Four Dunedin designers will show their wares, alongside 27 others from as far afield as New York and Estonia, at the iD International Emerging Designer Awards in April.
The event, held as part of iD Dunedin Fashion Week, has attracted more than 120 entries from 20 countries.
Otago Polytechnic graduates to make the cut are Amelia Bond, Natasha Johnston, Yue Hui Ma and Roxanna Zamani.
The only event of its kind in New Zealand, the competition offers rising national and international fashion talent their first foray into the world of professional fashion events.
The finalists' collections represent the best of emerging fashion design, with creative and inspirational uses of textile and new fabric technologies.
Judge and designer Tanya Carlson, of Carlson, was impressed with the calibre of entrants for next year's show.
"The fabric technology, skills, and new methods of making clothes, alongside the textiles designers are embracing, is really inspiring," she said.
Margi Robertson, of Nom*D, said it was "incredible" for emerging designers to be able to present the "whole spirit of their creativity" on a runway.
"There are very few opportunities for new designers to be able to do this outside of their learning institutions," she said.
Other New Zealand finalists are Sarah Atkins, Lucie Sutichunta and Renuka Pana, of Auckland University of Technology; Marie Kelly, Lucy McIntosh, Greer Sharrock Osborne and Aihua Wei, of Massey University; and Julia Campbell and Nour Hassan, of Whitecliffe College of Art and Design.
Australian finalists are Shenaz Engineer, of Queensland University of Technology; Renee Bock, Kate Bolzonello, Takahiro Kunitoshi, and Jo Templin, of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; and Alexandra Kenworthy, Sarah Mok, Laura Poole, and Hui Vivien Zhang, of Sydney's University of Technology.
UK finalists are Miyoko Kamijo and Marielle Van De Ven, of London's Royal College of Art; and Bunmi Olaye of the University of East London.
Other finalists are Michael Kampe, of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Belgium; Tomislav Durdevic, of Osijek's School for Textile Design and Art, Croatia; Fibi Wiebke Truebner, of Esmod, Germany; Hadas Katz, of the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Israel; Sarah Petersen, of the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, the Netherlands; and Ariadna Rovira Lorente, of Escuela Superior de Diseno y Moda, Spain.
Prizes include $5000 for first place, $3000 for second and $1000 for third. Winners will also show their collections at the two iD Dunedin Fashion Shows.
iD Dunedin Fashion Week runs from April 5 to April 10.
