Third-year graduating students at Otago Polytechnic School of Design (Fashion) provided a provocative glimpse of where fashion trends could well be heading at the annual Collections show held on Friday night. Jude Hathaway reports.
The contemporary style of the brand-new venue that has given the Otago Polytechnic School of Design a permanent home for its end-of-year graduate exhibitions proved its worth last Friday night for the annual Collections fashion show.
''This is the first time we have held a show on campus for the past seven or eight years,'' Caroline Terpstra, head of the School of Design, pointed out in her welcoming address.
Designed by Dunedin architects Mason & Wales and called '' The Hub'' it is a multi-purpose social learning space that can be readily transformed into a fashion show and exhibition area at the end of each year.
Created by closing in an outdoor area between H and F blocks, extending the eastern wall and taking down many of the internal walls it has been transformed into a light and airy space.
It has also been planned with room for the L-shaped purpose-built catwalk to be laid at floor level when required.
Two lighting bars that run the length of the catwalk are permanently in place on the ceiling for the banks of spotlights.
Once again the responsive audience included representatives of the Shanghai University of Engineering Science/IFA Paris which is Otago Polytechnic's ''sister'' tertiary institution.
As well as focus on the 22 graduates' collections the show also displayed outfits from year 1 and 2 students.
Eight collections from Shanghai students opened the show.
These displayed the innovative techniques and design flair that would also be evident in the collections of the 22 Otago Polytechnic students who have now completed the third and final year of the bachelor of design (fashion) degree.
The local students, nine of whom recently travelled to Shanghai to showcase their collections, had all aspects of fashion covered in both men's and women's ranges.
The collections' concentrations were on casual or dressy daywear, sportswear, cocktail wear, work wear and evening wear.
Some were youthful, others elegant.
There were those that exuded a touch of romance and glamour, others a moody seriousness, but seldom were garments not tweaked into contemporary, ''future-proofed'' mode.
It was evident inspiration often came from other eras, other cultures.
Once again there was a shifting and slewing of shapes.
The young designers also played effectively with textures, which included leather.
Many natural fabrics such as silk, cotton, wool, viscose and linen were used, alongside PVC.
Embellishment of garments came in imaginative detailing using everything from handcrafted cord and lace, to digital prints and human hair.
Quilting and knitting were other handcrafts brought into play.
A number pushed boundaries boldly, this particularly evident in the menswear collections which often had an androgynous feel.
It was, indeed heartening to see so many pumping their energy into apparel for men.
But most significantly, the show highlighted the fact that the 2015 fashion graduates are ready to enter any facet of the fashion industry they desire, where many will help to influence fashion's future.
