World of WearableArt 2024: Winning designs awarded in Wellington

World of WearableArt 2024. 'Curves Ahead' by Grace DuVal, United States. Photo / Stephen A’Court.

The winners of the 2024 World of WearableArt competition have been announced in Wellington tonight.

United States designer Grace DuVal won the Supreme WOW Award for her entry Curves Ahead.

Inspired by Kaikōura’s earthquake rebuild, it was inspired by a road trip DuVal took around New Zealand.

“Curves Ahead promises a colourful future beyond devastation and leads the charge to rebuild what once was and what is yet to be,” she said of the work.

The hand-draped piece is crafted from construction signs and 3D-printed components.

DuVal, who studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has entered and won awards in six past World of WearableArt competitions.

This is the first time she’s been awarded the competition’s biggest prize.

Her work was chosen by the panel of judges: WOW Founder and Judge Dame Suzie Moncrieff, fashion designer James Dobson, Wētā Workshop’s Gino Acevedo and Sir Richard Taylor.

“Curves Ahead is visually electrifying, vividly beautiful and a cohesive, compelling concept. It commands your attention, and up close you observe the phenomenal technical skill involved in bringing it to being,” the judges said.

“The unbridled imagination of designers who breathe garments to life with exacting skill and ingenuity never fails to inspire us.”

World of WearableArt 2024. 'He art' by Xuancheng Liu and Jingyi Lin, China. Photo / Stephen A’Court

Also announced were the Supreme WOW Award runner-up, eight Special Award winners, five International Design Awards and 18 Section Awards placements.

2024 World of WearableArt Award Winners

SUPREME WOW AWARD

Winner: Curves Ahead, Grace DuVal, United States

Runner-Up: He art, Xuancheng Liu & Jingyi Lin, China

SECTION WINNERS

Aotearoa: Kārearea, Kayla Christensen, New Zealand

Open: He art, Xuancheng Liu and Jingyi Lin, China

Avant-garde: Curves Ahead, Grace DuVal, United States

Crazy Curiosities of the Creature Carnival: GiGi the Wyrm of Spinelesque, Sean Purucker & Tony Rivas, United States

Natural World: Soundscape, Ashish Dhaka, India

Geometric Abstraction: Walkin’ Wardrobe, Laurel Judd, New Zealand

SPECIAL AWARDS

Accor Live Limitless First-time Entrant Award: Hold, Dai Jia Chang, Shih Chien University, Taiwan

Student Innovation Award: A Multi-faceted Perspective, Ryunosuke Arai, Bunka Fashion College, Japan

Transformation Innovation Award: Changing Perceptions, Rebecca Bond, New Zealand

Sustainability Award: Sgàthach the Singed, Fifi Colston, New Zealand

Fisher Funds New Zealand Design Award: The Red Thread, Ian Bernhard, New Zealand

Wētā Workshop Emerging Designer Award: Termite Cathedral, Katherine Bertram, New Zealand

WOW Designer Development Award: Galina Mihaleva, United States

Dame Suzie Moncrieff Award: Murderer, Edith Mok, Hong Kong Design Institute, Hong Kong

ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY WELLINGTON INTERNATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS

International Design Award – UK & Europe: Ethereal Shift, Ece Özalp, Turkey

International Design Award – Asia: Soundscape, Ashish Dhaka, India

International Design Award – Americas: GiGi the Wyrm of Spinelesque, Sean Purucker & Tony Rivas, United States

International Design Award – Australia & Pacific: Triptych Fashionistas, Jill Perry, Australia

International Design Award – OVERALL: GiGi the Wyrm of Spinelesque, Sean Purucker & Tony Rivas, United States

World of WearableArt 2024 ‘Drema Awake’ runs until October 13 at Wellington’s TSB Arena.