Chance to shine

The New Talent competition will give winners a chance to work on this year's Fashion Week ad campaign. Photo / Supplied

All over the country fashion designers are showing off their spring/summer collections to potential buyers - and we're only just putting on our winter coats.

And while the designers are pushing sweet cotton dresses and nude hues, the people at New Zealand Fashion Week are planning how best to get as much publicity as possible for the 2011 autumn/winter collections, which will be shown in Auckland in September.

That's the crazy world of fashion. Being "in the moment" is a very rare thing - everyone is always looking months ahead.

One thing everyone is looking forward to this year is NZFW celebrating its 10th birthday. It will mark a time for all those involved in the fashion industry - the designers, the manufacturers, the makeup artists, hairdressers, stylists, media, photographers - to stop and look at how far we've come. How the last decade has seen so many talented Kiwis succeed both here and internationally.

To celebrate this success, the NZFW organisers this week announced an exciting competition for the next generation of Kiwi fashion talent.

The event will give five people the chance to travel to Auckland and work alongside the industry's most talented people in a major fashion shoot.

The New Talent competition has five categories: hair stylist, fashion stylist, makeup artist, female model and male model. Each entrant must submit four photographs of their work, along with 100 words on why they want to work in the fashion industry.

Entries, which close on May 31, will be judged by a panel of leading fashion experts and the finalists posted onto the official NZFW Facebook fan page. Through the month of June the public will then be given the opportunity to vote for their favourite competitors.

The winners will be announced on June 21 and flown to Auckland for the fashion shoot, which will become the basis of the advertising campaign to launch NZFW 2010.

The five winners will get to work alongside internationally-renowned hair stylist Paul Serville (founder of Servilles hair salons), M.A.C cosmetics senior makeup artist Amber D, leading fashion stylist Chris Lorimer and the creative team at advertising agency Colenso.

"We're really proud that over the past 10 years Fashion Week has provided a truly professional platform for the industry," says Myken Stewart, who runs the yearly event.

"It has really acted as a springboard for so many careers. With the New Talent competition we want to discover the next generation of fashion talent, give them a truly unique experience, and help make them household names."

* To find out how more about and how to enter the NZFW New Talent Competition, email nikki@nzfashionweek.com or go to nzfashionweek.com.