World of Wearable Art

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Wearable art from Susan Holmes who has won 19 WOW awards. Susan Holmes 3 (30932412153).jpg
Wearable art from Susan Holmes who has won 19 WOW awards.
"Traditional Progress" (2016), designed by Tsz Kwan Au of Hong Kong. Tsz Kwan Au (31626336541).jpg
"Traditional Progress" (2016), designed by Tsz Kwan Au of Hong Kong.

World of WearableArt (WOW) is an international design competition, [1] attracting entries from more than 40 countries each year. [2] The competition features wearable art entries, which are judged on originality and innovation, the concept, the quality of construction, health and safety for the models, and performance potential. [3] During the three weeks of the competition, around 60,000 people attend the event in Wellington, New Zealand. [1] The Gala show for 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19 and was replaced by an exhibit in Wellington. [4] It returned in 2022. [5]

Contents

History

WOW was founded in Nelson, New Zealand, in 1987 by Suzie Moncrieff. The first show was attended by 200 people at the William Higgins Gallery. In 1990 the show moved to Trafalgar Centre, [2] and in 2005 it moved to Wellington because it became too big to hold in Nelson. [6] Moncrieff's sister Heather Palmer was the competition director. [6] In 2022 Moncrieff and Palmer sold WOW to Japanese New Zealand businessman Hideaki Fukutake. [7]

In 2019, Sarah Foster-Sproull, was the festival's choreographer. [8] Meg Williams, formerly executive director of the New Zealand Festival of the Arts, was appointed WOW's chief executive in 2023. [9]

Exhibition

The World of WearableArt and Classic Cars Collection exhibited garments from the World of WearableArt Awards Show, along with a collection of around 140 classic cars in Nelson, New Zealand from 2001 until it was closed due to pressures resulting from COVID-19 in May 2020. [10] [11] The vehicle side of the collection remained and was reopened on the same site in August 2020 as the Nelson Classic Car Museum. [12] [13] [14]

References

  1. 1 2 Shaeffer, Claire B. (January 2020). "Out of This World Costumes". Threads Magazine (206): 34–39.
  2. 1 2 "About". World of WearableArt.
  3. ↑ "Judging". World of Wearable Art. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  4. ↑ "Covid-19: World of Wearable Art show becomes exhibit". RNZ . 31 August 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  5. ↑ Seng, Sopheak (30 September 2022). "Jacinda Ardern makes surprise appearance at World of Wearable Art Awards 2022". Lucire. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  6. 1 2 Rothwell, Kimberley (7 July 2013). "Suzie Moncrieff has the WoW factor". Stuff. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  7. ↑ Chin, André Chumko and Frances (28 November 2022). "World of WearableArt founder sells extravaganza to billionaire's son after 35 years". Stuff. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  8. ↑ "Sarah Foster-Sproull". The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Chumko, Andre (30 September 2023). "Meg Williams on luck and the power of creativity". The Post. pp. B5. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  10. ↑ Newman, Tim (22 May 2020). "World of WearableArt to slash two thirds of workforce". Stuff. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  11. ↑ "Museum". World of WearableArt.
  12. ↑ Newman, Tim (18 June 2020). "Nelson's classic car museum on the road to recovery with plan to reopen in larger space". Stuff. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  13. ↑ Anderson, Charles. "WOW vows to stay in Nelson". Nelson Weekly. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  14. ↑ "Nelson Classic Car Museum – NCCM". Nelson Classic Car Museum. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

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