I went to the NZ Fashion Festival opening night interested to see how it would all come across, particularly after seeing most of the collections already at NZ Fashion Week 2010 a few months back. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

It was much improved on last year's inaugural one night only show in the largest shed at Rhubarb Lane at 90 Wellesley Street in Auckland City. Held in the smaller Shed 6 - where Kate Sylvester, and Nom*d have showed and most recently, Federation's 10th birthday party was held - the size was a much better fit.

It was a sold-out show on Monday 21 March and the shed looked very slick as opposed to the grungy look we were used to, with rows of white chairs with goody bags for all (FQ magazine, beauty samples, discount vouchers at moochi, Cybele and taylor boutique.) The back projection screen was a nice touch and helped with seeing the details.

Overall, the production values were very high.  The show started only a few minutes late and lasted almost an hour with nine labels showing, so was good value for the $50 ticket. I thought the inclusion of a run sheet in goody bags was very helpful and the web addresses for all the participating brands is good for their marketing.

As it turned out, I had only seen Cybele, Ruby and Zambesi at last year's fashion week, so there was much to see for the first time, including Ruby Noir's capsule collection especially for the Fashion Festival which is on sale from today. Also, the label Kourbela, which was innovative and a breath of fresh air.

One thing we would have liked to see was a change in the hair styles as the make-up team did change their lipstick two or three times. A highlight was Zambesi bringing on live percussionists for their finale. A very cool end to the night. Below: Lights, camera, action! The show about to begin.