Merino knit dress winner

A burnt orange merino wool dress with cream overknee-length socks won the overall award at the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards at Gore on Saturday night.

The dress designed by Alysha Gover, an Auckland University of Technology student, won the Ensign Award of Excellence after earlier in the evening winning the Howl at the Moon Streetwear Award.

About 700 guests attended the awards, in the Gore Town and Country Centre, compered by TV One presenter Brendon Pongia and Gore singer Helen van der Linden.

In a description of the outfit, Gover said the dress had been made from New Zealand merino wool.

It was made on a knitting machine and had no seams, for maximum comfort.

Judge Denise L'Estrange-Corbet said choosing an overall winner was always difficult, but Gover's outfit stood out from the others.

"As soon as we saw it we knew that was it - there was just something about it," she said.

While the outfit looked simple, a closer look revealed the design was complicated and well thought-out.

The most important aspect of the outfit was its commercial value.

"It was an outfit that could go straight into a retail store and be sold."

Gore designer Viv Tamblyn won the Westpac Southland Designer Award.

This year the entry numbers were on a par with 2009, although three entries were received from as far away as India and Australia.

Executive producer of the awards Heather Paterson said the aim of the committee was to grow the event each year.

She was considering adding a secondary school pupils' competition.

The youngest competitor in the awards this year was a 12-year-old, Mrs Paterson said.

"We want to encourage this talent so we are going to develop the awards to cater for them as a separate competition but part of this," she said.

- Sandy Eggleston