Joy and emotion after taking the plunge to enter WOW

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Turkish WOW Designer, Ece Özalp, shares the joy and emotion she felt after finally taking the plunge to enter WOW, along with the inspiration behind her 2024 garment Ethereal Shift.

Interviewer: Welcome Ece! How was your awards experience last night?

Ece: It was amazing, actually. Of course, I wanted to get an award, but I wasn’t expecting that much. And when I heart ‘Turkey’, I am only one from Turkey, so I was kind of shocked. It was amazing! I don’t remember that much. I just walked to the stage and everything, but it was perfect.

2024 WOW Award Ceremony, Ece Özalp winner of Absolutely Positively Wellington International Design Award: UK & Europe

Interviewer: And what was it like seeing your garment on the WOW stage for the first time?

Ece: It was amazing, also, because I was following this event maybe for 10 years and I was always thinking that okay I will participate in one day and one day, just, is the day. So, it was amazing. When I first saw my garment, I cried a little bit... it was very emotional

Interviewer: What was the inspiration behind Ethereal Shift?

Ece: I got inspired from a lot of things actually. Mainly, deep sea creatures. She’s an ethereal being in a cocoon dress who brings unity, joy and peace to the human race, so she’s here for transformative change.

Interviewer: What motivates you to enter a competition like WOW?

Ece: It is the space where I can be myself and I can create whatever I want. There’s not much space for that actually, for people like us, I need a reason to create, and I need a deadline. So, it’s amazing to have an opportunity to put my work in a space like this.

Interviewer: What is wearable art to you?

Ece: It is, how can I say, it is anything you want, I guess, anything you want to create.

Interviewer: What’s part of your design process when you’re creating a work of wearable art

‍Ece: It’s very complicated. It’s always crazy. And yeah, I don’t know. It’s always different than each other, but usually something comes to my mind and then I just draw that, and I try to make something out of it, and it change all, all the way. So, the finished product, I never imagined the finished product actually. And very last minute I see, I don’t know what to expect actually until the very last minute. So, when I see the piece that I made, it’s so amazing that I’m always like, “Oh, did I do this?”, “who did this?” and it’s a lot of tears, anxieties, self-doubts, joy, excitement, a lot of sleepless nights, yeah.

Interviewer: What would you say to someone else who was thinking of entering WOW for the first time?

Ece: They should definitely do it, definitely. I was waiting for this maybe over 10 years, so, yeah, I’m so glad that I did it.

Interviewer: Brilliant. And what’s next for you?

Ece: I don’t know. Definitely I will participate again!