By Abbey Cannan
Last Friday, 24 May, over 40 wearable artworks from across Australia put on a spectacular parade under the stars in Eumundi.
The event displayed four main categories as part of its gala parade competition – Avant Garde, Floriana, Trashion and Sustainable – as well as additional prizes for Haute-Couture, Headpiece, First Nation and best tertiary and secondary student pieces.
The Australian Wearable Art -Supreme Award for 2019 (sponsored by David Suters from Timbercraftsman) went to Amaterasu by Jodie Whittaker. The Trashion category winner went to Sparkle saved by Karen Lynch, while Botanical Beauty by Belinda Kuhlewein took home the Floriana category prize.
Event curator, Wendy Roe said guests were treated to a spectacular showcase of fashion taken to the extreme.
“We have a 16 metre runway where haute couture will meet costumery – where waste will be turned into waistcoats and flower crowns become complete flower dresses,” Ms Roe said.
The event attracted national attention but local artists such as Larissa Salton were excited to have their works selected to take the stage.
“I have been creating Renaissance-inspired gowns and headpieces to feature in my portraiture images for a while now. I repurpose puzzle pieces, curtains, toothpicks, broken jewellery, birds’ nests, suitcases and bullet shells to create an old-world whimsical charm,” Ms Salton said.
“I have now taken this one step further and designed the work to be wearable on a catwalk. My pieces can be quite fragile and so there are many structural considerations to enable a piece to be runway ready.”
This is a sentiment one of the acclaimed festival judges and fashion designer to the stars, Cindy Vogels, understands and agrees with.
“This festival really allows artists to extend their practice and provides a platform for a wider audience to be inspired by form, structure, texture and colour – often using an eclectic mix of unusual materials,” Ms Vogels said.
“Wearable art is such a unique form and really embraces the idea that we can live and wear art every day.”
Both award-winning artist Dr Jandamarra Cadd and special guest judge Peter Dwyer of the Whitehouse Design Institute joined Cindy Vogels on the judging panel where a total of $3,600 cash was awarded. The Chrysalis by Vivien Eardley won the Sustainable category prize (sponsored by Sunshine Coast Council), and the Avant-Garde (sponsored by Fresh PR & Marketing) prize went to Amaterasu by Jodie Whittaker.
The Student Award (Sponsored by Eumundi Service Station) went to Teddy McRitchie for his two garments – Funeral and Empower. The Headpiece and Haute Couture prize (sponsored by The Imperial Hotel – Eumundi and Eumundi Square) was taken out by Cynthia Hawkins for her Power Behind the Throne piece. The Tina Cooper Emerging Artist Award winner was Vivien Eardley for her The Chrysalis piece.
