Friday 24 May 2019 was a glorious evening in Eumundi bringing together over 40 amazing wearable art creations to grace the catwalk under the stars. Both Helen Perry and I breathed a huge sigh of relief that the forecast was for fine weather and that we could go ahead with our vision of showcasing this spectacular event outdoors, as planned.
From the moment audience members arrived at the Eumundi Square venue they entered into a magical world. Yanni Van Zilj’s lovely lit up chandeliers made from recycled plastic milk bottles provided an exquisite and welcoming entry with models dressed in garments by designer/judges Cindy Vogels and Peter Dwyer as welcoming hostesses.
Further ambience was created with the VIP tables beautifully decorated by Carrington Styling and complimented with great music by The Crikeys.
© 2019 Eyes Wide Open Images
Lyndon Davies celebrated a Welcome to Country with a glorious Tina Cooper hand blown glass didgeridoo accompanied by Jacqui Sandy dancing. An awesome beginning to a standout out celebration of Art on the Runway!
Channel 7’s Katie Toney dressed by Cindy Vogel was delighted to be the MC that introduced the 41 marvellous creations out onto the catwalk. These Wearable Art pieces stunned the audience – actually to be honest they totally blew them out of the park as they largely had no idea of what a treat they were in for! Check out the Event Gallery for a full look at these creations.
The diversity of the creations was limited only by the unique, original and eclectic imaginations of the designers and artists. I can only be in awe of how the judges came to a consensus of who won each category!
© 2019 Eyes Wide Open Images
It really was a most remarkable night. An important and potentially far reaching outcome is that so many of the audience were overheard saying “they felt as if they had been transported to a major centre such as Sydney or Melbourne” and that they “could not believe they were in Eumundi!”
Certainly one of our long term desires as Event Organisers was to produce a successful national event outside a major centre and we believe that in this first major presentation of Australian Wearable Art we achieved that.
Australia is a big country that has huge populations mainly centred around major cities however creativity is not only the province of those that chose to live in cities nor is it necessarily nourished in a large city. The Sunshine Coast offers an ideal bridge between large and rural centres and encompasses a wide catchment area plus it makes an attractive venue to encourage artist involvement from further afield. I believe that we can only take this event from strength to strength consolidating a significant art platform here on the Sunshine Coast.
© 2019 Eyes Wide Open Images
Another significant achievement and in my eyes possibly the most important outcome was in the triggering of inspiration within the audience. One person said to me “I don’t have an artistic bone in my body but all through the show I was saying to my daughter – I need to create something for this next year…”
Whole tables were talking about organising an entry next year…even some of our committee members are wondering if they would rather be an entrant or on the event committee!
However whether people do create something or not in future years is less important than the trigger this show provided in inspiring creativity within the viewing public.
I believe that there can never be too many platforms that provide an opportunity for artistic and creative expression. Australian Wearable Art offers a platform that is accessible to so many artists and designers offering a wide open brief encouraging exploration both within and outside to mainstream genres.
To register your interest in being a potential entrant please fill in the Designer Interest Form and we will keep you in touch with our events.
Wendy Roe
Curator
Australian Wearable Art Festival 2019
Friday 24 May 2019 was a glorious evening in Eumundi bringing together over 40 amazing wearable art creations to grace the catwalk under the stars. Both Helen Perry and I breathed a huge sigh of relief that the forecast was for fine weather and that we could go ahead with our vision of showcasing this spectacular event outdoors, as planned. From the moment audience members arrived at the Eumundi Square venue they entered into a magical world. Yanni Van Zilj’s lovely
