Students aim for fashion that's good enough to eat

Jordan Heeney (left), Jennifer McMahon and Brooke Hemmings of Maraekakaho School prepare for the Edible Fashion Awards. Photo / Duncan Brown

Local kids will take a bite at the big time - with designs made entirely from food packaging.

Maraekakaho School's extension art class have spent the past seven or eight weeks planning, preparing and wrapping their heads around this year's Hastings Pak'nSave Edible Fashion Awards theme.

It is the first time they have entered the event, which promotes interesting uses for food as fashion - less perishable packaging is also permitted.

Behind the students is experienced tutor Keryn Whitney, who has entered World of Wearable Art (WOW) in Wellington for the past nine years, with six of her designs selected to take the stage.

As she prepares her WOW entry for 2015, pupils are flexing their creative wings, using whatever materials they can get their hands on for the Hawke's Bay equivalent.

"It's art but it's pretty difficult," Ms Whitney said. "We throw out techniques and ideas that are more advanced as well; we wanted the Edible Fashion Awards to be an extension of that creativity and to push them.

"They have taken the idea and run with it. First they had to grasp the concept, which was interesting considering they couldn't imagine television without colour, so Legends of the Silver Screen was a challenge."

With the theme clarified, they launched into hunting, gathering and dreaming up concepts that made the most of individual skills. All 14 students will work on five entries for the Intermediate Category at Hastings Pak'nSave's Edible Fashion Awards on June 13, at Hawke's Bay Showgrounds. "We have got a certain number of well-known film villains, one very-well known actor. They have taken elements of design, it's not just dress-ups. They are creating some really cool concepts beyond that."

Steering clear of the obligatory sweets, popcorn or marshmallows in favour of long-lasting packaging from some "iconic labels," the designs were already looking good.

Shunning paint in favour of natural dyes such as beetroot also meant they were not simply taking the easy route.

Ms Whitney has not entered an Edible Fashion Awards herself but, if time allows in the week between WOW's due date and the local cut-off, she hopes to whip something up with the help of her 8-year-old son.