Saliva, sequins and sass: Inside a dog fashion show – Stuff

It’s not everyday you see supermodels drooling saliva from lolling tongues as they strut their wares.
Nor is it normally PC to belch, bark and have a toilet stop on the way up the catwalk… or should we say dogwalk.
But no-one could deny these canine supermodels had it all – class, charisma and some chaos as they vied for the title of The Colombo mall’s top canine fashionista.
In front of telly cameras, and a packed mall, 30 dogs stretched, streaked and shimmied their way through dazzling lights and copious applause in Christchurch on Sunday.
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Some lazily meandered there way across the stage, others had to be coaxed, and then there there was 5-month-old Sasha, the mini schnauzer in a dramatic pink tutu who couldn’t understand why she couldn’t stay on stage barking at her adoring audience.
Bruiser, the the 5-year-old black labrador was decidedly unimpressed when it came his turn to show off his pink ensemble to strains of I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt.
By the time he’d exited the stage, his haute glossy couture bum bag was on a precarious angle, halfway down his back legs, and a pink lei had been dumped unceremoniously behind him.
As owner Rubecca Soper gracefully negotiated the dogwalk, Bruiser gave up any pretence of his fashion alter ego and in a major supermodel faux pas he flopped down, his paw bracelets and painted pink claws long forgotten.
“He’d rather be outsided in his swanndri,” Soper laughed.
Roy the chihuahua was more retiring on stage.
Dressed in a knitted bumble bee costume owner Kamilla Drummond’s mother had knitted for him, the 9-year-old was not putting his paws where other mutts had been, instead insisting Drummond carry him to glory.
But there was no such resistance from Norman, who endearingly slathered saliva over his chin while he waited for his grand entrance.
Wearing a classy beret that matched his owner Maria Quirk, the french bulldog, with his designer doggie striped top and gold bling, oozed French sophistication.
When it came to originality Bear, the mini dachshund took the prize, looking more like a rainbow burst that a classy pedigree, in a multi-coloured feather and denim jumpsuit owner Jane Withers had created.
And then there was Gus Macnab who brought down the house, and the eardrums of those sitting near some entrants who were barking in support.
To the Proclaimers song 500 Miles, the dapper-tartan clad little fella of exotic breeding (mongrel) jauntily trotted alongside his equally Scottish clad owner Kirstry MacNab.
Eventually Gus took out second place, but it would be Bean the chihuahua that would be crowned the King of fashion. Dressed like a dragon with green wings and strutting to Wild Thing, Bean found fame and a luxury night away.
Mall creative director Jeanette Thomson was pleasantly surprised at how well the show went and vowed to put on four shows next year where she hoped to raise money for a dog charity.
Prepared for all eventualities, Thomson had even trained staff to help clean up any unexpected toilet stops.
“I’m very surprised,” she chuckled. “It could have easily turned to custard.”
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