KATE NEWTON Trelise Cooper's pattern-maker Rodney Leong wowed the judges at Friday night's Montana World of Wearable Art Awards and secured a place in the show's hall of fame with his creation made from 10,664 plastic collar stays. Leong spent seven months designing The Love of Icarus but said it would behis last year in the competition. "This entry took quite a lot of energy and time. I want to try other things and something has to give," he said. He also said he never wanted to look at another plastic collar stay again. Leong was chosen by fashion designer Trelise Cooper to participate in her workshop after she was wowed by his 2003 entry. Leong, no stranger to the fashion world, holds diplomas in textile design and fashion design and technology. He admitted after the show to once trying on The Love of Icarus when he thought no-one was looking. "There was a few minutes of panic when I couldn't get it off," he joked. Runner-up to the supreme award and winner of the Bizarre Bra section was a design by Invercargill 70-year-old Russell Sutherland. Remarkable Uplift with its working cranes was created from metal and fibreglass and inspired by the cranes working on high-rise apartments in Queenstown. It was Blow Me, however, designed by Wendy Burton and Patrick Duffy from Christchurch that had the crowd's support. The two costumes had the appearance of struggling through wind with all features blown to the side of the head and specially made editions of The Dominion Post featuring the design on the front page. It was the wind that thwarted the scheduled parade through the city on Friday, forcing organisers to postpone it for a week. The WOW show began its second year in Wellington on Thursday night. More than 30,000 people will see this season's show over its eight sold-out nights.
