Collaborative Hastings designers Kelsey Roderick and Rhys Richards came out of the World of WearableArts with two prestigious awards to their name on Friday night.
The pair entered their masterpiece garments, Fried Eggs and Tangaroa, in to the 28th WOW production held in Wellington at the weekend.
Fried Eggs, which was inspired by the New Zealand television series MasterChef,
won third place in the World of WearableArt and Classic Cars Museum Bizarre Bra Section.
They wanted to include a part of your typical Kiwi breakfast and created the bra straps out of forks.
"The typical Kiwi breakfast consists of eggs and in this case they are fried but this is also a play on colloquial slang and the term 'fried eggs' meaning a woman's breasts," Mr Richards said.
Their other garment Tangaroa was inspired by Ms Roderick's love for the ocean and came second in the Wellington Airport Aotearoa Section.
Tangaroa is based on the Maori myth and legend about the God of the sea and Ms Roderick said their work drew on this.
"Tangaroa is typified in the form of a manta ray, an ocean being whose realm is the sea and represents all fish. His son is Tinirau, whom all fish originated from, and his shadow form is visible through the centre heart of the manta ray."
WOW founder Dame Suzie Moncrieff headed the award judging panel and was joined by Zambesi fashion designer Elisabeth Findlay and sculptor Gregor Kregar.
The judging process took place over a three month period and involved viewing the garments three times; up close and on the stage during performance.
At the awards ceremony in Wellington Dame Suzie emphasised the high calibre of the finalists in this year's competition.
"To win in this international design competition is an incredible achievement," she said.
New Zealand designer Gillian Saunders won the Brancott Estate Supreme WOW Award with Supernova.
Supernova was her 16th garment entered in to WOW since 2000 and was her ninth award.
WOW has become a worldwide phenomenon receiving entries from designers from over 40 different countries.
The show employed more than 350 cast and crew and plays to an audience of 58,000 during the three week season which finishes on Sunday, October 9th.
At this year's WOW awards there were a total of 133 entries by 163 designers who competed for a prize pool of 40 awards with a combined value of $165,000.
Twelve New Zealand-designed garments won 17 of the awards and the other 23 awards were won by 19 international designs.