Masterton students win Hokonui laurels

WINNER: A garment designed by St Matthew's Collegiate School student Ella Sims won the secondary schools Night Life category. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Four design students from St Matthew's Collegiate School have captured laurels in the secondary schools sections of the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards.

Trinity Schools spokeswoman Natalie Finnigan said student Ella Sims won the Night Life category and walked away with a $500 cash prize, while Latia Farquhar won a $100 cash prize and second place in the same category.

Ms Finnigan said student Emma Schdroski won a merit award in the schools section and a highly-commended award in the Thomas Green Streetwear Award category, while Charlotte Mason placed second in the Macca Lodge Recycled Award category.

There had been 30 awards entrants from the Masterton school this year, as the school soft material teacher Ruth Bucknell had introduced an innovation that made entries part of the student's NCEA assessments.

Mrs Bucknell earlier said the awards offered design students "challenging specifications to work that go above and beyond the assessment criteria and ask them to be fashion forward in their thinking".

She had urged students to challenge themselves and apply their learning "to a real-world environment" and enter the competition.

The design awards contest began in 1988 and was now the longest-running competition of its kind in New Zealand, and the premier competitive platform in the country for amateur Kiwi designers.

The number and calibre of garments increased this year. Judges had included Denise L'Estrange Corbet and Dr Margot Barton of the Otago Polytechnic School of Fashion.