iD Dunedin Fashion Week special guest judges Karen Walker, Maggie Hewitt and Benny Castles. Images supplied.
Successful designer and business woman, Karen Walker, will join the judging panel for iD Dunedin Fashion Week 2018, along with talented young designer Maggie Hewitt of Maggie Marilyn, who has had rapid international growth and Benny Castles, who designs the vibrant men’s collections for WORLD. This year’s iD Dunedin Fashion Week kicks off in less than two weeks and fashion fans will get to enjoy an exciting array of events including the Emerging Designer Show on Thursday May 3rd and Friday May 4th.
Walker helms one of New Zealand’s most high profile fashion brands and is a global fashion industry figure who has been recognised by The Business of Fashion’s outstanding BoF 500. The Karen Walker brand is available in an impressive 42 countries, 200 cities and more than 1000 stores worldwide including Barneys New York, Liberty London and Harvey Nichols.
“I’m very excited to be part of the judging panel for this year’s iD International Emerging Designer Awards,” says Walker. “I’m sure there’ll be some exceptional talent and it’ll be great to view these collections up close. It’s been a while since I’ve had any time in Dunedin so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s happening in the city too.”
Karen Walker will be participating as a judge in the Thursday night Emerging Designer Awards as well as three other iD events including a public talk at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Friday 4 May at 12pm and a group panel discussion on Saturday May 5 at 1pm also at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. She will also attend the Breast Cancer Cure show in her role as Ambassador to be held at Emerson’s Brewery on Saturday May 5 from 6pm.
Special guest judges Benny Castles and Maggie Hewitt will also be judging at the Thursday night Emerging Designer Awards and will be joining the panel discussion at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Saturday. Castles will also present a talk at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Thursday May 3 at 1pm, run a perfume master class at Marbecks in Wall Street Mall the same day at 3.30pm as well as running a WORLD pop-up store for showgoers at the Dunedin Town Hall before each show.
Walker, Castles and Hewitt are being brought down to iD Dunedin Fashion Week by Air New Zealand and Dunedin Airport and will join Viva editor Amanda Linnell, Margi Robertson from NOM*d and head judge Tanya Carlson to complete this year’s judging panel.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have such a prestigious judging panel for this year’s new-look iD International Emerging Designer shows,” says iD Creative Director and iD Board chair Dr Margo Barton. “Our 42 designers from around the globe have an opportunity to be critiqued by some of our most successful and popular designers. Each designer brings a very different aesthetic, while Amanda brings an extremely valuable insight into what the media are looking for – something every designer needs to be aware of.”
Tickets for the iD International Emerging Designer Shows at the Dunedin Town Hall on Thursday May 3 and Friday May 4 are available from Ticketmaster.