Fashion extravaganza celebrates student skills

Close to 800 people lined an extraordinary 34m catwalk as Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's fashion students showcased their 2011 collections recently.

Part of the INfuse graphic design and fashion extravaganza, the catwalk show celebrated 23 years of fashion at the polytechnic and, for the first time, included collections from the graduating degree students.

The students were judged by Karen Downey (Lower), Vicki Reid (industry) and Tamryn Reeve (You Know We Ain't Ltd) who awarded two supreme awards.

Arielle Mermin was named Year 2 Supreme Designer with her True Grit collection celebrating the designer's American roots and drawing inspiration from Western classics, prairie dresses and Native American artefacts, encapsulating Americana and the cowboy spirit. Year 3 Supreme Winner was Renee Moreland with her Diminutive collection. Based on the celebration of women and the history of women's clothing, the collection featured dusty pink high-fashion leather corsets and innovative purely feminine skirts and pants.

The polytechnic's graphic design students exhibited their collections in the upstairs gallery at TECT Arena.

Judges from within the local graphic design industry included David Reid from Real Media, Brendan Herring from Wave Design and Trent Sunderland from Family Design Co.

The Industry Design Award for the Diploma in Graphic Design Year Two was awarded to Michelle Van der Sluijs; highly commended was Carol Lee. The Industry Design Award for the Certificate in Graphic Design was awarded to Jenny Kay with Brendan Montgomery awarded highly commended.

Four graduates from the fashion diploma were invited to show pieces from their spring/summer collections. Liz Turner (riddleme.this), Teresa Hodges (Blak Basics), Aroha Wikatu (Shikoba) and Tina Patrick (NYNE - Tripod clothing) added a fresh component to the show and provided further excitement and inspiration for the current students. Leanne Wild, event co-ordinator, said it was a hugely fun evening.

"The student work was outstanding. TECT Arena gave us such an awesome space to work with and we've got even bigger ideas for 2012."