Winning outfit? It was just something I threw together

Fashion in the Fields competition winner Toni Gudsel, left, with friend Fiona McSoriley. Picture / Carolyn Elliott

As the Fashions in the Field winner was announced, Toni Gudsel looked left, looked right, then looked left again before realising she was about to drive off with a $64,000 sports car.

The shocked Mt Maunganui designer burst into tears as she was handed the keys to a Mercedes-Benz Coupe at the Ellerslie Racecourse Derby Day. Her outfit, she said, was off the rack and she only entered the competition at the last moment to support her friend, Fiona McSoriley.

Mrs Gudsel's winning ensemble was an embroidered brown silk jacket and skirt from Sabine, a soft pink hat from Urban Turbans, shoes from Andrea Biani and a bag from Roselles of Tauranga.

"I didn't have time to design anything for myself. This is off the rack," she said.

A consultant to Fashion in the Fields, Di Goldsworthy, said it was the best result in years.

"We have a real winner, not a professional model. Look at her elation. The joy is what it is about."

There were 215 entries and it was stressed only the wearer would be deemed the winner to dissuade designers from using models to pick up the loot themselves.