Vienna Bon Bon won third place at the 1963 New Zealand Gown of the Year contest. The gown was designed and made by Peggie Wilson, an Australian designer who had founded Auckland's Academy of Elegance three years earlier. The tiered dress was made from a new synthetic fabric developed by hosiery company Prestige, who were experimenting with new fabric ideas at this time. Vienna Bon Bon was an energetic and playful slender gown in pink, with a tiered skirt that "took the 'twist' theme right down to the ankles" (The Christchurch Press, 10 September 1963). It sparked cheers of "originality" from the country's fashion reporters.