The 2019 Wold of WearableArt awards competition and show features 108 finalist garments by 115 designers from 22 countries and regions.
This year’s Supreme WOW Award winner is ‘the Lady Warrior’ by Rinaldy Yunardi of Jakarta, Indonesia. This is the second time Yunardi has been crowned Supreme WOW Award winner. He first took home the accolade in 2017 for his garment ‘Encapsulate’, which was also the Open Section Award winner.
Yunardi created ‘the Lady Warrior’ with the toughest warrior of all in mind — the woman. According to a WOW press release, “the Lady Warrior plays the role of daughter, wife and mother. She is about inner strength rather than brute physical strength.
“I used various mediums of materials to represent different elements of The Lady Warrior,” said Yunardi. “Recycled paper made into rope and woven tightly together represents humanity and inner strength built from her experiences — she was born vulnerable but with life experiences, she has strengthened and become strong,” he says.
Rinaldy also won the Avant-garde Section and the International Design Award: Asia with ‘the Lady Warrior’.
World of WearableArt Founder and Resident Judge Dame Suzie Moncrieff says ‘the Lady Warrior’ is “a garment that the judges described as an extraordinary metamorphosis of a fragile organic material into something so beautiful.
“Demonstrating perfect balance and form, as well as immaculate craftsmanship, ‘the Lady Warrior’ conveys a stunning fragility which is perfectly balanced with a subtle strength,” said Dame Moncrieff. “The judges particularly loved the use of traditional weaving to create a piece that is so contemporary.”
WOW’s 2019 judging panel is comprised of WOW Founder and resident judge Dame Suzie Moncrieff, innovative Auckland-based designer James Dobson of fashion label Jimmy D and acclaimed multimedia sculptor Gregor Kregar. In addition, a number of awards were judged by Sir Richard Taylor, CEO and Creative Director of Weta Workshop, B. Åkerlund, iconic fashion activist and co-founder of the Residency Experience in Los Angeles, and Melissa Thompson, Cirque du Soleil’s Montreal-based Creative Intelligence Team Lead + Conceptrice.
Full list of winners
The Lady Warrior by Rinaldy Yunardi (Jakarta, Indonesia)
- Winner: Supreme WOW Award
- Winner: Avant-garde Section
- Winner: International Design
- Award: Asia
Woven In-tent by Kirsten Fletcher (Queensland, Australia)
- Winner: The Residency Experience Award
- Winner: International Design Award: Australia & Pacific
- Runner Up: Supreme WOW Award
- Second: Avant-garde Section
Waka Huia by Kayla Christensen (Island Bay, Wellington)
- Winner: Dame Suzie Moncrieff Award
- Third: Aotearoa Section
Natural Progression by Dylan Mulder (Wellington)
- Winner: Aotearoa Section
- Winner: Wearable Technology Award
Kaitiaki by Lisa Vanin (Cambridge, Hamilton)
- Winner: New Zealand Design Award
- Second: Aotearoa Section
Chrysanthemum & Amphitrite by Jack Irving (London, United Kingdom)
- Winner: Open Section
- Winner: International Design Award: United Kingdom & Europe
Regnum Dei by Daniella Sasvári & Aaron La Roche (Upper Hutt, Wellington)
- Second: Open Section
Collide-o-Scope by Vicky Robertson (Newtown, Wellington)
Third: Open Section
Gemini: the Twins by Dawn Mostow & Ben Gould (Atlanta, United States)
- Winner: International Design Award: Overall
- Winner: International Design Award: Americas
- Third: Avant-garde Section
Huaxia Totem by Sun Ye, Miao Yuxin & Yuan Jue (Shanghai, China)
- Winner: White Section
- Winner: Weta Workshop Emerging Designer Award
The Blomar by Akhilesh Gupta (Bangalore, India)
Second: White Section
Enlightened by Michelle Wade (New South Wales, Australia) & Adam Wade (Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand)
- Third: White Section Infini-D by Tara Morelos, Ahmad Mollahassani & Nelia Justo (Sydney, Australia)
- Third: Transform Section
Sea Urchin Explosion by Jack Irving (London, United Kingdom)
- Winner: Cirque du Soleil Invited Artisan Award Winner: Transform Section
Dress Up Dolls by Meg Latham (Motueka, Nelson)
- Second: Transform Section
Banshee of the Bike Lane by Grace DuVal (Chicago, United States)
- Winner: Mythology Section
Soul Guardian by Chang Yi-Wei (New Taipei City, Taiwan)
- Second: Mythology Section
The Moirai – the Shape of Us by Tina Hutchison-Thomas (St Albans, Christchurch)
- Third: Mythology Section
Wrath of Medusa by Edyta Jermacz (Suchy Las, Poland)
- Winner: First-time Entrant Award
Walk All Over Me by Louise Dyhrfort (London, United Kingdom)
- Winner: Student Innovation Award
Engolfed by Leanne Day (Papakura, Auckland)
- Winner: Sustainability Award
View more images in the gallery above. All images courtesy of The World of WearableArt.
The World of WearableArt is on 26 September – 13 October. Get your tickets here.
