: ‘‘It was scary.''
‘‘It was just, like, nerve-racking as well.
‘‘There's so many important people in there, and you want to make an impression.''
