Taking Fashion To The Streets Proves A Hit

The high-quality calendar of more than 30 events – most of them free to attend – has proven to be a hit with Dunedin’s iD Fashion fans.

The events encompassed the whole lifecycle of the fashion industry, from time spent with designers to catwalk shows and exhibitions to high-end retail experiences.

Event manager Victoria Muir says, “We’re absolutely delighted with the result – we know some of our regular audience members missed the Railway Show and Emerging Designers Awards but they were very happy with the informality and openness of this festival format. We had fantastic attendance at all events.”

The George Street Catwalk Show showcased just one example of the range of uses for the refurbished George Street with models wearing looks from 16 local designers and retailers. Many have already reported an increase in sales over the weekend with some stores saying that audience members were in-store post show to purchase items they had seen on the catwalk. Both ticketed catwalk shows (As We Watch the World Go By and Fashion in the Garden) sold out very early on.

iD Dunedin Fashion Inc continues to have a focus on sustainability and this was evident through the themes of the talks with noted New Zealand designers Tara Viggo, Tanya Carlson, Sara Munro and Ethan Cruise. iD Dunedin co-chair Margo Barton noted that, “a high percentage of the fashion professionals talking about, styling, and showing their designs in the array of fashion events were graduates or current students of Otago Polytechnics Bachelor of Design (Fashion) – the festival provided a brilliant opportunity to learn from and be inspired by these fashion people.”

The streamed talk with Christian Dior Museum expert Jeanne Dubois also proved to be a popular addition to the calendar, with audience members delighted with the exclusive access to archival material from the French museum.

Victoria says, “We’ve been getting fantastic feedback from people who attended the events, and from our amazing event organisers. We’ll have a quick break and then we’ll settle into the planning for the 2025 iD Dunedin Fashion Show and International Emerging Designers Awards.”

Entries for the iD International Emerging Designer Awards 2025 will open later in April and the call for designers to be part of the 2025 iD Dunedin Fashion Show will open in June.

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