The World of Wearable Art

One of the most interesting cultural phenomena in New Zealand over the past 15 years has been the spectacular success of the World of WearableArt, an annual competition and award show that explores the intersection between fashion and art, through a genre popularly known as wearable art. This unique event has encouraged an explosion of creative activity, inspiring a wide range of fashion designers, artists, costume makers and other craft artists from all over the world to participate. The range of garments produced for this event is breathtaking, as the rules of competition mean that anything of quality that is in any way wearable can find a place on the catwalk. What this also means is that the garments are constructed from an extraordinary array of materials - car parts, wood shavings, zips, silk, potato chip packets, seaweed, slices of toast, old telephone parts, paper clips, corrugated iron, gloves, feathers ? the list is endless. As well, the thematic range is impressive, with a dizzying amalgam of ideas and influences, including metamorphism, concepts around entrapment and blindness, eroticism and fetish, pacifica, fantasy and flight.
Wearable Art is intended to be an inspirational and truly original visual design source book, and features the work of New Zealand photographer Craig Potton, who has been photographing wearable art shows and garments for many years. This book collects together the best garments that have been produced over the past 15 years, in a remarakble celebration of the diversity and creativity of the wearable art that has come from this competition. Anyone with an interest in fashion, design and the craft arts will find this book inspirational.