Fashion Week's future seems sure

A model wears a Doris Raymond creation on the catwalk at Dunedin Railway Station at the weekend....
A model wears a Doris Raymond creation on the catwalk at Dunedin Railway Station at the weekend. Photo: Gregor Richardson

An iD Dunedin Fashion Week that mostly sold out - despite plenty of competition in the entertainment market - appears to be on track to continue.

iD committee chairwoman Susie Staley yesterday said sponsors had indicated they would continue or increase their support.

Principal sponsor the Otago Polytechnic confirmed it would be on board next year.

Ms Staley said the event had gone well.

‘‘I was pretty happy with it. It's been a tough year to get there, but I thought the crowds seemed a very happy lot. I think the feeling we got was that it was happy week, that there was a lot of goodwill out there.''

Ms Staley said at the week's opening there had been ‘‘vigorous debate'' as to whether it would go ahead.

However, yesterday she said associated events such as Vaulted Fashion Tours at the Dunedin Public Library and the Best Dressed Basement Tour at the Otago Museum had been booked out.

Major events the emerging designers show and the fashion show at the Dunedin Railway Station on Friday and Saturday had been slightly slow to sell, but ended up either full or with just ‘‘a handful'' of seats unsold.

Ms Staley said there was plenty of competition in the entertainment market, with Rod Stewart having visited recently and Fleetwood Mac on the way.

''‘A lot of concerts were announced, remember, from the time that iD went on sale. We've had a lot of competition in the market, and, of course, Anzac weekend.''

The committee would have a ‘‘fairly systematic debrief,'' she said.

‘‘We've been extremely gratified by one or two sponsors who've already grabbed hold of us as we left last night. We may have just been tired and hallucinating,'' she joked, but they had said ‘‘we're in, we're absolutely in next year''.

Some had also suggested they might do more next year in terms of sponsorship.

Otago Polytechnic became the major awards sponsor of the iD International Emerging Designer Awards and Ms Staley said it was a ‘‘very clear education-fashion partnership''.

‘‘They've certainly come on board in a much bigger way, and that's an ongoing partnership. It's fantastic.''

Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker said the week was ‘‘once again excellent'', with the emerging designers show ‘‘chock full of talent''.

‘‘You couldn't wish for more from the perspective of a sponsor. The quality of the participants was excellent. We had a packed hall and we had a lot of eyes round New Zealand and internationally on Otago Polytechnic.''

The polytechnic intended to continue to back the emerging designers show and ‘‘hopefully go from great to very great''.

Mr Ker was also pleased with the input of the Shanghai University of Engineering Sciences, which had a designer and models in the show. The university is an international partner of the polytechnic and the event had cemented the relationship between the two in terms of fashion.

-david.loughrey@odt.co.nz

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