Showstopping Style
The next generation of designers will be ruling the runway in March, when the prestigious iD Fashion Show hits Dunedin.
Thirty-seven designers, who are in their final year of studying or have graduated in the last 12 months, will be showing their collections at the showstopping event. Entries in the iD International Emerging Designer Awards 2019 explore identity using diverse themes such as technology, war, sustainability and abandoned buildings through their cutting edge collections.
A panel of all-star Kiwi fashion designers, Tanya Carlson, Benny Castles (WORLD), Margi Robertson (NOM*d) and Kate Sylvester, as well as VIVA editor Amanda Linnell selected the shortlist and will be judging the event. Each emerging designer will show five garments which will be assessed by the panel during a day of judging at The Regent Theatre on Thursday 14 March.
iD International Emerging Designer Awards judge Tanya Carlson says it was interesting to note that whether finalists came from Auckland, Melbourne or Singapore there was a consistency with the themes their fashion explored.
“This year many of the entries are inward looking, asking ‘who am I?’ Young designers are drawing upon their experience with family, ethnicity and what it is like to be an immigrant to inform their clothes and at the same time question identity and how it defines their place in the world.”
This year’s competition features three new awards. The Blunt Design Award, emerging finalists are invited to create a fabric design for a Blunt umbrella and the winning design will be produced as a limited edition Blunt umbrella. The ‘Free To Be Me’ Award, sponsored by Ali Maginness will recognise one designer who embraces and empowers young people to freely express themselves in how they dress, to move confidently beyond the pressure to conform and takes pride and joy in being true to themselves.
The Holden Acadia Arrive in Style Award will be chosen following a finalists fashion shoot around Dunedin with finalists’ garments photographed with the new Holden Arcadia. The iD Dunedin 20th Anniversary Shows will cap off a week of fashion-inspired events throughout Dunedin.
From Monday 11 March through to Sunday 17 March 2019, everyone in the city can indulge their love of fashion with events, lectures, parades, shopping and dining across the city. Tickets are available from TicketDirect now.
