Models paraded the designs in the categories of: storybook, avant garde, organic and culture. They were accompanied by dazzling lights and music to fill the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall with atmosphere.
All 274 tickets sold within a week, so tickets were made available for the dress rehearsal on Friday afternoon so nobody would miss out.
The big winner was Charlotte Graf, of Arrowtown, who won the organic category and the people's choice award for her design, "Cage Free", modelled by Denise Henkenhaf, of Arrowtown.
"Dress of a Thousand Cranes", designed by Jil Leydon and Keiko van Wyngaarden, both of Arrowtown, won in the culture category.
Members of the Japanese community in the Wakatipu made the 1000 origami cranes as symbols of hope, after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The designers said they would give the $500 best in category prize to an earthquake appeal.
Expressions of interest can be made via the festival website for next year's Art 2 Wear show, by July 31. Entry categories for imaginative and creative wearable art pieces to model will be pure gold, transformation, good enough to eat and underwater world.
