The Australians invaded and swept all before them last night at the Dunedin Town Hall, as emerging designers from around the world took their flights of fashion fancy to the catwalk.
From plastics to metallic masks, to homages to architecture, the iD International Emerging Designer Award show packed materials, fabrics and bizarre ideas into a venue packed with about 1400 people ready to see the strange and exceptional.
Swaying models with sculpted cheekbones and faces presenting just the right level of boredom and severity strode forth to the guttural buzz of Dunedin musician Shayne Carter and band, and the more surf-inspired sound wave of David and Hamish Kilgour, a backing track broadcaster and presenter Carol Hirschfeld said "blows my mind''.
Ms Hirschfeld called the event "the only one of its kind in New Zealand''.
"I'm beyond delighted to be here with you,'' she told the audience.
The international reach of the event was also noted. Designers had come to Dunedin from Argentina, Spain, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.
That led to some unusual pronunciations of the city's name, as designers came to accept their prizes, something that only added to the joy of the crowd.
One of the biggest cheers was for Otago Polytechnic student Sophie Ball, who won the prize for the most commercial collection, but it was the Australians who won first, second and third prizes.
Winner Jordan Anderson was also keen to point to his collection's commercial appeal and point of difference, something he said he thought he did "really well''.
He was also pleased to take the $6000 prize, which would "take up a bit of my fabric debt''.
Winners. - Jordan Anderson (24), Queensland University of Technology, $6000, 1; Hannah Kim (22), University of Technology Sydney, $4000, 2; Stephanie Frig (22), University of Technology Sydney, $2000, 3. Excellence in design: Lucy Virgona (23), University of Technology Sydney, $3000.
Most commercial collection: Sophie Ball (22), Otago Polytechnic, $1000. Special achievement: Ilham Ismail (21), University of Technology Sydney, $1000. Best NZ collection: Kingkang Chen (24), Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, Auckland.
