It's Good to Know Kitty Brown: Ushering at the iD Fashion Show

Kitty & Vanessa on the catwalk

My amazing colleague Kitty Brown is a woman about Dunedin.  She's connected, she's awesome, and she shares all the opportunities that come her way.  Believe me.  It's good to know Kitty Brown.

Here in Dunedin, the ushers for the Regent Theatre are used throughout the city to usher the biggest and most high profile events.  As an usher, Kitty gets the low down on the coolest events in town and the chance to be there.  As the Regent's volunteer group is a slightly older one, sometimes they need some extra ushers and are willing to take untrained folk like myself as long as we come with and are approved by Ms. Kitty Brown herself.  This is how Vanessa and I ended up ushering for the hottest ticket in town: the iD Fashion Show.

This past week was iD Fashion Week in Dunedin.  iD Fashion Week started in 1999 and is best described on own website.

"Dunedin has an established reputation for having a subculture conducive to producing uniquely creative fashion design.  Dunedin's top designers are growing from strength to strength nationally and internationally. The city's emerging designers ensure continued media interest and acclaim while breaking into new markets.  In 1999, recognising the huge potential in this sector, a group of local fashion designers initiated an annual fashion event to celebrate their key successes, profile the Dunedin environment, highlight its unique pool of creative talent and encourage upcoming designers of the future. In 2000...iD Dunedin Fashion was formed. The show was shifted to the Dunedin Railway Station Platform and taken to another level."

iD Fashion Week features all of New Zealand's top designers and hosts several events throughout the week.  The highlight are the iD International Emerging Designer Awards Show and the iD Dunedin Fashion Show.  Elena got a free ticket and front row seat at the Emerging Designers show and said it was amazing! I'll link to her blog post once it's up.


Here are the quick facts.  It's held outside on the platform of the historic Dunedin Railway Station.

   

It's attended by the who's who in Dunedin and New Zealand fashion and always features international guest designers.  The catwalk is the longest in the southern hemisphere, and some of the seats are in baggage cars.

The raised seats are in baggage cars!

Two of the models from New Zealand's Next Top Model - twins Elza and Nellie - are featured heavily in the show.  I see them around town all the time.  Well, I'm not sure which one I see, but I see them.

One of twins...not sure which one

Twins passing each other in the night on the catwalk

Blurry but you can see their twin-ness.  :)

Some other highlights from the show include the shoe collection.  At first, we thought it was a collection of leotards and tights (which honestly look good on no one...even models), but then we realized it was a shoe collection.

Shoes good.  Leotards bad.

Big tall Russian hats are in for fall.

Click here to read a news article on the show and see a short video with highlights.  Funny story.  Today I saw the first model to walk down the runway in this video in town today.  She was wearing her school uniform which means she's in high school.  Love it.

By the way, if Kitty Brown ever crosses your path, you should be friends with her.  She'll hook you up.