.jpg)
%2020-6.jpg)
Judging Criteria
Originality and Innovation
The judges are looking for a garment that will surprise them and demonstrates design from a fresh perspective that they haven’t seen before. The judges are looking for exploration of an idea/concept and uniqueness of materials and design.
Concept
Does the garment meet the brief for the section it has been entered into? The garment must be a complete concept and clearly portray the designer’s interpretation of the section theme.
Quality of Construction
A high standard of workmanship is essential. The garment finish should be immaculate, inside and out. Your garment should look as good up close, as it does from a distance. Garments may be worn multiple times and need to accommodate easy movement as well as being strong enough to cope with choreography.
Health and Safety
Judges will consider whether a garment is safe for a model to wear and perform in. Models must be able to see clearly and breathe easily whilst onstage under stage lighting. Garment weight must be evenly distributed so the garment is comfortable to perform in. All footwear must be robust, well-balanced, and safe for a model to wear.
Performance Potential
Judges will consider how a garment will look on stage with choreography and lighting.
The Judging Process
Finalist garments are selected and award-winners are chosen through three rounds of closed judging. Closed judging means that the judges are aware of the garment name, and the inspiration behind the work of art, however the designers’ details are not disclosed.
The first round of judging is known as First Judging, and it is a milestone event in the WOW calendar; over three days all entries are dressed on models in full hair and makeup for assessment by the judging panel in Nelson, New Zealand. This determines which garments will be finalists.
Second and Third Judging happen in Wellington, very close to the opening of the show and Awards Night. Second Judging determines the prize winners and Third Judging determines the Supreme Winner.
Meet the judges for the 2023 Competition
Each year the finalist garments are selected through three rounds of closed judging. The judging panel comprises WOW Founder and Resident Judge, Dame Suzie Moncrieff, and several guest judges, from the worlds of art and fashion, who are invited to be part of the panel.
Learn more about the judges.
Dame Suzie Moncrieff
Creator and founder of the original WOW concept, Dame Suzie Moncrieff staged the first WOW Show in Nelson in 1987 as a promotion for a rural art gallery, based on her vision to take art off the wall and exhibit it as a live theatrical show.
Dame Suzie Moncrieff has personally received several awards for her achievements and contribution to the arts. She was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1998 and made a Dame in the 2011 New Year’s Honours.
Sir Richard Taylor
Sir Richard Taylor is the co-founder, CEO and Creative Director of conceptual design studio and physical effects manufacturing facility Wētā Workshop. He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 and was knighted in 2010. In 2012 Taylor was named New Zealander of the Year.
Sir Richard Taylor will present the Wētā Workshop Emerging Designer Award; the winning designer receives NZ$6,000 plus the opportunity to complete an internship at Wētā Workshop which includes flights from anywhere in the world and accommodation in Wellington for up to four weeks.
Brett Graham
Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Tainui, b. 1967) is a sculptor and Arts Foundation laureate who creates large scale artworks and installations that explore indigenous histories, politics, and philosophies.
He conceives his Māori whakapapa (ancestry) as a Pasifika/Moana identity and affiliated with a global network of indigenous and non-Western peoples. It is from this basis that Graham's work engages with histories of imperialism and global indigenous issues. His recent exhibition Tai Moana Tai Tangata was nominated for the Walters Prize, 2023.
Benny Castles
Benny Castles has been involved with WORLD for over 20 years and is a partner, Designer, and Director alongside founders Francis Hooper MNZM and Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet. WORLD, now in its third decade as one of NZ’s most iconic and Avant-garde fashion houses. Since 1989. WORLD has been New Zealand owned and loved, based in Auckland the factory of ideas and experiments, exclusively designs & creates locally manufactured, hand-made seasonal collections and haute-couture garments. WORLD is a personality and has proudly stood for three decades as an iconic innovator, outsider and pioneer.
%2024.jpg)
%2028.jpg)
%2029.jpg)
