The answer: entrants in the Elmore Field Days ag art competition. 

Now in its 17^th year, the ag art show asks designers to use only materials found on the farm to conjure clothing fit for wear.

In 2017, model Clara Holmberg will come down the runway in a races-inspired dress crafted from sheets of insulating fabric.

The garment is decorated in red plastic poppies, as its the extravagant headpiece.

This was Clara’s second time modelling for the Ag Art contest but her family connection to the Elmore Field Days was historic.

The 17-year-old, who is in year 11 at Moama Anglican Grammar School, is the great-granddaughter of founding president George Holmberg. 

The ag art competition also has an international flavour in 2017, with the competitions first overseas entry shipped from New Zealand to vie for the top prize.  

The international inclusion is bittersweet. Elmore woman Lorraine Trewick began the local ag art show after seeing something similar in New Zealand but that event was retired in 2017. 

Ms Trewick applauded the ingenuity of the artists, who also heralded from Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales, saying the competion got stiffer every year. 

“Each year, they’re thinking more outside the sqaure,” she said.

“The imagination people have to put it together every year just blows us away. 

“On the stage, people don’t realise what they’re made of, but when you tell them, they go, ‘Oh my gosh, so it is’.”

Like Clara, Ms Trewick also boasts an impressive familial link to the Elmore Field Days.  

When 10 ag art garments come down the runway on Thursday, three of the woman’s ten grandchildren will feature.

Her husband is also a field days committee member, continuing his 53-year service to the event. In fact, three generations of her brood are represented on the organising committee. 

“If you live in Elmore, then you go to the Field Days,” she said.

Neighbouring towns, like Rochester, Goornong and Colbinabbin, were also a rich source of volunteers.  

The unconventional materials challenge comes with its own occupational hazards. On her last outing as a ag art model, Clara remembers being scratched and nicked by her gowns rougher edges. 

At times, dressers have turned to foam and bubble wrap to protect models from getting hurt.

Cable ties have been employed as makeshift fixtures.

There were no such problems for model Eloise Foott, who spent Monday morning being fitted with a dress of hay bale twine and tyre rubber. The costume appears inspired by Xena: Warrior Princess. 

“It’s actually really pretty,” she said. 

The organising team spent Monday morning fitting the garments to the models. 

Entrants compete in four sections: avant garde, hats, 18 years and under, and designers, with winners vying for their share in $7000 of cash and travel prizes.   

Parades run twice daily, at 11am and 2pm, with finalists announced on Thursday afternoon. 

The Elmore Field Days is held October 3-5.