Winner of WOW crowned
The World of Wearable Art’s supreme prize for 2017, and 36 other category winners, were handed out at Wellington’s TBS Bank Arena last night. The contest featured 104 garments by 122 designers from 13 countries. Photos by The Dominion Post’s Maarten Holl.
An internationally-renowned Indonesian designer has won the top gong at this year’s World of WearableArt Awards for his creation of a capsule in two halves, made of plastic ropes and LEDs.
Entering WOW for the first time, Rinaldy Yunardi has spent 20 years designing millinery and fashion accessories. Both garments he entered won their sections – the other one, Cosmos, a full-body black and silver garment with a silver head-dress, earned the top prize in the avant-garde section.
With 288,000 Instagram followers, the celebrity designer recently designed boots for Katy Perry, which the American
popstar wore in
her music video for Chained To The Rhythm.
The supreme winner, and 36 other awards, were handed out at Wellington’s TBS Bank Arena last night, featuring 104 garments by 122 designers from 13 countries.
WOW 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, 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, was the 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 she collected from rubbish bins. ‘‘These materials that refuse to decompose will be all that we have left in the future,’’ said the keen cyclist.
This was DuVal’s third time entering WOW. ‘‘There is no other show in the world. 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 the artist, who made her 30kg garment on an industrial sewing machine.
A latex garment worn by a model who was vacuum-sucked into it also won one of the top awards. Its British designer, Adam McAlavey, won the coveted Cirque du Soleil internship, along with the top prize in WOW’s red section.
The 39-year-old 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.
His winning WOW entry, Cube , is made of latex and plastic tube, so part of the challenge was that his model had to be vacuum-sucked into it. McAlavey had to create a video showing how the model got in and out of his design – as well as how they could 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.’’