Now in its 22nd year, Gore's Hokonui Fashion Awards continue to attract and inspire designers of all levels.
It's a windswept day in the deep south, and five of New Zealand's top designers are devastated to discover that the Gore Salvation Army Shop doesn't open on a Saturday. Still, having seen a pod of humpback whales on a coastal road trip the day before, they can't complain.
Gore might seem like an unlikely destination for the likes of Adrian Hailwood and Denise L'Estrange-Corbet, but this weekend is a major date in the fashion calendar.
Viva has gone south for the annual Hokonui Fashion Design Awards: 800 sold out tickets, 200 designers, and five judges: Hailwood (Hailwood), Theresa Brady (Doosh, Sable & Minx), L'Estrange-Corbet (World), Emily Kerse and Anjali Stewart (twenty-seven names).
"It's an amazing event for Gore, and really puts us on the map," says Kerse, a Southlander whose vintage-inspired garments have made fashion headlines across the country.
"Some of my earliest memories are of Mum getting me dressed up for the awards, which was the most glamorous occasion of the year. I began entering designs during high school, winning at the age of 17, so it's a huge honour to return as a judge."
Kerse isn't the only designer on the panel who cut her teeth on this particular catwalk: Stewart of Wellington-based label twenty-seven names first entered in 2004, while at Otago Polytechnic.
"A bunch of us drove down from Dunedin, and slept in the back of the car because we couldn't afford a hotel room," she remembers.
"My design was terrible - I cringe at the memory, particularly because Adrian was judging - but I learned so much. It's an absolute privilege to be here as a judge, working, and playing, with designers I've respected for so long."
Now in it's 22nd year, the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards are the longest-running fashion design awards in the country. It's L'Estrange-Corbet's first year judging, but her husband and business partner, Francis Hooper, has been a fixture on the judge's panel for the past 10.
"What makes these awards so special is that we have no idea who the designers are. The winner could be a schoolgirl or someone who has been designing for years - they're judged solely on the quality of the design."
This year's winner of the Award of Excellence, Auckland's Alysha Gover, wowed the panel with a beautifully structured printed knit dress. "She really stood out," says L'Estrange-Corbet. "The colour, the texture, the cut and the detailing - we agreed we could stick it in a shop tomorrow and we'd all buy it."
Brady, wearing a striking geometric-print batwing dress from her soon-to-launch new label, Brady, judged last year for the first time.
"I came back to Auckland totally inspired. It's a real treat to be surrounded by such passion. The designers, the models, the organisers - it's a real community event, which we don't see enough of these days."
This might be what makes the awards so special: while the judging panel and the designers are world-class, the event retains a unique small-town, Southland flavour.
Held at the Gore Town & Country Club, the models are nearly all amateurs, with local waitresses strutting their stuff alongside Asha Dutt, the partner of Invercargill's mayor, Tim Shadbolt.
The fact top designers are willing to take a few precious days away from their workrooms so perilously close to Fashion Week speaks volumes about the awards.
"Life is ridiculously busy back in Auckland right now," says Hailwood, who gave the audience a sneak-peek of the collection he'll be showcasing in September. (Bright and beautiful geometric-print dresses, since you're asking.)
"I first judged in 2004, alongside Karen Walker and Tanya Carlson, and now I wouldn't miss it for the world. The scenery is breathtaking, and taking part in a homegrown community event like this is a brilliant way for us designers to get outside the bubble of commercial fashion and remind ourselves that it's all about the love of clothes."
