We have always regarded our latex fashion designing as something very important in our lives. Yes, the mainstream world might look at a catsuit and think, wow, I could never wiggle into that! Or, live vicariously through one of the Kardashian girls when they show off some fetish clothing in an Instagram pic. But for us, even though this is commerce, it is also art.
To this end, Dawnamatrix and sculptor and fiber artist Lana Crooks collaborated to make a dress for the upcoming World of Wearable Art competition in New Zealand. WOW® is a globally respected and renowned international design competition. Yearly it draws hundreds of entries from all over the world, awarding $165,000 in prize money, and internships with huge creative companies, like the Weta Workshop, known for their work on “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, among others films.
As the WOW® website says: Using the human body as a blank canvas designers create works of wearable art to be exhibited in the annual Awards Show. Designs are brought to life in this spectacular stage performance – a world where theatre, fashion and art collide. Held each year in September in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, this unique event draws an audience of over 55,000.
Sculptors like Lana, textile art and industrial designers, jewelry makers, architects, lawyers and homemakers all, come to WOW®. And although the World of Wearable Art is something we just learned about when recently seeing their traveling exhibition, in a way we feel that we’ve been working towards this kind of display for some time now. The way performance, sculpture, and fashion combine has been always foremost on our minds when we create our pieces.
Lana’s incredibly detailed felt sculptures were reimagined in latex and incorporated into a Dawnamatrix gown for WOW® 2017. We are so thrilled to collaborate with her for such a prestigious event.
Have a look here at the WOW® website: Www.worldofwearableart.com.
And here at Lana’s work: Www.lanacrooks.com
