Once Upon A Time You Dressed So Fine

WOW!

This is going to be hard to explain.

There is an annual show here called the World of Wearable Art. It is sponsored by Montana Wine, the hugest winery, just outside of Nelson. The show was born in Nelson and got so big and popular that it is now performed in Wellington, across the strait.

Here is a short promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtWmDcI-LVU

Here is the website:

http://www.worldofwearableart.com/

Some uninformed persons might call WOW a "fashion show", but that would be like calling Superman a helpful guy.

At he base of it, NZ and Australian artists design a conceptual sculpture that can also function as clothing. It is not for sale..strictly one of a kind. The material used is not the usual, but more detailed and creative with a

wry humor.

For example, there is one called "Milk Maid" that is made from clear baby bottle nipples.

About 100 artists design these costumes within a select theme and enter them in the show trying to win the $10,000 prize. Tickets to the performance are always completely sold out. The whole thing is staged with music, lights, and special effects.

We got our tickets long ago and were able to get really good seats near the stage. We also got food and wine and programs. The next best tickets got ringside tables with a complete dinner and lots of booze. They all sold out before we went online.

There was not one dull moment in the show. They hit the ground running with the Children's Category which began in a child's bedroom. But the bed rose up like the Exorcist and revealed all these bizarre monsters like from Where the Wild Things Are. My favorite was a kid in a little bed, but then he sort of stood up, bed and all and revealed a hairy beast underneath. It was called "There's a Bed On My Monster". All the monsters had a birthday party and it was a very freaky way to start a show.

We progressed through a Maori Haka/early settler theme, a White outfit theme and a Men only theme. This was a favorite with all the women because they used rugby player types as models. All wore bizarre garb, but then these Motown singers show up and start singing, "It's Raining Men". More guys come out of the sky dripping wet and end up in a sort of strip show, getting down to their skivvies.

By the way, all the female models were extremely hot, but there was no undressing that happened on stage.

They had Avant-garde categories and also a glow in the dark portion that was entirely satisfying to the eyes.

At the end was a big fireworks and explosions on stage. When the lights came up after 2 hours, the entire audience looked like they had been to a New Year's Eve Grateful Dead show, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

Here is the winner of this year's prize. They used real Ram's horns, recycled wool and hemp.

Nelson has retained the WOW Museum where you can see lots of the previous winners on display. Lauren and Jeff will find it fascinating. Rick can skip it. He doesn't like fashion shows. He wants his runway girls closer to his lap and only wearing a smile.