Milan-based designer and pattern-maker Shingo Sato held a workshop last week with Whanganui UCOL's fashion students - something of a coup given the internationally acclaimed Sato was a keynote speaker at the AUT Shapeshifting conference in Auckland.
He offered to come to Wanganui for the day, before flying out of the country.
Sato developed a design method based on transformational reconstruction that results in three-dimensional structures from a piece of fabric.
While he spoke a video played, showing the reconstruction he characterised as "joining the mountain shape to the valley ... getting the shape without darts".
"It looks complicated but it's not, you need to just practise," he told the students.
There were many "wow" moments during Sato's presentation but, when he held up a piece of fabric with several pieces that hung from the bottom, he gave it to a student who closed the zips between the hanging pieces. The fabric transformed into a strapless dress.
Fashion lecturer Junette Ward first heard of Sato four years ago when she attended a workshop at Massey University in Wellington.
She then introduced herself to Sato on Facebook and he invited her to participate in a series of studio sessions in a closed Facebook group.
"Since those memorable sessions, I have taken part in two workshops with Shingo in Melbourne," she said.