This year Sans Pareil are taking you to the iconic iD Dunedin Fashion Week.

If you didn’t already know, ID Dunedin is an internationally renowned fashion experience like no other: set in the gothic South Island city of Dunedin – already known as a Southern Hemisphere hub of fashion – top International designers gather from around the globe to showcase New Zealand’s top designers and the iD International Emerging Designer Awards will celebrate its 23rd year.

Speaking of top New Zealand designers, first time judge James ‘Jimmy D’ Dobson took time out of his busy schedule to have a yarn.

Thanks for chatting with us! Huge fans of your brand. Would you start by telling us what you’re best known for in the fashion world?

JD: I guess it would be my dark aesthetic tempered with a sense of humour, as well as my degendered approach to fashion. Previously I think it would have been our love of black, but now I think we’re pretty well known for our more colourful digital prints which can be anything from warped plaids to crumpled paper with staples and chux cloths.

This is your first year working with iD, what will your role be?

JD: I will be part of the judging panel for the iD International Emerging Designers Award that has 25 finalists spanning everywhere from Paris to Taiwan.

What made you want to work with ID?

JD: Thanks to Margi from Nom*d I have been stocked in Dunedin at Plume since my third collection so I have a strong connection to the city. Dunedin and in-turn iD have a strong affection for dark, intellectual fashion, so in a fashion sense it’s my spiritual home.

What can we expect from ID this year? Is there anyone you’re especially interested in?

JD: In terms of the Emerging Designers I’m deliberately not doing any research, I want to experience their collections for the first time when they walk into the room – fashion & runway shows are all about creating a ‘moment’ and I don’t want to take anything away from that first impression. In terms of the local designers showing, Nom*D and Company of Strangers obviously always kill it, I’m also a big fan of Jojo Ross, New Lands & James Bush, and in terms of Otago Polytech I think George Park is doing some really exciting stuff.

What makes the Dunedin fashion scene so unique to you?

JD: It’s always been a little microclimate of darkness and broodiness and is synonymous with everything I love about New Zealand fashion. I mean Margi from Nom*D made a tee that simply said “Dunedin” a fashion must-have and that’s pretty impressive.