Paper-crane dress brings young fashion designer into the fold

Kitty Scott, 25, won the $10,500 Australasian Young Designers Wool Award — also referred to as the Handbury Scholarship — which was announced in Hamilton.

The Handbury Scholarship, presented as the Australasian Young Designers Wool Award, is a prize for emerging designers working with wool. The award named in the article includes a $10,500 prize and admission to a fashion design summer school at Istituto Marangoni in Milan.

Her winning piece was a woollen dress shaped like a paper crane. The dress was created in wool and is described in the article as a symbolic, folded paper-crane form made from many cutouts.

Kitty Scott created the paper crane dress in honour of the March tsunami; she described the garment as 'a prayer to the Japanese.'

The dress took six weeks to complete. Scott said she made many cutouts of paper cranes and that the process was 'a bit mathematical' before she figured it out.

The scholarship was announced in the Western District town of Hamilton. The prize includes admission to a fashion design summer school at Istituto Marangoni in Milan.

The woollen paper crane dress was modelled by Emily Thomas, according to the article.

The article highlights creative uses of wool and gives visibility to a young designer, but it does not provide any market data or direct investment guidance. Everyday investors should view this as a cultural and industry example rather than a basis for investment decisions, and seek market-specific information before acting.