Competition

Garments

Resources

2026 Section Themes

Each year there are six section themes or ‘worlds’ for designers to be inspired by when entering the WOW Competition. This includes three recurring sections; Aotearoa, Avant-garde and Open, plus three unique themes which are announced each year.

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Wellington 'The Skin I Am In', Katherine Bertram, New Zealand

Aotearoa

Avant-garde

Waste Mountain, Jessie Curry, London College of Fashion, United Kingdom

Open

Metallic

Kinetic

Bizarre Bra

Aotearoa

Reach into your unique connection, perspectives, original creativity and imagination to tell a story of your personal relationship with Aotearoa New Zealand. Be inspired by the breathtaking beauty of te taiao Aotearoa (New Zealand’s natural environment), honour culture and history, embrace your aspirations for the future of this wonderful land and its people.

See Examples

No items found.

Avant-garde

Take the concept of fashion and push its limitations within a world that is experimental, radical, and unorthodox. Create a work of wearable art that is unconventional and breaks new ground through form and structure.

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See Examples

No items found.

Open

A world with no thematic boundaries, giving you complete freedom to explore and create your own design. The only limit is your imagination.

See Examples

No items found.

Metallic

Explore a colour palette that ranges from the brilliance of gleaming, chromatic machines to the aged beauty of oxidized copper and bronze. Be inspired by an endless spectrum of tones from the dark iron of a blacksmith’s forge to the luminous radiance of silver filigree ornamentation or the brutality of industrial steel grey. Create awe with ore.

Your garment must consist of over 90% metallic colour.

No items found.

Kinetic

Let motion be your muse. Explore the physics of momentum, where sculpture comes alive in animation. Explore balance and weight, perpetual motion or spinning oscillations. Experiment with rotation, rhythm or transformation. Let your wearable art reveal its true nature in motion.

No items found.

Bizarre Bra

Take this unassuming under and use it as a canvas for creativity. An artistic brief like no other; let your imagination run wild with limitless potential and challenge definitions of convention, gender, functionality or even rationality. Take this everyday item and transform it into a work of wearable art.

See Examples

No items found.

What judges look for

At the epicentre of WOW’s universe is an international wearable art competition that challenges artists and designers from all around the world to take art off the wall and onto the human form. The most innovative and outstanding entries are chosen to appear on stage as part of the annual World of WearableArt Show.

Learn more

Science Fiction, Fifi Colston, New Zealand

The Organ Farmer, Fifi Colston, New Zealand and Sir Richard Taylor

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Keep Reading

Awards & Prizes

The World of WearableArt Awards offer over $185,000 in prize value. Learn about the wide range of prizes and awards that you can apply for.

Designer resources

Find a library of resources including useful blogs and videos, tips, and advice from the WOW team on garment photography, guidelines for electrics, packing your garment, and more.