New Zealand Fashion Week is gearing up to return with a bang this year and 1 NEWS got a preview of what to expect on the runway from one of the country's up and coming designers.
Cecilia Kang's designs are bold and extravagant and all hand stitched.
Each piece takes her up to a year to make and Kang sees them as her pieces of art rather than garments for sale.
In 2019 Kang became the first transgender and Korean-born designer to have a solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week.
She's a self-taught designer who only started her fashion journey six years ago. In that short time she's risen to the top of couture fashion in New Zealand, with her clothes having been featured in British Vogue and Vogue Italia.
Now, she's preparing for her third runway show, and one she claims is a showcase of her best work to date.
"So this year's New Zealand fashion week collection is called Any Nature; it's a disruptive harmony between animal prints and nature so it involves a lot of animal prints flower embellishments," says Kang.
She's also made entire garments out of scrap fabric.
"Fashion is becoming more sustainable and I've used all the leftover pieces that I had to come up with a certain look," she says.
Kang grew up in Auckland and she says the world of fashion has been both inspiration and salvation.
"During my high school years I didn't have a pleasant school life as a student, I had a really difficult time, got bullied every day and didn't want to go to school," she says.
"But discovering my identity as a person and as a trans woman today, fashion gave me hope and it provided me with an amazing platform to explore my artwork.
"It was a hard life for me to be a Korean-born Kiwi, to follow my journey with my family because they weren't really accepting at the beginning; but seeing through my fashion they started to accept it a bit more and now they're very supportive. So I'm very thankful for all the support I'm getting."
While her art fashion is turning heads today, she's keen for her next fashion production to have wider appeal.
"Definitely after fashion week I want to get into ready to wear, getting everything organised for different sizes for my garments so I can actually try to sell to different clients."
Her bold designs are one to watch on the runway this year as fashion week gets under way.
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