A Mount Maunganui woman hopes to join the A-list elite in the front row of New Zealand Fashion Week, thanks to her blogging prowess.
Kelly Barriball, who runs an online vintage clothing and accessories store, is one of five finalists to become a Fashion Week blogger in a FrontRowDiary.com competition.
More than 200
people entered the contest, which will earn the winner entry into all the hottest shows.
Writing about New Zealand's top fashion event would be a dream come true for the 26-year-old.
"It's a pretty great prize for people that are trying to do well in fashion writing.
"It would be a matter of being seen by bigger New Zealand magazines or blogs, and getting the publicity for [my website] Gran's Loose Change."
The account manager at V Marketing spends her time outside work running her fashion business, blogging about fashion, and working as a freelance fashion writer.
Her sample blog is about "how to wear vintage without looking like a hobo". She is currently coming second in the competition.
Miss Barriball started her online vintage clothing and accessories store www.gransloosechange.co.nz in May and already has clients as far afield as Australia and almost 1000 fans on Facebook.
She started the business after returning from living in Sydney, where she had enjoyed shopping in vintage stores and markets.
"There was nothing like that here, especially in the Mount. Auckland does have vintage stores but they are so expensive. All of my prices are the maximum that I would pay for that item. It's more about servicing people who don't have time to search for vintage clothes."
She sources the clothes and accessories from garage sales, op shops and Trade Me.
The name Gran's Loose Change was inspired by Miss Barriball's own Tauranga-based grandmother, Patricia Kelly.
The site even includes a 40-year-old cashmere coat "in amazing condition" which belonged to Mrs Kelly.
New Zealand Fashion Week runs from September 21-25.
The winner will be chosen by public vote. Voting closes on Friday at 9am.
To vote for Miss Barriball go to www.frontrowdiary.com
