WINNER, GET SET CREATE –2011.
Theme: Kiwiana
As one of three WOW designers, I was invited to participate in the competition event Get, Set, Create’, running during The World of Wearable Art season. Held in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Get, Set, Create is a Project Runway meets Masterchef style competition.
Using only the materials provided on the day, it is a 90 minute quick fire challenge to create a garment. Three WOW designers compete against each other and the clock to come up with the winning garment, as judged by a WOW panel.
My interpretation of the theme for this competition was not something to be decided until the moment that the materials were revealed at the start of the competition. Boxes of resources were positioned on the front of the stage under covers until countdown to commencement…
I referenced the theme of the event Kiwiana, by creating a garment about a genuine cultural icon; a beach picnic or barbeque. The visual of the foaming white horses crashing onto the beach around the New Zealand coastline influenced the top half of the garment. A white neoprene fabric layered in asymmetric horizontal folds was made by draping and attaching these to a quickly constructed neoprene corset base. A large plastic tablecloth with a gaudy strawberry print was the perfect partner to the small piece of neoprene and found itself transformed into a large draped skirt. A simple piece of red card, cut into strips, became a collar, referencing the pohutukawa flower and making the event a beach Christmas picnic.
The Master of Ceremonies for the event was Ginette McDonald.
