FROM tiny nuts, bolts and washers sewn on to netting and thousands of centimetres of crocheted copper wire, to bodices made of the elastic rings used to remove lambs' tails.

The creations at this year's Ag Art Wear Competition at the Elmore Field Days were gob-smackingly classy, entertaining, witty, political, chic and imaginative.

Over three days, crowds of punters, male and female, old and young, stacked the grand marquee for the 11am and 2pm parades, reflecting the competition's wide appeal.

I judged the competition along with author, philanthropist and women's retreat co-ordinator Bev Brock and Bendigo artist Tom Henty.

We had our work cut out for us.

There are three sections in the competition - under 21, designer and avant garde - which asked entrants to create outfits made from stuff found on the farm.

Naturally, this emphasis on recycling prompts some wild designs.

Think of hats made of fencing polydroppers, matched with arm accessories comprising fencing stand-offs, insulators, wire and tubing and you'll start to get the picture.

That's what Julie Webb, of Glenaladale in East Gippsland, created.

Julie's husband is a fencing contractor.

Euroa farmer and trumpet player Jean Duff, 75, clinched a second prize with her masterpiece that proved you can have fun with frugality.

Her outfit, a skirt and top, was made with a rice-hull bag decorated with cans cut into sequins.

Jean, 75, and her husband, 80, have had a lifetime on the farm, but the past few years have been especially challenging.

They've had to cart water for their stock, a taxing task at their age and things haven't been so flush financially, so they've decided to "work in God's waiting room rather than sit around".

"I couldn't buy things so I had to make do with what I could find," Jean told me, in a spirit that exemplifies the competition's ethos.

Though heats of the same competition are held at shows and field days elsewhere across Australia, (mainly in Victoria), the Elmore heat always sets a high standard and its winners invariably take out the national awards, also selected at Elmore, and head to New Zealand for the international award.

Betty Park, of East Gippsland, created a wonderful rendition of party girl Paris Hilton's baby-doll outfit, complete with Paris hat, Paris sunglasses, Paris shoes and Paris accessory Chihuahua in a handbag.

It won the national designer award.

Who'd have thought you could create Paris out of old tin, seed bags, wire clips, potato bags, wire-netting, drink bottles, bleached hessian bags and silicon! Poor Paris!

Nola Wallis, of Serviceton, won the national avant garde award with her brilliant piece of workmanship, Kakadu.

My favourite item of the entire show was Jan Dew's hat made with old rakes for her Merry Widow outfit.

Jan, of Mangoplah in NSW, turned bird netting, shade-cloth, flyscreen, rubber tube, tree ties and a harness buckle into an outfit ideal for the races.

Once again, that tiny design talent from Torrumbarry Larni Williams, 15, a year nine Echuca College student, stitched up a national winner in the under-21 section called Milking Sucks.

Complete with a bodice of elastrator rings and a skirt made of old milking cups from her uncle's farm, it was, she said, a comment on the current state of the dairy industry and poor milk prices for farmers.

Dairy Australia should snap the outfit up for a marketing campaign.