Mostow and Gould receive WOW’s ultimate accolade for their work Tsukumogami, a tribute in latex to Japanese classical ceramics and the mythology of objects.

It is the first Supreme WOW Award for Mostow and Gould, who have been regular finalists since 2017. In that time, Dawn has achieved eight finalist entries, five of them created in collaboration with Ben, collecting multiple awards.  

Runner-up to the Supreme WOW Award was 30-time WOW finalist Wellingtonian Fifi Colston with her garment Meine Erste Liebe.  

This year's Supreme WOW Award winner was selected from 85 finalist entries created by 100 designers from 17 countries. They competed for a prize pool of over $200,000, across 25 awards.

Supreme WOW Award winner Tsukumogami is an intricate latex re-imagining of two centuries-old blue ceramic vases imbued with live spirit, crowned by blue and white ikebana flower sculptures.  

The WOW Competition judges described it as a blend of past and future, “...radically innovative and future forward, while at the same time paying exquisite homage to centuries-old artistic and cultural traditions. A work that captivates the eye and refuses to let it go.”  

The idea for the entry came to Mostow and Gould, partners in creativity and life, from Dawn’s time living in Japan. The team was inspired by the Japanese belief that objects can be imbued with spirit after centuries of use and were fascinated by the Japanese practice of kintsugi; repairing broken ceramics with golden seams to create objects with greater value than the original.  

WOW Head of Competition Sarah Nathan says there was again an extraordinary level of creativity and technical skills evident in the finalist garments.  

"As well as many familiar faces, this year we’ve welcomed back incredible designers returning after long absences, alongside first-time entrants achieving brilliant results. It’s exciting to see the wearable artform continue to thrive, grow and push boundaries across craft, storytelling and materials.”  

The 2025 WOW Competition judging panel comprised WOW Founder and Resident Judge Dame Suzie Moncrieff; ceramic sculptor Virginia Leonard; and artist and fashion designer Lindah Lepou.    

The judges said the WOW Competition’s class of 2025 has been breathtaking.  

”Up close, the intricacy and beauty is off-the-scale. You can feel the thought, the labour, and the heart behind every detail. There’s been exceptionally diverse storytelling across all entries, and the 2025 competition has proven again that WOW is a global reflection of humanity through the eyes of incredible artists.”  

Supreme WOW Award Runner Up Fifi Colston’s Meine Erste Liebe - her 30th garment to appear on the WOW stage - was inspired by the tragic love story of a nineteenth century German botanical artist and his wife. Colston has said publicly that this will be her last WOW entry, closing the curtain on a WOW career that has seen her creations a constant feature of the annual WOW Show since 1990.      

The judges described Colston’s garment as “a work that takes your breath away. A living archive of hundreds of years of artistic technique and a divinely composed ode to love, loss and art.”  

In addition to the Supreme WOW Award and Runner-up, the WOW Competition comprises six sections and eleven special awards.  

The Wētā Workshop Award for Outstanding Design, judged by Wētā Workshop founder and CEO Sir Richard Taylor was won by Cantabrian Cushla O’Connell, for her garment Worn Landscape that features a landscape image made from over 6,000 up-cycled buttons. Cushla’s garment also placed first in the Aotearoa section. Sir Richard Taylor says Worn Landscape is “imbued with the spirit of a Hayao Miyazaki inspired world”.  

“This beautifully eccentric and exquisitely fabricated wearable artwork is a joy to behold and a wonder to witness.”  

The Dame Suzie Moncrieff Award - awarded by WOW Founder Dame Suzie Moncrieff to the garment that best embodies the spirit of WOW - this year went to Ōtaki designer Jan Kerr for her garment Beeing Mary Bumby, a celebration of New Zealand’s earliest bee-keeper.  

Dame Suzie described Beeing Mary Bumby as “a treasure trove of unpredictable delights and depths. It has exceptional attention to detail – from the reverence of a gilded carriage for a regal queen bee and a tribute cameo of Mary herself, to the realities of filth born from working on the land.”  

The inaugural Te Tohu Toi Rākei - a new WOW Competition award recognising and celebrating excellence in Māori art, craft and design when translated into a work of wearable art - was awarded to Anna Hayes-Moeau (Ngati Kahungunu ki te Wairoa) for her work Ko au ko Harakeke, Ko Harakeke ko au.      

Te Tohu Toi Rākei judges Karl Chitham (Te Uriroroi and Ngā Puhi) and Isaac Te Awa (Ngāpuhi, Kāti Māmoe, Kai Tahu, Waitaha) commented that the entry stood out for “elevating traditional materials and techniques with exquisite attention to detail”.  

“The incorporation of whakapapa and pūrākau transforms the work from something familiar to something extraordinary.”  

The Tall Poppy Real Estate People’s Choice Award is open for audiences to vote throughout the season and will be announced early October.  

The 2025 WOW Show: RISE runs until 5 October at Wellington’s TSB Arena. Tickets are selling fast, but still available here.

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2025 WORLD OF WEARABLEART™ AWARD WINNERS

Supreme WOW Award

Tsukumogami, Dawn Mostow & Ben Gould, United States  

Supreme WOW Award Runner-up

Meine Erste Liebe, Fifi Colston, Wellington, New Zealand  

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SECTION WINNERS

Open Section

Winner: Meine Erste Liebe, Fifi Colston, Wellington, New Zealand  

Runner-up: The Music Within, De Lamby Wulff, Australia  

Avant-garde Section

Winner: Void, Hung Cho Hei Joe, Hong Kong Design Institute, Hong Kong, China  

Runner-up: Inside Out, Stephanie Johnson, Ireland  

Aotearoa Section

Winner: Worn Landscape, Cushla O'Connell, Christchurch, New Zealand  

Runner-up: Whare Mīere, Felicity Collier, Timaru, New Zealand  

Air Section

Winner: Wau Bulan, Faris Fairusham, Victoria University of Wellington, Malaysia  

Runner-up: Lionfly, Giancarlo Bello, Switzerland  

Neon Section  

Winner: Drift, Katherine Bertram, New Zealand  

Runner-up: Straw-ry Eyed, Bethany Cordwell, Australia  

Myths & Legends Section

Winner: Tsukumogami, Dawn Mostow & Ben Gould, United States  

Runner-up: Don’t Be Afraid, Thao Nguyen, Vietnam  

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SPECIAL AWARDS

Ko te Tohu Toi Rākei / Toi Rākei Award

Ko Au Ko Harakeke, Ko Harakeke Ko Au, Anna Hayes-Moeau, Rotorua, New Zealand  

Accor Live Limitless First-time Entrant Award

Invisible Tale, Yu Wang, Beijing Institute of Fashion, Hong Kong, China  

Student Distinction Award

Under _’s Gaze, Everything Magnifies, Yuchen Jiang, Central Saint Martins, United Kingdom  

Sustainability Award

Salome, R.R. Pascoe, Australia  

New Zealand Design Merit Award

First Light, Lindal Linton, Brett Linton & Harvey Linton, Wellington, New Zealand

Absolutely Positively Wellington International Design Merit Award

Loinnir na Mara, Mary McGuinness, Ireland

Transformation Innovation Award

Astray, Paula Fernandez Mederos, United States

Wētā Workshop Outstanding Design Award

Worn Landscape, Cushla O’Connell, Lincoln, New Zealand  

Great Journeys New Zealand Designer Development Award

Grandy C, Canada  

Dame Suzie Moncrieff Award

Beeing Mary Bumby, Jan Kerr, Ōtaki, New Zealand  

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