Sitting room for the fashion show sold out every night with 1800 reserved seats sold before the first model strutted down the catwalk.

Organiser Clinton Hutchinson is already thinking how to do it even bigger and better next year.

It's going to be a harder task than it would seem, given he didn't expect this level of success in the event's first year.

''It's more than exceeded our expectations - when Andrea and I first thought of putting this together I was a little concerned about trying to get 400 [ticket sales a night],'' Mr Hutchinson said.

''You can have the best show, but it doesn't mean anything if people don't go. Every night has sold out even before the show started. So we tried to get more people in and we opened up standing tickets. It's blown both of us away.''

The last night of Fashfest 2013 included eclectic collections by local designers U.L.E, Corr Blimey, Scarlet and Baku. Their designs were draped on local models with hair and make-up styled by local talent.

Behind the scenes, 33 hair stylists and hair director Wayne Friend were busy straightening, curling and teasing. The hair theme was 'big and buns'. Hairdresser Chad Wijayatilake said the team had used more than 157 cans of product.

"Scrunch gel has been king - that and bobby pins."

Model Emma Dobbie said three hairdressers worked for an hour-and-a-half to curl, crimp and tease her hair.

''It feels really warm and fuzzy - like having a pillow around my head.''

Twenty-nine make-up artists, under the direction of Karen Mathias, were responsible for getting the models' faces catwalk ready and then touching them up in between strolls down the runway for different designers.

''There are six different looks - they are bold and daring, complimenting [each] designer's style,'' Ms Mathias said.

Over the four nights the make-up team used more than 100 pairs of false eyelashes and 160 mascara wands.