Presenter's role beckons schoolgirl

Ruby Higgins is looking forward to catching up with the other <i>Next Top Model</i> contestants. Photo / Supplied

Next Top Model contestant Ruby Higgins will emerge from mountains of school exam work to take up a television cameo for Fashion Week.

Fans have been waiting for the 18-year-old to step into television presenting since she won the presenters' challenge on New Zealand's Next Top Model in April.

Miss Higgins was the 10th girl to leave the show after being told she needed to lose weight, but her open personality and healthy (size 8) figure made her one of the viewers' favourite contestants.

As well as modelling in some of the designers' shows, she will tell the C4 TV cameras what she thought of the shows she was able to attend each day.

While she said she had not had much of a chance to look at her modelling and presenting timetable while swatting for exams, Miss Higgins said she was "very excited" about being involved in the event as she had never been to fashion week before.

"It's going to be all new."

Asked whether she would be going to the after-parties now that she is 18, she laughed: "I don't know whether I'll be cool enough to get the invite."

Fashion Week will also be a chance for Miss Higgins to reunite with the girls from the Next Top Model house as many will also appear on the catwalk.

She has kept in regular contact with the show's winner, Christobelle Grierson-Ryrie, and the pair star in a new television advertisement for Impulse filmed in the last school holidays.

But other than that, the Hastings beauty says life has more or less reverted to normal since the Next Top Model show ended - though being a smallish city a lot more people recognise her around the streets.

She has returned to Taikura Rudolf Steiner school to complete her final assessments and is "keeping her options open" for further study next year.

She has no shortage of subject fields to choose from - this week she was working on science, maths, English, anthropology, Maori language, dance, art and craft.

"I've always been waiting for that one to hit me - what I want to do - but it hasn't come yet, so who knows."

FASHION WEEK HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, September 21

ANZFW 09 opening ceremony kicks off at 7pm in Shed Two. It will include the Couture Challenge, where the people from Huffer, Sera Lilly and Stitch Ministry will have only one hour to create a designer garment.

Special guests include All Black Dan Carter. The opening will be followed by the first off-site show by Lonely Hearts.

Tuesday, September 22

Cybele opens with the first runway show for the week in the Westpac tent at 11am.

New Zealand and Australian designers will come together for the first time to celebrate the beauty of the feminine form in the Diet Coca-Cola Little Black Dress Show, which will showcase a series of little black dresses inspired by the low-calorie beverage's bottle silhouette.

The show starts at 7pm in the Westpac tent.

Wednesday, September 23

The Carpenter's Daughter show starts at 2.30pm in the Westpac tent. The label has a niche market, catering for women with curves.

This is followed with Trelise Cooper's show at 6pm, also in the Westpac tent.

Thursday, September 24

Pamela Anderson arrives in New Zealand to prepare for her Friday show.

The inaugural Miromoda Awards Showcase will feature the creations of eight top Maori fashion designers who were selected from a group of 20 finalists after the Miromoda Fashion Design Awards in Wellington. Show starts at 1pm.

At 5pm, the ghd New Generation Group, showcasing collections from up-and-coming designers, begins in the Westpac tent.

Stolen Girlfriends Club's show at the Winchester bar in Newton is another expected party highlight.

Friday, September 25

Pamela Anderson and Richie Rich showcase A*Muse as part of the collection's global launch, which began this month at New York Fashion Week. The "eco and animal-friendly" range is the first US designer label to feature at show at ANZFW.

The show starts at 5pm in the Westpac tent.

Huffer will close the week with an off-site show.

Saturday, September 26

The New Zealand Herald Designer Garage Sale, featuring bargains from dozens of top designers (runs Saturday and Sunday).

A busy schedule of shows is booked with the chance to check out some well-known beauty brands.

The much-awaited Zambesi's retrospective show will be a celebration of 30 years of the New Zealand label.

Sunday, September 27

Check out more season preview shows, this time including Glassons, Moa, Huffer, or attend seminars by brands including MAC, Nivea and Rodney Wayne.

For more information visit:
www.nzfashionweek.com