A letter in the mailbox on their return from Rarotonga couldn't have come at a better time for Steve Brown and wife Jackie.
Their working holiday hadn't gone to plan as they were robbed of their iPads, iPods and a digital camera.
The letter advised Mr Brown he'd been selected as afinalist for the 23rd Brancott Estate World of Wearable Arts (WOW) awards show in August.
"It cheered me up no end," Mr Brown said.
The Wellington show is an annual competition that sees designers from around the world enter their blended art and fashion designs.
About 170 finalists are chosen from more than 300 entries.
Mr Brown spent seven and a half months "building" the dress in the family lounge and entered in the Tourism New Zealand Avant Garde section, one of the show's seven categories.
Mr Brown's entry, called When Brunel met Chanel, follows the Victorian "steampunk" style, which he says involved taking a 21st-century device and reverting it to the Victorian era.
Made from lightweight MDF wood, Mr Brown's dress features a penny-farthing wheel, parasol, a pressure-gauge bra, horse's girth belt and even a built-in chimney.
"This is a form of transport designed for the upmarket woman in the turn of the century, who is going out riding," he said.
On a budget of "nothing", he collected pieces from construction-yard skips, hardware stores and even the local golf course.
Mr Brown had been to the final in Wellington a few times and every time promised himself he'd enter.
"I hate people who say they're going to do something and never do it," he said.
This year's Brancott Estate WOW Awards show will be held on August 26 at the TSB Bank Arena, on Queen's Wharf, in Wellington.
