About AWAF
Wearable art challenges the conventional – an intersection of art and fashion.
The Australian Wearable Art Festival is delighted to provide a platform for artists and designers to embrace this unique and exciting exploration into form, structure, texture and colour using an eclectic mix of often unusual materials. Pieces merge materials in weird and wonderful collaborations where art, science, fashion and technology all collide.
The Australian Wearable Art Festival will celebrate its sixth event in 2026 and plans on delivering something a little different. We know how important it is to continue to surprise and excite and so this year is all about a full immersion into the jaw-dropping world of wearable art.
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Things to look forward to:
A brand new venue at the Novotel Twin Waters.
The 27 metre-long catwalk will return but with some bolder theming and production.
Over $15,000 in prize money .
Workshops will be held leading into the 2026 event – a great opportunity to tap into your own creativity and repurpose or recycle a garment.
Whether as an artist or audience member, we look forward to welcoming you to our AWAF 2026.
Our Team
Wendy Roe
Co-Director and Curator
Wendy has a background of delivering events in regional New Zealand including initiating and organising a hugely successful wearable art event in a New Zealand secondary school. This was the first of its kind at that time and went on to become an integral part of the technology curriculum in this school for the next 16 years. In 2017 Wendy instigated the highly successful Eumundi Wearable Art event within the Sunshine Coast Council’s ‘Horizon Festival’ followed up by ‘Runaway Art’ in August 2018 featuring boutique wearable art collections by Peter Dwyer and Cindy Vogels. With the growth in wearable art popularity, Wendy and her team went on to create a magical evening under the stars at Eumundi with the very first Australian Wearable Art Festival in 2019. In 2021, Wendy and Helen decided to make things official and became co-directors for this event.
Helen Perry
Co-Director and Event Manager
As one of Fresh PR & Marketing’s directors, Helen brings a wealth of marketing and event management experience to the table. Starting her career as a designer, she now uses this creative knowledge and her brand expertise to ensure marketing and communications are both functional and fabulous. She is a great connector of dots, bringing networks together and delivering fresh ideas. Her not–so-secret passion is the arts. Once a manager of a handmade paper making mill in Tasmania, she has been a major supporter of the arts on the Sunshine Coast over the last twenty years, assisting with the marketing of the Horizon Festival, Noosa Long Weekend, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Floating Land and numerous theatrical productions.
Franchesca (Fran) Blandon
Hair and Makeup Director
Fran has been in the beauty industry since 2009 as a professional stylist, qualified hairdresser and makeup artist. She is a 14-times award-winning visual artist in full body paint, special effects, airbrush and creative photography. Throughout her experience in the body art industry, Fran has elaborated her own headpieces and body attachments to compliment her entries in different events and competitions. This means she understands the time and effort involved into designing and creating wearable art, as well as the value that hair and makeup adds to each entry. Her AWAF team is composed of 20 multi-skilled hair and makeup artists, who love nothing more than getting creative backstage.
Fiona Jopp
Movement Director
Fiona is a dancer, dance maker and stager based on the Sunshine Coast. She has danced and toured internationally with Michael Clark Company, Emanuel Gat Dance, Bonachela Dance Company and Sydney Dance Company. Her professional performance credits range from Disney’s The Lion King the musical and the films World War Z by Mark Forster and Anna Karenina by Joe Wright to Nude Live at the Art Gallery of NSW by Rafael Bonachela and playing Rosaleen Norton in Hidden Sydney by Lucas Jervies. She has worked for Madonna, Calvin Harris and MIA. Fiona has choreographed with Sydney Dance Company and made independent work since 2015. She is delighted to be the choreographer for Musical Theatre Australia’s “A Girls Guide to World War” and the Australian Wearable Art Festival.