And the winner is...

On Saturday October 7, 2017, the entrants to the Bernina Northland Fashion Awards strutted their stuff for the 40th year. As with every show, the judges debated for a long time at intermission to make the call over who they wanted as the winner for each of the categories, some were clear winners. However some categories required loads of debate due to the high level of garments.

Whangarei South Rotary Club president Brian Morris, was extremely impressed with the talent

coming through this year. So much so the Rotary

Club donated a Bernina B1008 Sewing Machine (valued at $2399) to Whangarei Girls High School. "We want to acknowledge all of the hard work that all of the teachers from all the schools had in getting the student involved," Mr Morris stated "This year we wanted to acknowledge all of that hard work that the schools did in the background."

Bernina Northland in the Strand Whangarei owners Tim and Sandy Robinson, also acknowledge the high level of standard this year's garments were. However: "Every entrant needs to have their time in the spot light," Sandy said.

Whangarei South Rotary Club event organiser Vince Cocurullo states: "This year we wanted to really ramp up the show and asked if Venue and Events would run the night, and they did that very well, with tables for the sponsors and 40th anniversary cupcakes for all." Cupcakes were provided by the team at Cuppacakes in Whangarei.

The Rotary Club of Whangarei South wishes to thank all of the sponsors, along with the entrants and supporters of entrants, for, without you, the show would not have been a huge success. A collection of the outfits will be shown at the Bernina Northland shop and from November 11 through to January at the Kiwi North Museum in Maunu, Whangarei.

So the category winners were for the 40th Annual Bernina Northland Fashion Awards:

Ruby Red
- Sponsored by Bernina Northland

1st - #2 Megan King - Reck'lace' in Red

2nd - #1 Lani Farrand - Little Miss Sparkle

3rd - #4 Diana Davidson - Scarletts Spirit

HC - #6 Renee Topp - Ruffled Down

Student Fashion Design
- Sponsored by Henderson Reeves

1st - #17 Lauren Thomsen - Pull It Together Woman

2nd - #8 Megan King - Bound to Break Free

3rd - #14 Renee Topp - Zero Angles

Student Street Wear
- Sponsored by Venue and Events

1st - #28 Sarah White - Patched

2nd - #26 Renee Topp - The Bomb

3rd - #25 Michaela Von Elders - Regretful Fandoms

HC - #24 Iris Metcalf - Ningyo (Doll in Japenese)

Open Street Wear
- Sponsored by Perpetual Guardian

1st - #32 Levonne Smith - Resolving Issues

2nd - #35 Kaylee Powell - No Grey Areas

3rd - #30 Danica Sketchly - Kimono

Masquerade
- Sponsored by NDSL (RICOH)

1st - #48 Rachael Jackson - Sandy

2nd - #40 Ella Farrier - Showy

3rd - #36 Amber Woodworth - The Joker

Junior Wearable Art
- Sponsored by Z Northland

1st - #54 Luka Dánvers - Bags to Ball Dress

2nd - #58 Abby Jaques & Kaela Mann - Nature Warrior

3rd - #63 Lisa Penivao - Moana, The Innocent

HC - #62 Halee Giles - Rainbow Fish

Student Wearable Art
- Sponsored by The Edge (MediaWorks)

1st - #71 Kaylee Tantrum - Broken Reality

2nd - #65 James Searle - Samurai Knight

3rd - #69 Samantha Dutton - The Mangrove

Open Wearable Art
- Sponsored by McLeods Brewery

1st - #82 Alarnya Ashby - Burning Desire

2nd - #74 Carol Crossley - Balloon Skirt
3rd - #81 The Papermill - Dreams of Alice

Trash to Fashion
- Sponsored by Channel North

1st - #89 Taylor Botha - Midnight Oil

2nd - #88 Viv Christensen - Blue Bean

3rd - #90 Arliya Donnelley - $8000 Dress

Steampunk
- Sponsored by Arthurs

1st - #95 Tori Evans - Greenwich Mean Time Travel Police - Bodkin

2nd - #93 Cordelia Forward - Party Girl

3rd - #101 Meryl Frear - The Time Traveller Dinosaur Hunter

HC - 92 Vivienne Shepherd - Miss Flora ist; Florist and Vanquisher of Fascists

First Time Entrant Award
- Sponsored by People Potential

#98 Erin Ward - Curtains to Catwalk

Northland's Top Model
- Sponsored by Sarah Marshall Photography

#12 Celina Yang - Wild Embers

Extreme Elegance Award
- Sponsored by
Steve Haywood Jeweller

#2 Megan King - Reck'lace' in Red

Northland's Designer of the Year
- Sponsored by Bernina Northland

#32 Levonne Smith - Resolving Issues

So if you are interested and want to be involved next year, contact Tim or Sandy at Bernina Northland,
or email awards@northlandfashionawards.org.nz.