Recently I've came into contact with a very unusual and creative world — the World of Wearable Art. What I saw struck me so much that I just can't help but share it with you.
So, what is this? This is a competition, which has been held annually in New Zealand for over 30 years. It was started as a small competition of designers, and became a spectacular show, with participation of committed artists from around the world. According to the rules of the contest any object that can be put on and worn can be presented here.
"Our competition gives designers the opportunity to go beyond "fashion" and look at a human body as a blank canvas that allows you to implement any idea. The more provocative, unusual and original the idea is the better!" says Suzie Moncrief, the founder of WOW.
In addition to the above there is another important selection criterion: the object needs to be of high quality.
All this allows taking part in the competition not only to fashion designers and couturiers, but also to amateur welders, woodworking craftsmen, taxidermists and other unexpected professions. Each year in September the works selected by the jury participate in the awards ceremony of the World of WearableArt Awards Show — a colorful theatrical extravaganza, held in the capital of New Zealand Wellington which attracts attention of more than 60 thousand spectators. Each of the works by the finalists becomes the center of the choreography and is demonstrated on a live model which is quite lively during the show.
Unfortunately, I saw the show only in a format of a small video that was shown in the exhibition "The Magical World of WearableArt" in the Erarta St Petersburg Museum of Contemporary Art. But I've managed to see the best costumes of the recent years and to see the details. I will show you some of the exhibits.
"American Dream", 2009. Sarah Thomas (New Zealand). Materials — vinyl, leather, papier-mache, foam, plastic.

"Lady of the Wood" 2009. Author — David Walker (USA) — a carpenter and a painter. Material — wood veneer.

"Gothic", 2014. Lynn Christensen (the USA). Material — felt and laser cutting. The work is collected from more than 2300 individual fragments.

"Horridus", 2010. Lynn Christensen (the USA). Material — copper, silver-plating, gold plating. Lynn processed with acid and cut 15 kg copper sheet into 465 individual parts by hand. Then the workpieces were polished, sanded and fixed with 230 screws and 1500 connecting rings. Thus, a beautiful warrior-lizard appeared.

“Ten Breasted Suitcase”, 2012. Allan Gale (New Zealand). Material — leather for making suitcases, hardboard, wood, elastic trim, rivets. Old leather suitcases are used.

"Delight of Light", 2012. Yuru Ma and Mengyue Wu (PRC). Material — plastic. All the parts are connected without joints and glue.

"Beast in The Beauty", 2012. David Walker (the USA) Material — wood veneer, aluminium.
The work is dedicated to women who live with cancer diagnosis and lead a heroic struggle to preserve their beauty and dignity.

"Skin", 2011. Marjolein Dallinga (Canada). Material — wool, silk. Let's see how interesting the light is set at the exhibition!

It is very important to pay attention to the year of creation of the works. For example, first this suit did not impress me, as the idea of a "tattoo" on fabric seemed to me too popular. However, seeing that the work was made in 2006, I changed my mind.
"Tatau", 2006. Lindah Lepou (New Zealand). Materials: textiles, sequins, beads.

Another work on the theme of tattoos. The author ponders the question of what happens if you slightly overdo it with tattoos, and the ratio of blood and pigment in the body will change... Will the beasts on the human body become alive?
"Inkling", 2013. Gillian Saunders (New Zealand). Materials: foamed ethylene vinylacetate, paint.

"Totally Sheepish", 2012. Sarah Peacock (New Zealand). Materials — wool, yarn. For the work the author collected wool from her home pet — Hopper sheep. To process the wool she used a variety of techniques — spinning, knitting and crocheting, dry and wet felting, hot shaping.

"Revive", 2012. Yuru Ma and Mengyue Wu (PRC). Material — rubber. A warrior fighting for the environmental win in an armor made from recycled tires.

"Hylonome", 2011. Mary Wing To (UK) — she is a former clothes designer, now she works as a saddler in the Royal stables. Material — leather, horsehair, horseshoe for a pony. Hylonome is an embodiment of British craft makers. Each element was made manually: cut, edged, dyed, spaced by a stencil, trimmed with stitching, subjected to embossing, molding, stitching, and, finally, bonding with other details by lacing. Thus, the image of the most beautiful and the most faithful of mythological centauresses was born.

"Second Skin", 2009. Hayley May and Fiona Christie (New Zealand). Material — lycra, tulle, nylon, lambskin.
"As the reptile sheds it's skin, it lifts and becomes translucent, making way for the second skin."

"In the Opt", 2012. Lai Kit Ling (China). Material — blind, corset accessories, leather, fringe.

And this is my favorite.
"Chica Under Glass", 2013. Peter Wakeman (New Zealand) is an employee of a cleaning company, in his spare time he enjoys creating boats, he is a harsh New Zealand man. Material — fiberglass, plywood. 8 months of work.
"It is important that everyone, especially men, understand: just make a wish, and you will succeed... I feel like I found a space for self-expression, now I have someone to show my works to. It's a real creative freedom." Peter Wakeman.

Unfortunately, I did not record information about the next work. But I think you appreciate it anyway.

"Exchange" 2013. Tatiana and Natasha Meharry (New Zealand). Material — automotive upholstery, ceramics, textile fasteners.

And now some works from the "Bizarre Bra" section. Some of them made a rather unpleasant impression. But the idea is creative, so I show them too.
"Budgerigar Brassiere", 2002. Emily Valentine Bullock (New Zealand). Material — stuffed budgies, feathers, rubber, textiles. The reason for the creation of the work was the death of her loved parrots. "Now they're always in my heart". I remembered the namesake of the author, cynical Valentine from the first "Kingsman".

"Epicentre Divas", 2012. Claire Third (New Zealand) is a professional taxidermist. Material — stuffed hedgehogs, textiles, precious stones.

"Abracalypse Now", 2012. Wendy Moyer (Mexico). The material is put into recycling clothing, silicone, a pumpkin, wire.

"Prickly Heat", 2010. Wendy Moyer (Mexico). Material — textile, plastic, paint.

"Busted", 2008. Rodney Thorburn (New Zealand). Material — aluminium, leather straps, steel chains.

And some more complete costumes.
"Hermacea", 2011. Jan Kerr (New Zealand). Material — handmade textiles, papier-mache, wire.

"Lunanoia" 2013. Jane Ewers (New Zealand). Material — stainless steel mesh.

And a couple of shots showing the organization of space at the exhibition. The screens displayed close up pictures of the parts.

I have already mentioned this, but I would like to draw attention to how well the light is set.

Have you noticed that there is no representative from Russia? Maybe it's time to change this situation? I am sure that our artisans have creativity, and it is more than able to compensate for the lack of free access to technologies. The competition is open to absolutely everyone. I hope to see among the finalists the names of the residents of the Livemaster next year.

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