EIT’s end-of-year fashion show heralded a turning point for student achievement as certificate-level programmes make way for ideaschool’s new Diploma in Fashion.

Many of this year’s students are opting to progress onto the diploma programme, which launches in February and programme coordinator Cheryl Downie and fellow tutor Christina Rhodes are also seeing an increase in interest from other would-be students.

The quality of designs showcased on the catwalk in EIT’s Trades Building Wednesday 23rd November points to their potential.

As always, this year’s fashion spectacular was a show of two halves.  First-year students opened, modelling their own designs.

“All the garments have been designed to suit their figure types,” Cheryl pointed out, “and they have been fitted accordingly. 

“One, for example, found she was an inverted triangle and modified her garments to suit.  It didn’t compromise her design but made it better in suiting her figure type.  That’s a designer’s job – they don’t ever consider their own needs, it’s always about other people.”

Not all of the students aspire to be designers.  Some hope to work as specialist machinists, for example, targeting New Zealand’s niche market of boutique manufacturers.  Others prefer to focus on pattern making or opt for a managerial role in the fashion industry.

“As diploma tutors, we will be concentrating more on encouraging them to think about that, identifying what they see as their place in the industry early on.”

The show was an encore for the Level 3 students’ avant garde Fashion in the Field outfits, which debuted in the Young Designer section of Hawke’s Bay Racing’s Spring Carnival.  One of the students, Tori Eglinton, won the event with a two-piece outfit constructed in a material manufactured for trendy training shoes.

The Year 1 students’ individual interpretations of the classic black tee shirt were included for the first time in the show. 

“They are given the basic pattern which they can then adapt and they can use fabrics such as chiffon and satin in different combinations.  That’s what it’s about, sewing complex fabrics.”

The Level 3 students also modelled their streetwear designs, a more prescriptive class exercise that requires them to make a top in a knitted fabric and a skirt in a woven fabric and to work to time and budget constraints.  

“That’s the challenge, and they always come up trumps,” said Cheryl.  “They have to think how innovative they can be.”

Even more was expected of the second-year students, whose work showcased next.

“The Level 4s step off the previous year’s catwalk and from the get-go they show they can do better.  We can see that in the results.  For the Hokonui Fashion Awards, open to amateur fashion designers throughout New Zealand, they choose what section they want to enter and they don’t design for themselves.”

The highpoint for the second-years’ work, however, was the three-piece collections – the focus of their study for the last half of the year.  Having brainstormed their concepts, they develop their designs, source materials and make garments that they fit to their models.

Their inspirations couldn’t have been more varied. 

Getting married on Boxing Day, for example, Emily Murdoch designed her own cream gown and styled different outfits in black for three bridesmaids – nine garments in all.

Samoan-born Colleen Isaako drew on her religious background to design garments that incorporated bold red crosses and colours evoking stained glass windows.

Bobbi-jo Wilkie of Napier based her collection on her family history.  Learning that one of her ancestor was from Norway, she saluted the indigenous Sami tradition in laser cut motifs and faux leather garments.

Incorporating traditional features as well as new elements, such as cloaks inspired by Master of Creative Art Practice student Raewyn Paterson’s Maori heritage, the show was well-received by the capacity crowd. Next year’s event promises to deliver even more.