The creative fashion event of Central Otago

The 2010 Mirror WoolOn Creative Fashion Event took place on the 8th & 9th October and formed the grand finale to this year’s Alexandra Blossom Festival.  We were delighted with the entries this year – every year the standard and creativity shown in the ways wool can be used to create garments has increased.  With 30 stunning entries over six categories the judges had a difficult time selecting the winning garments.

The judges for the 2010 Event were Tamsin Cooper, Sara Jackson and Sara Aspinall.

Awards were presented to:

• Laurel Judd from Napier won the Alexandra Blossom Festival / Stewart and Associates Supreme Award and the More FM Creative Award for her outfit called I C Red.  The judges described this garment as being “Well constructed, with strong vision, fashion forward and embracing the woollen them 100%  with each element of the outfit being totally wool. This piece had attitude with a strong play of patterns, textures and colour contrast.  All elements complimented each other and for the judges this was the most polished, well executed outfit with flair deserving of the Supreme Award.” (Photo: Jayne Harman)

• Carolyn Laing of Alexandra won the Urban Edge Accessory Award with an amazing piece called Raw Religion which the judges noted had a “Simple yet elegant colour palette which pushed the boundaries of the accessory genre.  It showed creative use of wool and felting techniques combined with metallic elements with strong interconnecting themes evoking images mirroring body armour.
  

• Rebecca Thomson of Auckland won the Buff Day Spa Felted Award with a garment constructed by “Innovative use of felting using a mixture of wool and silk, a sophisticated use of felt work with an understated classical design. The judges loved the handspun and felted crotchet shoulder design”.
 

• Viv Tamblyn of Gore was the winner of the Aspiring Auto Court Streetwear category with a “Well executed contemporary Streetwear garment with commercial potential.  A well thought out design process using knitting technique to create a stunning sculptural effect.”
 

• Daphne Randle of Alexandra took out the Two Paddocks Knitwear category with a fabulous hand knitted dress which took over 300 hours to create and described by the judges as “Incredibly beautiful knitting.  We were blown away by the intricate detailing in the knitting construction creating an amazing piece that the judges could see fit in an Italian Vogue fashion editorial.”

• Donna Hansen of Canterbury was awarded the Touch Yarns Special Occasion Award with her wedding dress of “Striking design, well constructed, well styled with lovely handworked detail showing a seamless blend of cultural elements.”
www.touchyarns.com

The new venue also proved to be a winner and holding the event over two nights allowed about 500 locals and visitors to see the detail on the garments.  In general a great time was had by everyone and we are all looking forward to the 2011 show which will build this elegant and exciting Event even further.

Please click on the images to view (and click again to view at full size).