Agricultural fashion show celebrates 20th year
Ag Art Wear has seen zany creations sent down the catwalk for 19 years and the 20th promises to be no different.
The Fieldays Ag Art Wear competition is shaping up to be the biggest production that Fieldays has seen in 20 years.
Bottle caps, bailing twine and blown out tyres are just some of the farming materials designers have used to produce their wearable art pieces this year.
Dexter Annison, the production co-ordinator, said that this year’s show has more agricultural décor than previous years.
“We’re trying to step it up and present the garments as an art piece, get a lot of focus on the art aspect from the designers.”
Annison said there are some extra twists this year, designed to make the show “more exciting”.
“There have been a lot of different styles of Ag Artwear. This is the most modern style and it’s kind of turned into more of an exhibition where we can display art pieces designed to be worn by people.”
Each of the models have up to seven costume changes each and there are four of them who will be dancing in the show.
Natalie Sangster, director of Society E, the models and entertainment company supplying the models for the fashion show, said that the girls are enjoying the novelty of performing at Fieldays.
“It’s more challenging than a normal catwalk show because a lot of the garments are really difficult to wear. They can be pretty uncomfortable and quite sharp in some places. It’s definitely a bit different.”
The girls are allowed to lose their catwalk faces, in favor of fulfilling the character of the costumes.
“They love it, a lot of the girls have done it in the past and we have a few new girls this year who are really excited to be on board.”
The 20th anniversary of Ag Art Wear will be displaying garments from previous years as well as competition entrants.
Avant Garde, Designer Traditional and the new Classroom Couture are the categories for this year’s competition, where designers have to create artistic garments using agricultural materials.
Ambassador and head judge for this year’s awards is Annah Stretton, who is a prominent New Zealand fashion designer.
Two shows will be run daily (10am and 2pm) in the Fieldays Theatre.
