World of WearableArt is excited to reveal that 115 designers from 22 countries and regions have been announced as finalist designers for this year’s World of WearableArt Show.
The world’s most significant wearable art competition is returning for its 31st season this year in Wellington from 26 September to 13 October. About 60,000 people are expected to attend the 2019 WOW Awards Season.
WOW Competition Director, Heather Palmer, said this year’s finalists’ work is outstanding, with the designers pushing the boundaries of invention and scale, using diverse materials and progressive technology:
"It never ceases to amaze me each year the sheer brilliance of our designers’ work and this year is no exception. There has been such a high level of experimentation and innovation by the designers this year, using materials in unexpected ways to create bizarre, edgy works of art."
The first round of judging took place in Nelson over the weekend of 5 – 7 July. This year’s judging panel includes WOW Founder and resident judge, Dame Suzie Moncrieff, designer James Dobson of New Zealand fashion label Jimmy D, and multi-media artist & sculptor Gregor Kregar.
This judging panel will also be joined by fashion activist and celebrity stylist, B. Akerlund, Sir Richard Taylor, CEO and Creative Director of Wētā Workshop and Cirque du Soleil’s Creative Intelligence Team Lead + Conceptrice, Melissa Thompson.
The finalist garments will go through two more stages of the judging process, where they will be seen on stage with choreography, lighting and music ahead of Opening Night on Thursday 26 September.
In total 108 garments will be brought to life as part of the 2019 WOW Awards Show.
Be the first to see these incredible works of art come to life on stage at the TSB Arena – good seats are still available on Opening Night!
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Australia (14 finalist designers)
Kirsten Fletcher
Erica Gray (two finalist entries)
Felicity Rose Hardy
Ildy Izso
Lesley Marsh
Tara Morelos, Ahmad Mollahassani, Nelia Justo (three finalist designers in a design team)
R. R. Pascoe
Jill Perry
Nicola Rule
Hanna Smith
Michelle Wade (in a design team with Adam Wade from New Zealand)
Svenja
Austria (1 finalist designer)
Gudrun Bartenberger-Geyer
Belarus (1 finalist designer)
Volha Sniazhko
China (10 finalist designers)
Guo Tianzi
Lyu Lu, Gu Yiheng (two finalist designers in a design team)
Sun Ye, Miao Yuxin, Yuan Jue (three finalist designers in a design team)
Wang Haiwei (two finalist entries)
Xu Ran
Qiongwen Zhang
Chen Bingrou
Czechia (2 finalist designers)
Denisa Pubalová, Jenny Sternwaldova (two finalist designers in a design team)
France (1 finalist designer)
Marine Arnoul
Germany (2 finalist designers)
Anto Christ, Casio Ono (two finalist designers in a design team)
Hong Kong (1 finalist designer)
Lam Hoi Man Kinki
India (5 finalist designers)
Ashish Dhaka, Sonika Khar (two finalist designers in a design team)
Akhilesh Gupta
Thingamla Adrianne Keishing
Shantanu Singh (two finalist entries)
Indonesia (1 finalist designer)
Rinaldy Yunardi (two finalist entries)
Ireland (1 finalist designer)
Monika Bogyos
Kazakhstan (2 finalist designers)
Bota Kirgizbayeva, Aya Kirgizbayeva (two finalist designers in a design team)
Netherlands (1 finalist designer)
Roosmarie Mittemeijer
New Zealand (43 finalist designers)
Ruth Arkless
Anna Baines
Jill Benson
Ian Bernhard (two finalist entries)
Katherine Bertram
Jayne Boesley
Kayla Christensen
Stephanie Cossens
Christopher Davis
Leanne Day
Lynne Dunphy
Kerry Funnell
Carolyn Gibson
Tina Hutchison-Thomas
Jenny Jack
Judith Keith
Carolyn Laing, Debbie Paton (two finalist designers in a design team)
Meg Latham
Lyndal Linton
Renee Louie
Sacha Mail
Zach McDonald-Wright, Marie Wright, Taralee Freeman (three finalist designers in a design team)
Ali Middleton
Autumn Minnear
Dylan Mulder
Louisa Marie Paterson
Carmel Pollock
Vicky Robertson
Daniella Sasvári, Aaron La Roche (two finalist designers in a design team)
Shelley Scott (two finalist entries)
Loretta Sloan
Sheela Stoneman
Jenny Sutton
Mary Turner
Jean Valentine
Josiene van Maarseveen
Lisa Vanin
Adam Wade (in a design team with Michelle Wade from Australia)
Keryn Whitney
Philippines (4 finalist designers)
Armando Rutaquio Jr, Jon Daniel Jasa, Charles David Almario (three finalist designers in a design team)
Russell Villafuerte
Poland (2 finalist designers)
Edyta Jermacz (two finalist entries)
Marcin Szłapka
Russian Federation (1 finalist designer)
Maria Amirova
Singapore (2 finalist designers)
Dinh Hai Yen
Galina Mihaleva (two finalist entries)
Sweden (1 finalist designer)
Pavlo Blinov
Taiwan (7 finalist designers)
Cao Qian Yi, Lu Pei-Hsin (two finalist designers in a design team)
Yun Shan Lee
Zeng Ying-Syuan
Chang Yi-Wei (two finalist entries)
Chiu Yu-Chia
Lin Zhi-Er
United Kingdom (4 finalist designers)
Louise Byford
Louise Dyhrfort
Jack Irving (four finalist entries)
Anna von Hartitzsch
United States (8 finalist designers)
Lynn Christiansen
Grace DuVal
Natalia Fedner
Dawn Mostow, Ben Gould (two finalist designers in a design team)
Robert Reed
Nola Yergen, Brian Lapham (two finalist designers in a design team)