Dunedin's premier fashion show is making its way back to the train tracks, and the designers who will have work displayed have been chosen.
iD Dunedin Fashion Week is set to make a triumphant return to the Dunedin Railway Station after a move to have the event every two years also led to a shake-up of the structure.
April 2025 will be the fashion show's 25th anniversary.
This week, judges finished deliberating and finalists from all over the world have been announced.
Otago Polytechnic recent fashion and design graduate Ciaran Naylor is entered in both the Otago Polytechnic graduate and international emerging designers categories.
Recent Otago Polytechnic fashion and design graduates (from left) Ciaran Naylor, Laurabelle Voight, Tegan Vickery, Katherine Inder and iD fashion festival organiser Victoria Muir strut their stuff at the Dunedin Railway Station, which will be transformed into a catwalk debuting their work. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY
"This collection felt like it had a lot of `me' in it, and it feels great to have that validated and be recognised at this scale."
Last time around, Mr Naylor was a model in the show, and it would be quite special to take a step back behind the scenes and have his work modelled by others on the runway.
"I met a lot of really cool people doing that so moving into the designer slot now is the next big step."
His "New Patina" collection was a reimagining of early 20th-century working clothes in a modern fashion context.
"It's kind of an ode to the real salt-of-the-earth workers from that time and the clothes that they wore, it's about how we can adopt some of their principles and values into contemporary fashion."
The Otago Polytechnic section would have a total of 12 recent graduates showcasing their collections.
Festival organiser Victoria Muir said all the organisers were "really, really excited" to announce the finalists for the different categories.
"It's nice to have newer and more seasoned designers showcased, and it's fun to demonstrate progression through the industry."
She said the judges had a hard time narrowing the entries down to the finalists, and they were surprised at the lack of colours in the designs at large this year.
"People are coming from all around the world for this _ it should be super cool and it's shaping up to be an amazing year."
