World of Wearable Art

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!