North meets south

DONNA WALSH/Waikato Times

GLAMOUR GIRL: Courtney Bell from Morph Hair in Hamilton will showcase her skills backstage at the iD Dunedin Fashion Show on March 12-13.

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Hamilton hairdresser Courteney Bell is sharpening her scissors, packing her bobby pins and preparing to wing her way to the South Island on a glamorous mission.

Bell is one of five Waikato hairdressers who have been selected to work backstage at iD Dunedin Fashion Week, one of New Zealand's hottest fashion events, now in its 11th year.

Bell, from Morph Hair in Hamilton, will be joined by training coordinator Erin Walters and their Te Awamutu Morph Hair colleagues Kylie Reid, Trudy Kydd and Amy Dudarko at the annual fashion event next week.

The Morph hairdressers are among 23 from across New Zealand to be chosen for the shows, working under Redken creative director Louise Pilkington.

The team will create catwalk-worthy styles for 30 models in two elaborate shows next Friday and Saturday nights.

Models will walk along the 110-metre platform of Dunedin's Railway Station wearing clothing from 21 labels including New Zealand designers Nom*D, Carlson, Cherry Cotton Candy and Twenty-seven Names. Internationally acclaimed designer Zandra Rhodes, known as the "Princess of Punk", will also show pieces from her current and past collections.

A handful of graduating students from Otago Polytechnic Fashion School, including former Hamilton woman Bailey Meredith, will show garments on the catwalk.

"I went last year and it was a whole lot of fun," says Bell, 25, who is looking forward to working with some of her hair heroes. "One of the highlights last year was at the end of the night, watching all the models line up and having beautiful hair-ups done in less than a minute. We watched with jaws dropped."

Bell is looking forward to seeing the finished results on the runway. "It's one of the longest runways I know of. It takes the models about three minutes to talk one way, so they are out there for a long time," says Bell. "It will be amazing to see Zandra Rhodes as she's been a huge part of fashion since the 1960s and 70s and hopefully I'll get to meet her."

Even though she's not going to be sitting in the front row, Bell has thought about what she will wear in Dunedin. "It's definitely comfortable shoes," laughs Bell. "Anything that gets in the way is no good. And of course, the hair definitely needs to look nice especially with all the backstage photos."

- © Fairfax NZ News