18 July 2023
Thanks to chihuahua-toy poodle cross Peggy Poodle Bums, Catwalk Arts 2022 winner Anna Holmes-Libbis almost didn’t have an outfit to show on the catwalk.
It’s not often a person can honestly say that their dog ate their homework.
But in the case of Catwalk Arts 2022 Bizarre Bra category winner Anna Holmes-Libbis it happened not once, but twice.
Anna admits she knew it would be a challenge when she opted to make her wearable art show entry out of one of her favourite childhood foods, Huntley & Palmers cream crackers. “But I was worried about the outfit crumbling. I didn’t even factor in the dog,” she says.
“My dog literally ate my outfit twice,” she says. “Then when I made glasses as an accessory Peggy Poodle Bums found those, too, and buried them.”
Anna locked her entry in the spare room and was then finally able to complete it. “Thank god because, by this point, the outfit was poisonous from the spray glue I was using to strengthen the crackers,” she says.
It was Anna’s first time entering the Warkworth-based wearable art show so she was chuffed to win the Bizarre Bra category with her creation, What a Crackin’ Pair. But what made the win even more meaningful was that she’d entered in memory of her late mum, Jane.
“My mum had been ill with terminal cancer and Hospice had cared for her; they’d been incredible. So when I saw that Catwalk Arts was a hospice fundraiser I said, ‘I’m going to go in that show.’ Mum was still alive, then, but it kept getting postponed because of Covid-19, so by the time they had it Mum had passed away.”
Supporting a charity that had done so much for her mum made the experience very special, Anna says. “Knowing we made money for Hospice was awesome. This was very personal for me.”
Although she won’t be entering this year’s show Anna, a former costume designer, says she’s keen to enter future shows.
“I won’t ever work with crackers again, though!” she laughs. “I’ll stick with something Peggy won’t want to eat!”
