Extravagant, exquisite and extraordinary - but never just plain ordinary - the MLT Hokonui Fashion Design Awards thrilled a sell-out crowd once more last night.
The awards took place at a transformed Gore Town & Country Club Stadium before an appreciative audience of 700, hailing from as far afield as China.
Designs ranged from the elegant and eminently wearable to the avant-garde - the latter meriting its own section and attracting 23 entries this year.
Although entered in the menswear section, overall Award of Excellence winner Donna Dinsdale's design also embraced the unorthodox.
The Tauranga design tutor's ensemble of layered tweeds in a palette of duns and khakis, topped off with a mustard PVC pilgrim's hat, generated a collective intake of breath from the crowd when it hit the catwalk, and proved to be a popular winner.
Opening proceedings, a record number of entries in the school section made for an inspiring springboard for the evening.
Speaking on behalf of fellow judges Sally-Ann Mullin and Wynn Crawshaw, Sara Munro, of Company of Strangers, Dunedin, praised the "amazing" calibre of entries from schools, and from those entering the open sections.
The judging panel had scoured more than 340 garments from 250 entrants to identify section and overall winners, and had been "astonished" by the level of skill and attention to detail, she said.
School overall Award of Excellence winner was Bayfield High School pupil Abby Clayton, of Dunedin, for her humorous entry comprised of basketball singlets, also winner of the School Recycled section.
Southern designers were well represented among the open section winners, including Viv Tamblyn of Gore in the Open Streetwear section, and Debbie Smith of Waimumu in the Open Recycled section. Helen Marshall of Invercargill won the Open Natural Fibres section.
Viv Tamblyn received the Heather Paterson QSM Memorial Trophy for Best Southland Designer.
Open Nightlife section winner Lucy Hill, of the Hagley School of Fashion, Christchurch, was chosen as 2019 Young Designer of the Year, for her crowd-pleasing duckling-yellow men's gown, in faux fur.
Founder Heather Paterson's husband Wade, who kept the event going following her death in 2015, announced last night his family's continued sponsorship of the awards until 2024.
