After 18 years of farm fashion the Elmore National Ag Art Wear Competition will run for the final time at this year's Elmore Field Days.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Sheep manure, animal bones and wheat matting are all items you wouldn't expect to adorn haute couture.
But at the annual Ag Art Wear competition, farm materials are exactly what creative entrants craft their garments from.
Organiser Lorraine Trewick said the committee had decided to go out on a high.
Read more: Fears for Ag Art Competition's longevity
Entries have dropped over the past few years, and new designers weren't entering.
Mrs Trewick feared that if stalwart designers dropped out the quality of the show would fall.
This year will be the 19th time the Ag Art Wear Competition has run at Elmore.
Mrs Trewick was inspired to begin the Ag Art Wear Competition after visiting the Australasian Field Days Conference in New Zealand.
She came back to the Elmore committee, saying she thought they should begin a similar event.
She's been running it ever since.
"It's been amazing and very successful," Mrs Trewick said.
"It's so unique, and that's what intrigues people... that they can make wearable art out of materials we use every day on the farm."
Mrs Trewick believes that the event has brought many women to the Field Days.
"They just cannot believe what they're seeing on the stage: the uniqueness of it, and how well it's all put together and how the garments can be worn," she said.
"[Designers] make them out of such unusual [materials]. Every year I think there's nothing more that they can find to create it with, but they always come up with new materials which is outstanding."
The competition has always been a lot of work, for entrants and for Mrs Trewick herself.
Each year designers tell her they are beginning next year's entry immediately.
It also takes Mrs Trewick about 12 months slow build to prepare, culminating in a busy September setting up the show.
"The hours the designers put into the work is just amazing. Each year they say we're starting next year's now, so some of them put 12 month's work into it," Mrs Trewick said.
"I'm sad that it's gong to finish. I've had a lot of people say to me it can't finish, and I'm disappointed that it's going to have to come to an end, but at my age I don't think I can keep going.
"I love it, and I've had the passion for it all along, and very proud of the fact how it's grown. But I've got a very small committee behind me and they've been wonderful support."
This year might be the final competition, but Mrs Trewick is planning a final hurrah for the Ag Art event.
In 2020, a parade will showcase fashions entered in the past.
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.