A celebration of excellence (+ video)

Otago Polytechnic fashion design students (from left) Ivy Jackson-Mee (20), Letitia Powell (21),...
Otago Polytechnic fashion design students (from left) Ivy Jackson-Mee (20), Letitia Powell (21), Jessica Hockley (20) and Cecily Reed (21) at the opening of iD Dunedin Fashion Week last night. PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH
Polytechnic communications director Mike Waddell addresses the gathering.
Polytechnic communications director Mike Waddell addresses the gathering.

The percentage of pretty people was markedly higher at the Otago Polytechnic last night than in other Dunedin places.

The iD Dunedin Fashion Week was having its official opening, and some of Shanghai's most statuesque were out in force, along with Mayor Dave Cull, designer Margi Robertson and media types to burn - in fact, there were almost as many cameras as there were attendees.

The Otago Polytechnic hub was the place to be as the week was launched with blue cheese whip canapes and other very small foods with sun-dried tomatoes that sparked a small riot in the taste buds, all presented by polytechnic students

The people who sauntered through the doors to enjoy free wine and beer were the sorts who knew who designed what they were wearing.

On chunky heels, and with sunglasses pushed deep into well-coiffured locks, they turned out for a celebration of all that is excellent about Dunedin fashion.

It was also a night to declare some new weaponry in the city's fashion arsenal.

Otago Polytechnic communications director Mike Waddell announced a scholarship for a first-year student for the fashion design school next year, a ‘‘full-year, full-fees scholarship'' for one year, worth about $8000.

The polytechnic would also begin a postgraduate programme in communication design and fashion accessories from mid-June at its Auckland campus.

The Shanghai models will be officially welcomed at the Chinese Garden this morning.

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