Wearable Arts winner relieved to win top prize

The Love of Icarus by Rodney Leong

Seven months of work left World of Wearable Arts supreme winner Rodney Leong "very relieved" to win the prestigious award at Wellington's events centre last night.

The Auckland pattern maker's winning creation The Love of Icarus was made from 20,664 collar stays -- the plastic bits that keep collars in shape -- and was inspired by a Greek myth.

The outfit, shaped like a moon, was transparent and had a person inside it wearing lycra.

The creation netted Leong $10,000 prize money, a $10,000 international travel prize and a glass trophy.

The design also won the HP Planet Award, worth $4000 and the American Express Open Section, worth $5000.

Leong has been entering the prestigious competition since 1989 "and it's (the supreme award) always eluded me".

And the win was not before time, as Leong had decided this year would be his last in the competition.

The Greek myth that inspired the creation was the story of a father who, while attempting to escape Crete, built wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son Icarus.

Together they flew away, but Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when the wax melted. Icarus' lover, in her grief, made herself wings and flew to the moon where she stayed.

Leong said the quote depicting his work was: "On certain nights, when there is a full moon and the stars lay cast out, a shadowy figure can be seen floating within the moon".

This year's competition attracted entries from 41 international designers and 120 national designers.

Entries included a bra made entirely from human hair, a costume created with 642 soon-to-be withdrawn five cent coins and a tribute to New Zealand's favourite dessert made from 160 icecream containers.

Highlights of the show included a section inspired by children, the Avante Garde section while the newly introduced Shape It section opened with a sassy metropolitan Sex in the City feel.

Also appreciated was Madame Boobalicious as the Master of Ceremonies in the popular Bizarre Bra section, which showed off bras that could never be hidden by mere clothes.

The show ended with a cabaret finale and a pyrotechnic display in which flames shot from the ceiling.

It was the second year Wellington has hosted the Wearable Arts awards after the show was moved from Nelson.

More than 30,000 tickets have been sold for the eight shows.

Other Wow winners were:

* Russell Sutherland from Invercargill -- the Nelson Runner Up to the Supreme Award, the Turners & Growers Ltd First Time Entrant Award and the Scenic Circle Hotels Award with his Remarkable Uplift entry;

* Jayani Iddawela from Auckland -- the Tertiary Commission Student Design Award with Un-labeled (sic);

* Shin Ji Eun from South Korea -- the Wellington International Award with The Life and Foam of an Indigo Blue Sea;

* Robyn Martin from Christchurch -- the Weta Award with Wetapunga;

* Wendy Burton and Patrick Duffy from Christchurch -- the Mainpower WOW Factor Award with Blow Me;

* Simon Hames and Jane Fergusson from Wellington --the HP Children's Section with Little Doodle;

* Tracey Smith and Chris Koole from Auckland -- the AT&T Illumination Illusion Section with The Ballet of Ineluctable Doom;

* Andrea Clinton from Wellington -- the Air New Zealand South Pacific Section with Huia;

* Cathy Harris from Wellington -- the Tourism New Zealand Avante Garde Section with She Looks Good in a Sack; and

* Susan Holmes from Auckland -- the CentrePort Shape It Section with Fluoressence (sic).

- NZPA