When I first came to Wellington on holiday in 2014, Te Papa was running an exhibit on the World of Wearable Art show, a design competition that got its start in Nelson in 1987, which was my first introduction to the awesomeness that is WoW. I had a grand time running around the WoW museum in Nelson when I was there, so I was really excited to finally see the show in Wellington! What I had seen in the past had been static displays and pictures, which don't always do
justice for the designs. It was really cool to see how things moved or caught
the light.
I wasn't able to take pictures during the show itself (not that I would have been able to, as I spent all of it with my jaw firmly on the floor). There were quite a few pieces in the lobby on display from previous years.
This was my view for the show.
There was a splendid jazz band playing before the show.
The show started with a guy flying in via a pulley system with wings that looked a bit as if they'd been stolen off
of the Wright Brothers' plane. He perched momentarily on the nest, then came to
light on the ground, shedding his wings ...and suit (he was still
wearing underwear, Mom), leading to a bit
of fun
as he tried to get back into the tearaway suit while the winged rig flew
out. He was joined by a little person, who offered him a new suit
pulled from a trap in the stage. They wandered around for a bit, pulling
children and other people out
of the vents as
well, leading into the children's section, as kids dressed in normal
clothes came out dancing with kids dressed in the
wearable art.
The theme was imaginary friends. The clouds in the auditorium lifted
out, and there were adult dancers in among the kids, who sent more (lit,
this time) clouds up to the fly space, and there were a few aerial moments.
There were sounds
of a storm, as stage hands pulled the trees out, and the original guy descended from the ceiling on a bit
of
wreckage - which distracted from him hooking a line to the fabric that
had been covering the stage as he was lifted back out, and the fabric
transformed into a gigantic mountain, with projections
of
lava and other neat things as the Aotearoa section began. There were Māori
dancers in among the models. There was one dress in particular in this
section that made me giggle a bit - it was really, really cool, but
clearly on wheels so the model could maneuver it around the stage. The
effect was rather comical, as you could see her head bobbing as she
walked, but the dress was gliding smoothly.
For the next section, the mountain collapsed into a billowing bubble in the center
of the stage, and there were dancers casting shadows in the inside
of the bubble. Then there were a bunch
of
dancers dressed as brides in veils running through the audience,
eventually gathering onstage for a dance number, where they were joined
by their grooms. The choreography through all
of this was fabulous - and there were some really cool moments where the male dancers (some
of whom were not small), jumped into the arms
of
their partners, and throughout, there were some incredible lifts from
both sexes. It was hard sometimes to choose whether to watch the models
or the dancers, as there was so much going on! This was the open
section, so there wasn't a set theme. There was one dress that was a
vase with poppies coming out the top, and another that was made of wire frame
garden implements and furniture all stuck together.
Then
it was the architecture section, which was introduced with a really cool
sound and light show. The fabric was pulled down through a trap, and
during the light show a ramp that went up to a platform and then down to the
audience was set up at center stage. Clearly there had been a few issues
during dress rehearsals, as a handful
of the models had stage hands coming up to hold their hands as they walked down the other side.
For
the next bit, the stage was cleared and the guy from the beginning was
wheeled out with a typewriter on a desk with a stack of
papers about twenty feet high. A ladder was brought out to reach
the top, and he and the little person had a comedic bit as he would type
a page, ring a bell, and ask his friend to run up the ladder to put it
on top of the stack, with increasing speed. They were soon joined by a troupe of male dancers who came out with large wooden boxes that were open on one side. Over the course of
the next section they used the boxes as desks, as platforms, as places
to curl up in, jumping in and out and creating things for the models to
walk on. This was one of the sections where it
was hardest to decide what to watch, as there were a few times when I
looked away from a costume to see that the dancers had done something
incredible, and I had no idea how they'd gotten there. This was the men's
section, and all of the wearable art in this one was a take on a uniform of some kind.
At the end of
this, a curtain was pulled around the stage (in a u-shape) and the
quasi-lead jumped into a trap in the stage. To simulate him falling
into a subterranean wonderland, another performer was flown in for a
slow motion fall as earthscapes were projected onto the curtain. The
band from the beginning came back out, and a woman in a red dress sang
while three performers descended from root-like chandeliers on silks. A banquet table was set up and another group of dancers came out to perform behind the models. This was the Weta costume section, and probably one of my favorites.
The
final section returned to having the tree-like things set up, one with a
violin player standing on the top. He was shortly joined by two women
on a trapeze who did a stunning duet. It was some of
the most amazing work I've ever seen live. At one point, one woman was
lying flat out on the trapeze, while the other stood on her hip bones
with such good balance that she was able to let go of
the ropes (they were probably about 25 feet off the ground). There was
another moment where one woman was hanging off the bar from her ankles -
and then the other stood on her upturned feet. I cannot imagine how
uncomfortable that must be. But it was really cool, and the rest of their work was equally stunning. The last section of wearable art was the avant garde part, though oddly, some of it was less wild than what had come before. After the aerialists were gone, there was a duet from two of the male dancers in the background while the models did their thing.
The
show ended with everyone back onstage in whatever costume they
happened to be wearing, as the flyer got back into his wings and headed
back out. Then there were three big curtains pulled out, and the
winners of each section were announced and projected on to the screens.
It was absolutely stunning. If I am ever lucky enough to be here for one
of these again, I think I'd be tempted to go twice, as there was too much to focus on. It was very, very cool!
