Designer takes a twirl on the catwalk
She’s been a spectator and an entrant, and this year she’ll be a wardrobe mistress and a model.
Gore’s Barbara Ramsay was so excited she got the shakes the first time she went to the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards.
‘‘I had goosebumps when I saw the steampunk entries on the catwalk.
‘‘I had all these ideas running through my head, it was such an amazing inspiration.’’
Fast forward a year to 2014 and she was again in the audience, but this time she was watching her own design coming down the runway.
‘‘It was an Alice in Wonderland inspired piece. It was the first time I’d ever entered anything and it was just amazing to see it on the stage.
My mum and my best friend had helped me put it together because I was the mother of twins by then and things were pretty crazy.’’
Fast forward again, this time to 2018, and Ramsey will be behind the scenes at this year’s awards.
‘‘They put the call out for volunteers to help out in the wardrobe and I jumped at the chance.
‘‘I’m so inspired to be part of the team and to see how much time and effort they put in to getting the show together, they’re a really amazing team that just work together really well,’’ Ramsey said.
‘‘It’s awesome having the first look at the entries – they say it’s just like Christmas and it is. And you get to see the detail that goes into them all, which you can’t see from the crowd, which is kind of like your reward for volunteering.’’
She was helping to unpack and catalogue entries when her next role in the awards came up, unexpectedly.
‘‘I was unpacking an entry and the designer requested a bigger size model to wear it and someone said ‘‘you could do that!’ and I thought ‘yes I could – so I am!"’
‘‘It’s a beautiful entry – it’s got a beautiful cape with gorgeous humming birds on it. I can’t wait to wear it.’’
The Hokonui Fashion Design Awards will be held on July 27 and 28.