The fashion show features recycled fur

The drinks were mocktails, the models were audience members, and most of the clothes started life as something else. It was all fabulous though.

The Central Story Museum and Art Gallery in Alexandra was transformed on Saturday night with a catwalk replacing the usual shop for a fashion show of clothing created from wool.

The audience ordered mocktails and dessert plates to enjoy while watching the models.

Fashion designer Diane Dynes, from Winton, who used recycled woolen clothing in her designs, started the evening by explaining the beginning of her journey into upcycling woolen clothing.

Mrs. Dynes had a shop where she sold her one-of-a-kind designs.

On a whim she made blouses from some old woolen shirts found in an op-shop at a time when “you didn’t want to be seen in an op-shop, not like now”.

They sold immediately and she knew she was getting something.

Sustainable living and a passion for reducing waste was the foundation of her life and work, Ms Dynes said.

Early collections of upcycled clothes were sold at markets, and the interest people showed in building them inspired the next phase of her business, she said.

After teaching tailoring at SIT in Invercargill for several years, she developed her workshop program and now travels teaching how to turn discarded, worn or damaged clothes into something new and fashionable.

Her models, selected by the audience as they arrived, showed off unique outfits, all greater than the sum of their modest parts.

Merino wool, denim and small decorative details were all taken from a range of T-shirts, coats, jackets or cast jeans and then reassembled into new creations.

Audience members were able to pause the models for a closer look at the techniques involved in the garments they displayed.

The second part of the evening was a showcase of the winning outfits from last year’s creative WoolOn fashion events.

WoolOn committee member Frances Anderson said when preparing for Saturday, it didn’t matter which box of archived clothes they opened, there was treasure inside.

An incredible range of styles and materials were on display with all garments containing at least 75% wool, as per competition requirements.

Lauder designer Becs Calder had two outfits in the show.

One was knitted and then sewn on satin, the other crocheted with little pearls on it.

Registration for this year’s WoolOn event is now open.

Ms Dynes will be running a workshop in Alexandra in March.