Brianna Stewart took first place with a stunning jacket.
Cambridge Middle School’s fashion department has now had great success two years in a row at the HETTANZ Student Fashion Awards, coming away from the 2017 round with top placings once again.
On the back of last year’s CMS students Paige Steen and Olivia Walling-Halsey winning first and second respectively, this year Brianna Stewart and Catriona Lamb finished in first and third place at the national competition.
Catriona Lamb came third with her tailored dress.
It’s an amazing achievement for the Year 8 students, who were up against Year 7 to 10 students from around the country, competing in the Fashion Junior Technical division.
First-placed Brianna Stewart, who entered a fully lined and tailored formal jacket, said it was “pretty awesome” to have won, and had heaps of fun throughout the creative process.
“I’m not really a dress person so I didn’t want to make a dress,” Brianna explained, “and I quite liked the jacket that Paige made last year.”
When they started out designing their garments, the group of five CMS students that entered the competition looked at what students had made last year, as well as a massive range of textiles and ideas that their Creative Textiles teacher Catherine Bell provided.
“They learned a lot of techniques, so it improved their sewing skills as well,” said Mrs Bell. “There was a lot of learning involved which was a big plus, and then winning it was pretty amazing.”
A judge visited the school, noting the extremely high standard of their creations, choosing Brianna’s and Catriona’s garments as the two entries from Cambridge Middle School to be sent to Wellington for national judging.
“They were working at a very, very high standard, I was so impressed,” said Mrs Bell. “I had to keep reminding myself that they’re only Year 8 students, their craftmanship was outstanding.”
Having entered a beautifully-made dress, Catriona Lamb said she was rather surprised with her third-place achievement. “I never thought that I could do anything really like that before, so it was kind of big, I didn’t think that was my sort of thing really,” said Catriona, who originally decided to make the dress with their upcoming Year 8 Social in mind.
The girls plan to keep their garments and look forward to continuing their fashion studies at Cambridge High School next year.
