When fashion designer Naomi Hogie received an email out of the blue asking her to showcase at Milan Fashion Week, she figured it was a scam.
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"I actually read it five times before I reacted, and I was convinced it was spam, or it was some joke someone was playing on me," she said.
"I thought it was the sort of thing where a Nigerian prince was trying to get my money."
The Canberra designer, who runs label Naomi Peris Bridal, did a bit of research on the company - "just to be safe" - and realised it was nothing to laugh at after all.
Milan Fashion Week organisers scour the internet each year looking at thousands of designers for the invitation-only event, which runs twice each year.
They came across photos of the Naomi Peris Bridal 2016 collection on the runway at Canberra's fashion festival Fashfest, and were particularly taken with one design that features a lace bodice with a skirt overlaying lace trousers.
Milan Fashion Week is considered one of the biggest events of its kind in the world, alongside London, New York and Paris fashion weeks, and Ms Hogie said receiving a wildcard invitation to showcase was, "every designer's dream come true".
Ms Hogie started designing bridal gowns in 2009 when a number of her friends were getting married and asked her to design their dresses.
She now designs her own collections as well as one-off custom wedding gowns under her label, with a focus on modern designs that push the boundaries of bridalwear.
"With my designs, I try to make people realise that you don't have to stick to tradition - you can pretty much do whatever you like," she said.
The 37-year-old designer will fly to Italy in mid-September, with her new 2017 collection going down the runway at a show on September 22. She will then return home to Canberra, where the same collection will feature on the final night of Fashfest on September 30.
Titled Fairy Tale Princesses in the Amazon Jungle, Ms Hogie said the new collection breaks away further from the rules of the traditional bridal gown, with inspiration from exotic lizards, apes, butterflies and birds.
At the beginning of 2017, Ms Hogie had written out her goals for the year and in a twist of irony, the list had included going to New York Fashion Week.
"I actually had wanted to buy a ticket and go to New York Fashion Week, in the audience. And it's weird to think now that I'm actually showing in Milan," she said.
