Fashion School News Alumni Spotlight: Recent graduate has senior collection selected for prestigious World of Wearable Art awards show in New Zealand

Yu-Shin ‘Mue’ Kim, MFA Fashion & Knitwear Design 2007, has had three looks from her senior collection chosen to be included in the World of Wearable Art WOW Fashion Show and Awards in Wellington, New Zealand on September 21, 2007.

Mue created this collection for the April 27th 2007 San Francisco show. She decided to move away from a contemporary fashion look and drew inspiration for her collection from the sculptures of Tony Cragg, the knitwear craft art of Mark Newport, wardrobes of comic-book heroes, and the performance costumes of Leigh Bowery. She is from Incheon, South Korea.





One of the most interesting cultural phenomena in New Zealand over the past 15 years has been the spectacular success of WOW, an annual competition and awards show that explores the intersection between fashion and art, through a genre popularly known as wearable art.

This unique event has encouraged an explosion of creative activity, inspiring a wide range of fashion designers, artists, costume makers and other craft artists from all over the world to participate.

The range of the garments produced for this event are breathtaking, as the rules of the competition mean that anything of quality that is in any way wearable can find a place on the runway. Garments are constructed from an array of materials - car parts, wood shavings, potato chip bags, seaweed, telephone parts, paper clips – the list is endless.

Every year since 1987, WOW choreographs a unique performance that fuses art, fashion, light and sound. The award show draws over 30,000 art lovers, fashionistas and media from around the world to witness designers truly testing their creative mettle.

WOW is an internationally recognized arts competition and the largest single arts event in New Zealand. Designers from all over the world have participated with over $100,000 worth of prizes offered.

Tourism New Zealand has recognized the powerful impact WOW has brought to the country and works with the organizers of WOW and New Zealand Fashion Week to bring international guests to participate.

This year Gladys Perint Palmer, Executive Director of the School of Fashion, has been invited as guests of New Zealand to participate in the WOW Awards Show and New Zealand Fashion Week. Gladys will be a guest international judge for the awards show.

Tourism New Zealand has created a schedule for the VIP guests to meet with local art experts to discover the region’s treasures, visit local and international artist studios, meet with designers, fabric and fiber producers for both traditional and organic fabric, as well as visit the historic WOW Museum. They will attend select runway presentations of RTW designers and visit with local design schools offering degrees in fashion.