the wellingtonista

Three members of the Wellingtonista are already gleefully planning our outfits for the opening of the Montana World of WearableArt Awards Show in on the 24th of September at TSB arena.  The huge marketing push has begun with ads popping up near the airport and the details of the WOW wander are being hammered out as I type.  The show is worth around 10 million dollars to the Wellington economy and we will no doubt see creative lunges for our attention on a par with 'that iceberg' and 'those reapers'.  Let's hope they do Wellington proud with more creativity and less branded bumpf. 

Last year the supreme award went to Wellingtonian Nadine Jaggi and this year sees Wellingtonians dominating the field again with 40 out of the 165 garments from locals.  Last year Aunty Helen (or her COMMS people) did a mighty job of writing a speech on the fly but although I am sure the awards will be "World Class"™ I am not sure that we need John on stage with giant paua encrusted key for the occasion this year (but if he wants to give the paua dress another outing....)

The press release shows the scale and creativity of a few local entries:

• Leonardo Da Vinci’s many talents as a skilled painter, sculptor, inventor, mathematician, draughtsman, fashionista and scientist are honoured in Heather Wallace’s extraordinary entry, Da Vinci’s Dandies.  The Wellington industrial designer has fashioned an entry that needs to be worn by three men, modeled on the drawing of the Vitruvian Man, “celebrating Da Vinci’s amazing and diverse talents in a theatrical and elegant way.”  Wallace was runner up in the 2007 CentrePort Shades Of White Section.
• Hundreds of coins from different countries have been hand stitched into the bodice of Kate Smith’s garment, Do Your Arrears Hang Low?, to symbolise the importance of holding onto your cash in an economic downturn.  The art and fashion student believes the recession, “is a big problem, yet people are still spending and ignoring it” and has created a large white elephant’s head on her garment to hammer home this point.  
• Emma Whiteside was smitten with the English Queen Adelaide (1830 – 1849, who, surprisingly for royalty, hated unnecessary expenditure) and has fashioned a regal 18^th Century gown out of discarded automotive radiator copper.  The industrial design student at Victoria University has been creating things out of radiator parts for years as her parents used to operate a radiator manufacturing plant.  “I used to polish up the best pieces with nail polish.  The men in the factory thought I was crazy,” confesses Whiteside, who spent over 200 hours sewing together individual copper radiator rosettes for her garment, Queen Adelaide.
  

 Sold out signs are mushrooming on the WOW site so get in now if you have been prevaricating.