Supreme winner has sights set on WOW

Bright lights, cameras flashing and long runways are what 54 people experienced during the Wearable Arts fashion show in Tokoroa last Saturday night.

The grandstand and tables were full at the Tokoroa Event Centre where contestants in seven different categories put their work on display.

Tokoroa Intermediate students Ashlei Shaw, 12, and Briar Nichol, 12, won first place in their category Stories of the Nursery.

Their concept was to recreate the nursery rhyme Little Bo Peep. “We were going to use a real sheep,” Shaw said, but they decided against it as they thought it would be too hard.

Instead Ashlei and Briar used  sheep fleece to recreate a realistic sheep modelled by Nichol.

“It was 7kg and hot!” Briar said.

The girls said they made everything from scratch and to walk down the runway was nerve racking, but said they were “happy and excited” that they won.

Supreme Award winner of the night was Tauranga Girls’ College Student Zoë Beck with her creation My Imaginary Friend.

Beck’s creation was inspired by a childhood imaginary friend that she wanted to recreate to show people that she wasn’t as scary as she seemed.

Beck said that it took her from the summer holidays until just before the awards night to finish her creation.

“There was a lot of trial and error,” she said.

This was Beck’s first time winning a Supreme Award but in the past she has won other awards.

Beck said she felt great winning. “I wasn’t expecting to win, there were so many great entries.”

Along with her creation, Beck also entered 15 items of clothing that she designed and created herself, all made from recycled materials or something old made into something new.

Beck started designing and making her clothing in 2014 and wants to show these pieces plus others to the judges at the NZ Fashion Week show.

Her ultimate goal is to show off her wearable arts pieces at WOW (World of Wearable Arts) or on an international stage.