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With a backdrop of children's artwork and a glamorous touch of a red carpet, Te Puna School pupils are turning their hall into a world of wearable arts this evening.

About 33 pupils adorned garments, made of umbrellas, 380 plastic bags tied together with string and other weird and wonderful materials for the school's Wearable Arts Extravaganza.

About 33 wearable art garments created by Te Puna School pupils will be on show at a public event tonight. Photos: Zoe Hunter.

Year 7 and 8 teacher Melissa Dunham says children have been working on their designs since April, spending many hours gluing, sticking and stitching their garments together for a showcase today.

A selection of top designs will be on show to the public this evening.

'The pupils have started from scratch, planning and sketching blueprints to sourcing materials and construction of their design,” says Melissa.

'We have a massive range of garments. We have outfits created out of umbrellas, we have a peregrine falcon that's completely created from wire and fabric that looks incredible.”

Melissa says the event is part of the school's technology and visual arts unit, with pupils creating fashions to enter in one of four categories: back to nature, into the future, culture and heritage and take a walk on the wild side.

'There's a lot of wire, wood, hard and soft materials, hand sewing, machine sewing, a lot of Kiwi ingenuity was needed. A lot of problem solving and brain storming involved.”

The main focus of the project is to channel the pupils' creative side.

'Our main focus was creativity and really tapping into the wild side. What they've done is pretty mind blowing, it just goes to show the ability of our senior students.”

Fifteen garments will be showcased at Te Puna School hall from 6.30pm. Bar and nibbles available.

Entry is free, although a gold coin donation is asked to help cover costs.

For more information email Donelle at [email protected]