The Australian Wearable Art Festival will soon launch on the Sunshine Coast when 38 national and international wearable art pieces will come alive on the Festival’s 27-metre catwalk, drawing artists, designers and admirers from around the globe.
A fresh wave of wearable art talent, including last year’s Supreme Winner Isabelle Cameron, is set to transform Venue 114 on Friday 9 to Saturday 10 August when they unveil their latest genre-bending creations, reminiscent of Met Gala and Paris Fashion Week runways.
Australian Wearable Art Festival co-founder Helen Perry said, the local event, which held its first show in Eumundi in 2019, has gone from strength to strength in recent years and brings the growing worldwide enthusiasm for wearable art to a home base in Australia.
“The Sunshine Coast is becoming synonymous with the Australian wearable art scene and, truly, it is so exciting to have the Festival return to Bokarina in just a few short weeks,” Ms Perry said.
“Across the world and here in Australia we are seeing wearable art continue to gain followers – an exhibition like QAGOMA’s current ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’ is testament to that and wearable art is, hands-down, emerging as a standalone art form in its own right.
“Creating an internationally-spanning industry platform that connects emerging artists and designers into Australian fashion, art, music and entertainment industries is no small feat – especially in the current economic environment.
“The Sunshine Coast community – from our sponsors believing in the vision and getting behind the Festival, to volunteers at the show and, of course, people buying tickets and coming along – everyone has wholeheartedly thrown their support around us.”
With many finalists applying their finishing touches, there will be 38 new pieces unveiled across the Festival’s four categories: recycled ‘Trashion’; foraged organics in ‘Sustainable Nature’; ‘Floriana’ inspired by floral elements; and silhouettes framed in ‘Avant-Garde.’
“The possibilities of where wearable art can take artists are limitless and the Australian Wearable Art Festival exists to nurture emerging talent and empower designers to commercialise their craft by creating a unique collective platform,” Ms Perry said.
“Alongside our fabulous judging panel with Julia Rose, an esteemed floral wearable artist, and Jacinta Giles, a QAGOMA curator, we cannot wait to welcome back audiences and unveil a fresh wave of wearable art creativity to them on August 9 and 10.”
Brisbane-based artist and last year’s Australian Wearable Art Festival Supreme Winner Isabelle Cameron – whose outstanding crochet piece “Dear Babushka”, inspired by her Ukrainian heritage, took home three prizes in 2023 – will again return as a finalist in this year’s Festival with her piece “Stardust”.
“This year’s entry “Stardust” has been such a joy to make,” Ms Cameron said.
“I am making the garment of my dreams. It’s challenging and I am learning a lot. I joke to my family that the two years of being a finalist has put me through wearable art school!
“I applied to the Australian Wearable Art Festival last year with absolutely no expectations of even getting into the show. It was my debut in the art world and honestly, I was just wanting to get my garment functional on the runway.
“When I took out Supreme Winner it was truly the universe pointing me down a highway I didn’t even know was open to me.
“How it has impacted me the most is it has allowed me to dream and feel like I have a place in the world. Since my wins at the Festival, I’ve been published multiple times and been on television sharing the joy my art brings me and others and I am truly grateful.
“It’s been the most amazing platform to grow my art and begin to find myself as an artist.”
With over 70 per cent of tickets now sold, Ms Cameron had clear advice for those who have not yet purchased their tickets: “Don’t sleep on it!”
“Australian Wearable Art Festival is a growing event and how lucky are we to see it flourish!” Ms Cameron said.
Australian Wearable Art Festival will host three shows from Friday 9 August to Saturday 10 August 2024.
To attend the festival, purchase tickets at australianwearableart.com.au.
