Unlikely everyday materials will be turned into spectacular works of wearable art on the Sunshine Coast in August.
Artists and audiences are set to flock to the Australian Wearable Art Festival at Venue 114 in Bokarina for a showcase of creativity, innovation and style.
Tickets are on sale and the call for artist entries is now open for the event, which will be held on a 27-metre runway.
Last year’s Supreme Winner Isabelle Cameron said the festival offered a unique platform to display work that reaches new audiences.
She encouraged emerging and established artists to take part.
“The festival is a really supportive, collective effort,” she said.
“There’s not many opportunities to deliver a performed artwork with access to models, makeup artistry and a full catwalk with sound and lighting – it’s a great chance to connect with other artists and get your name out there.”
Ms Cameron’s crochet piece ‘Dear Babushka’, which was inspired by her Ukrainian heritage, took home three prizes last year.
She was the Supreme Winner, the Floriana category winner and was one of four artists chosen to be featured in the Textile Fibre Forum magazine.
Like many other wearable artists, Ms Cameron said her work was a chance to challenge mainstream fashion norms, celebrate diversity, inclusivity and personal storytelling through handcrafted clothing and accessories.
“The large lily flowers (in ‘Dear Babushka’) you see on the headdress, coupled with the purple and yellow colouring, are in tribute to my model who is a proud intersex woman,” she said.
“It was really important for me to share her pride and story because a lot of the time the ‘I’ in LGBTQIA is overlooked. Stephanie also shares Ukrainian heritage as well so the traditional ‘vinok’ was also significant to her.”
Event co-founder Helen Perry said this year’s festival would build on the growing momentum that wearable art continues to accrue in the public domain, and that the primary focus is connecting wearable art to industry.
“The global popularity of events like the Met Gala for example, underpin the popularity of fashion that pushes the boundaries and Australian Wearable Art Festival puts the spotlight on wearable art as a standalone art form in its own right,” she said.
“We continue to build an internationally spanning industry platform that supports a unique art form feeding into music and entertainment industries – last year’s judge Bethany Cordwell, a highly regarded wearable artist herself, has had her work worn by Beyonce in Renaissance album artwork.
“The possibilities of where wearable art can take artists are limitless and the Australian Wearable Art Festival exists to nurture emerging talent and empower them to commercialise their craft by creating a platform that opens doors to these kinds of new heights.”
Since its inaugural show in 2019, the festival has expanded to 40 artists, 27 metres of catwalk and is a cornerstone of the Sunshine Coast’s arts and cultural scene.
The festival will this year extend beyond its physical roots in South-East Queensland with a static exhibition in Cardinia Art Gallery, Victoria.
The event will be held on August 9-10.
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