People loved WoW’s lit-up dress
Victoria University has taken out a major award at the World of WearableArt Awards for the first time, and according to the designers, it’s all down to a bit of Kiwi ingenuity.
Recent graduates and Weta coworkers Ashleigh-Jean King and Flavia Rose Wilson have just won the $1000 prize in this year’s WoW People’s Choice award.
The show, which attracts 50,000 people each year, is now in its third decade - but it is the first time Victoria University has sat in the winner’s circle.
Wilson, a Weta props technician and university tutor, credits the success of her first entry in the competition to her design partner King’s skills in coding and circuitry.
‘‘The garment lights up with 340 LEDs, and it’s very important to get that secure to endure choreography on the WoW stage,’’ she says.
‘‘Ash is brilliant at that. She studied a double degree media design and computer science.’’
It took the pair, who met in a Victoria University wearable tech class, just three months to make the garment.
Wilson says the creation is ‘‘fantastical, but fairly robust’’.
Ester is sculpted from light yet durable cane, with 1000 hand-cut paper petals covering the bodice.
Hundreds of NeoPixel LED lights are Integrated into the design, transforming the piece into a wearable light show.
‘‘The name Ester comes from a chemical compound that releases a scent,’’ Wilson says.
‘‘We were drawing on the idea that instead of releasing floral scent, it’s changing through light.’’
There was a pit crew looking after the garment, ‘‘making sure it worked properly, and charging it every night’’.
The dress is powered by three four-volt batteries - and takes two hours to fully charge.
While Wilson and King did not have ‘‘artistic differences’’, the process was not without its challenges.
‘‘We weren’t confident at all. We had no idea what to expect. To us the garment feels very humble . . . it took us time and effort but we had no idea how it would go in the show.
‘‘The hardest part was getting the shape of the garment right, mostly the top piece and how to integrate that into the skirt,’’ Wilson says.
There were no major wardrobe malfunctions during the garment’s 20 or 30 showings, however the team got something back they didn’t bargain for.
‘‘We got the piece back with something called a nipple covering - I hadn’t known this was part of the garment. It wasn’t included when we submitted it.’’
But the best surprise, which came at the very end of the event, felt like winning gold.
‘‘There was huge reaction on Facebook with Ester building momentum throughout the competition,’’ Wilson says.
‘‘Winning gold would be amazing, but what I loved is we got so much support from people we didn’t even know, giving us so much feedback about what they saw onstage.’’ - Fairfax NZ