Meet the Judging Panel for the 2024 WOW Competition

Judging Criteria

Originality and Innovation

Documental, Bethany Cordwell, Australia

The judges are looking for a garment that will surprise them and demonstrates design from a fresh perspective that they haven’t seen before. The judges are looking for exploration of an idea/concept and uniqueness of materials and design.

Concept

Clotho – the Goddess of Fate, Anna von Hartitzsch, United Kingdom

Does the garment meet the brief for the section it has been entered into? The garment must be a complete concept and clearly portray the designer’s interpretation of the section theme.

Quality of Construction

Wanton Widow, Kate MacKenzie, New Zealand

A high standard of workmanship is essential. The garment finish should be immaculate, inside and out. Your garment should look as good up close, as it does from a distance. Garments may be worn multiple times and need to accommodate easy movement as well as being strong enough to cope with choreography.

Health and Safety

Resilience, Monica Ivena, Indonesia

Judges will consider whether a garment is safe for a model to wear and perform in. Models must be able to see clearly and breathe easily whilst onstage under stage lighting. Garment weight must be evenly distributed so the garment is comfortable to perform in. All footwear must be robust, well-balanced, and safe for a model to wear.

Performance Potential

The Messenger, Dawn Mostow & Lana Crooks, United States

Judges will consider how a garment will look on stage with choreography and lighting.

The Judging Process

Finalist garments are selected and award-winners are chosen through three rounds of closed judging. Closed judging means that the judges are aware of the garment name, and the inspiration behind the work of art, however the designers’ details are not disclosed.

The first round of judging is known as First Judging, and it is a milestone event in the WOW calendar; over three days all entries are dressed on models in full hair and makeup for assessment by the judging panel in Nelson, New Zealand. This determines which garments will be finalists.

Second and Third Judging happen in Wellington, very close to the opening of the show and Awards Night. Second Judging determines the prize winners and Third Judging determines the Supreme Winner.

Meet the judges for 2024

Each year the finalist garments are selected through three rounds of closed judging. The judging panel is comprised of WOW Founder and Resident Judge, Dame Suzie Moncrieff, and two guest judges, from the worlds of art and fashion, who are invited to be part of the pane. This year we are honoured to have James Dobson and Gino Acevedo join our judging panel. Returning to the panel is Sir Richard Taylor to choose the Wētā Workshop Emerging Designer Award again this year.

Dame Suzie Moncrieff

Creator and founder of the original WOW concept, Dame Suzie Moncrieff staged the first WOW Show in Nelson in 1987 as a promotion for a rural art gallery, based on her vision to take art off the wall and exhibit it as a live theatrical show.

Dame Suzie Moncrieff has personally received several awards for her achievements and contribution to the arts. She was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1998 and made a Dame in the 2011 New Year’s Honours.

James Dobson

Pōneke based designer James Dobson began the label Jimmy D in 2004, winning the prestigious Mercedes Start Up Award with his first collection. Jimmy D’s signature look is dark, with a wry sense of humour, combining deconstructed, androgynous, oversized silhouettes with body conscious elements.

Jimmy D continues to win new fans the world over each season and is currently stocked in select boutiques throughout New Zealand & Australia and has been featured in international publications such as Japanese and Korean Vogue and Sportswear International where Jimmy D was selected as one of ‘The eight most directional collections today.’

Gino Acevedo

In 1998, Makeup and Creature Effects Art Director Gino Acevedo was asked by Creative Director of Wētā Workshop, Richard Taylor to join Wētā Workshop to be one of the supervisors for the special makeup effects and colour designs of the creatures for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Prior to this, Gino had been working in the Los Angeles film industry for more than 15 years working on such films as Point Break, Alien3, Death Becomes Her, Wolf, The Nutty Professor, Men in Black, Independence Day and Godzilla.

Since joining Wētā FX, he has also worked on The Hobbit trilogy, Avatar films as well as the Planet of the Apes series.

Sir Richard Taylor

Sir Richard Taylor is the CEO and Chief Creative Officer of artisan studio Wētā Workshop. He loves to see the range of garments that come into the Competition each year, all of them displaying originality, craftsmanship, clever use of materials and a core idea from within the design that shares a story with the audience.

Sir Richard Taylor will present the Wētā Workshop Emerging Designer Award; the winning designer receives NZ$6,000 plus the opportunity to complete an internship at Wētā Workshop which includes flights from anywhere in the world and accommodation in Wellington for up to four weeks.