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iD Dunedin is a labour of love - and bookkeeping.

Behind every great show is someone with the commercial chops to make the event happen, and iD Dunedin is fortunate to have Susie Staley in that role.

A little bit of Staley hankers after a fashion career.

"I spend far too much money in dress shops," she says. "I suspect I would have to have done something with fashion, though I'm not sure I'm that talented."

The highly successful Dunedin individual instead pursued a career in law, and gets her fashion fix by helping out behind the scenes of iD Dunedin Fashion Week.

The event, taking place this week, is a well-known springboard for talent and Staley, as chair of the incorporated society behind iD, takes great pleasure in seeing young designers go from strength to strength after showing at iD.

"I think when you get to know what goes on and the effort that goes in, they're no different than artists," she says.

Charmaine Reveley has been showing at iD since 2003 and credits the event as being an invaluable launchpad for her career.

Reveley, whose collection now sells in about a dozen boutiques nationwide, first showed while still a student and says iD gave her a chance to cut her teeth in a supportive way before branching out into the more cut-throat commercial environment.

"It's quite hard, as a Dunedin designer, to get profile in the rest of the country. Most of the media is based in Auckland and they tend to be more focused up there, but in my first season I got a couple of articles in good publications which was great," Reveley says.

Reveley doesn't believe she'd have broken into the fashion scene without the opportunities that came out of iD.

"As long as it keeps going, I'll be there."

Staley's involvement in iD came about by accident when the show, now in its eleventh year, was still in its infancy. Asked by a Dunedin city councillor for some advice on some legal issues she was soon offered the voluntary role of chair, which she accepted.

Though its financial position has not always been stable, the event has gone from strength to strength and has now grown into a week-long fashion event which culminates in catwalk shows on Friday and Saturday night. The organisers have scored a coup this year by securing a visit from internationally acclaimed designer Zandra Rhodes who will have her own event as well as judging the Emerging Designer Awards.

While Staley has a passion for fashion, she brings a wealth of experience and credibility earned from years in the legal and corporate sectors.

As well as being a partner in her own legal firm, Staley is on the board of Tower, is chairman of Maritime New Zealand, and holds several other directorships.

But still, somehow, she manages to fit in helping iD, though she's modest about what she brings to the party.

"It's possibly my other experience and that I'm not bad with numbers," she says. "The whole structure and - I hate this word - governance thing. We have sponsors and we have to watch our dollars very carefully."

Financial certainty is something Staley wishes iD had more of and it's one of her goals to help the event achieve it.

"As you know at the last minute it's always are we going to go ahead or not," she says. "The vision is to de-risk it, to keep a funding line in place which is sufficient to roll us through each year."

The trust's vision is that iD, which injects hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local community each year, could do more for Dunedin in future.

"We always said we modelled ourselves on the World of Wearable Arts, though we are clearly high fashion," she says. "They started in a paddock a number of years ago. We definitely have a vision or view of where it could go, and where it could go is to do for Dunedin what Wearable Arts did for Nelson."

- © Fairfax NZ News