Universe inspires WOWwinner
An internationally-renowned Indonesian designer has won the top gong in the World of WearableArt Awards for his creation of a capsule in two halves, made of plastic ropes and lights.
Entering WOW for the first time, Rinaldy Yunardi has spent 20 years designing millinery and fashion accessories.
Both the garments he entered won their sections – the other one, Cosmos, a full-body black and silver garment with a silver headdress, won the top prize in the Avant-garde section.
With 288,000 Instagram followers, the celebrity designer recently designed boots for Katy Perry which the pop star wore in a music video for Chained to the Rhythm.
WOW’s founder, Dame Suzie Moncrieff, said: ‘‘We are delighted to have such a distinguished designer winning two section awards as well as the Supreme WOW award.
‘‘WOW has worked hard to reach out to designers around the world, and it’s exciting when they agree to step into our world.’’
The Jakarta-based designer will take home $30,000 for the Supreme award, Encapsulate, and $12,000 for the two section awards.
He said both his WOW garments were inspired by the universe being a well-ordered whole, encapsulating a system of thought, reason, and emotions. ‘‘Its innate character is to defend and protect the natural order and balance.’’
Grace duVal, an artist from Chicago, came runner-up in the Supreme award for her creation, Refuse Refuge, which also won the Sustainability Award.
The 29-year-old made her creation out of bicycle inner tubes and spokes from rubbish bins near Chicago bike shops. ‘‘These materials that refuse to decompose will be all that we have left in the future,’’ the keen cyclist said.
DuVal is a third time entrant who works back home as an artist and fashion designer.
‘‘There is no other show in the world like WOW. After being in it twice before, I was thinking of how I could create something that would impress the person at the back of the room as well as those up the front. I’m interested in transforming a material,’’ said duVal, who made the 30-kilogram garment on an industrial sewing machine.
A latex garment worn by a model who was vacuumed-sucked into it also won one of the top awards. Its designer, Adam McAlavey, won the Cirque du Soleil internship, along with taking out the top prize in WOW’s Red section.
McAlavey is a costume designer, performance artist and set builder from London, who got into his craft by making fetish costumes he could wear to clubs.
‘‘I couldn’t find the outfits I wanted to wear, and I bumbled my way into it. I got the bug and I’ve taken my art weirder and weirder.
‘‘There’s a big cross between the fetish club scene and art.’’
His WOW winning entry, Cube, which also won the Red section, is made of latex and plastic tube, and part of the challenge was that the model had to be vacuum-sucked into it.
Not for the claustrophobic, the model can breathe through tiny holes in the face.
‘‘I wanted this to be a piece that represented what happens when you try and cage an unstoppable force. Cube is an age of chaos.
‘‘The only way to subdue it is to trap it in an airtight vacuum confinement unit. It nearly worked ... but a different kind of chaos that was never imagined pops out.’’
Suffering asthma all his life, McAlavey is usually the model in his pieces, vacuum-sucked in by friends. ‘‘I like the idea of turning myself into this living sculpture.’’