The Montana WOW® Awards show selects around 150 garment entries designed by a national and international array of artists, designers and inventors and celebrates them in a totally unique environment. Each year the Awards performance combines unique sections into a distinctive two hour theatrical extravaganza showcasing incredible garments, stunning sets, dance, music, lighting and choreography. This original concept promotes New Zealand as an extraordinary, exuberant and creative place and showcases this creativity to the world. WOW® ‘takes art off the wall and onto the moving body’™ and enables works of art to perform onstage in the ultimate arts competition.
Designers of WearableArt™ garments are challenged to create something completely original, a garment that has impact on the 40+ metre stage, is impressive up close, is constructed to withstand the movement of individual choreography and has that overall ‘WOW Factor’. Although many entrants to the Montana WOW® Awards are professional artists and designers, there is no requirement that entrants have a fine art qualification, or have won acceptance in their art field before they can put their work forward. The Awards’ ‘non-elitist’ approach appeals to entrants from all walks of life.
For some designers the Awards Show is something of a celebration of traditional skills, but used for self-expression rather than to serve domestic or commercial need. Other designers make garments that have very little relation to conventions of sewing and other traditional handcrafts. They employ materials foreign to body draperies such as bicycle tubes, plastic bottles and paper clips, which call into questions conventional perceptions about clothing and the body. Whatever the materials, the quality of work demanded is always very high.
The audience does not necessarily have an easier task than the designers – to watch such a visual feast over two hours can be a breath-taking and moving experience. The show is a colourful fusion of dance, lighting, music, garments and performance - it is an indulgence for all senses. WOW becomes a passion for our audience as each years show is a completely new and magical experience.
'It was a magic moment and virtually indescribable to our friends'
- Steve Bort, California, USA
'I was moved to tears' - Chris Tait, Invercargill
'Our guests were almost in shock at the end of the show – they were that amazed by the experience' - Cheryl Kortink, Wellington
'For me it’s like leaving earth. It’s like a really good acid trip. It’s Carvivale meets Mardi Gras meets Haute couture meets I don’t know a Peter Gabriel concert, all showing on Broadway all directed by Salvador Dali. What a spectacle' - Jeff Kohen, Denver, USA
