But before the runway models sashay down the remodelled George St, workers in high vis gave the fashion show’s new location a test run yesterday.
In October last year the iD Dunedin Fashion Show and iD International Emerging Designer Awards announced their annual event at the Dunedin Railway Station would be changing to a two-yearly event.
The festival will be held in Dunedin between April 4 and 7.
iD fashion publicist Hannah Molloy said there was a focus on holding events during the week in George St.
"We really wanted to do something for retailers.
"Supporting that part of the city and supporting our fashion retailers, because there have been road works down there for a long time, but they have just kept going and going."
George St construction would be paused for the dates of the festival, with any hazards put temporarily out of the way.
Other events would include a livestream from the Christian Dior Museum in France where the designer’s life story would be shared, along with archival material never before seen in New Zealand.
There was also a collection of family-friendly events, including Company of Strangers holding a paper dolls event in at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, where people will be able to design and cut out their own paper doll.
ID event organiser Victoria Muir said while the event was technically smaller, the organisation has its own set of challenges.
"Obviously the Railway Station is a huge event to pull off, so in terms of organising this festival, it was a little more straight forward, but it is the first year, so it is a bit more work."
The festival took six months of hard work to prepare for, and Ms Muir was excited to see the results of her and the rest of the team’s labour shown to Dunedin.
"Lots of the events are free this year, so we should reach a wider audience and should hopefully have a diverse range of people enjoying the events."
The iD Fashion Festival programme is live online now, with a mix of free events and ticketed events.
