WOW!

Last weekend, Karinna, Emma, Kate and I headed down (or over, really) to Nelson for two nights. We’d got really cheap tickets, under $50 return, during a sale last year and decided to take advantage and do a ladies’ weekend. All of us have been to Nelson before, but there’s always more to see. This time, the WOW (World of Wearable Art) Museum was at the top of the list.

After the quick jump across the Cook Strait (seriously, as soon as you’re at cruising altitude, they ask you to prepare for landing), we headed to pick up our cute rental car, who became affectionately known as Ethel. With a couple hundred thousand kms under her belt, she deserved an old lady name.

Everyone had told us the Nelson Market was well worth a visit on a Saturday, so that was our first stop.

I managed to not spend money on something useless, which is a huge accomplishment for me. There were some really cool stalls, so that was no easy task. Having worked up an appetite, we grabbed lunch at a cute cafe in town afterwards. Definitely iced coffee weather!

After stuffing my face with pulled pork, we checked into our flash bach for the weekend (hot tub here we come!) and then headed out to the WOW Museum.

WOW is a costume design competition that will be celebrating its 30th year this year. All of the winners are displayed in a stunning show every spring in Wellington, which is something like catwalk meets Cirque du Soleil. The museum displays the winners from the previous year, so it was awesome to see the costumes up close that we’d only seen on models from a distance last September.

The amount of effort and detail in each piece is just incredible. It’s very hard to not touch them!

This one done with belts blows my mind.

There are different categories each year, and if you couldn’t tell, one of them was red in 2017.

These ones just scream 90s to me, like something Lisa Frank would be proud of.

People from all over the globe enter each year, so competition is fierce.

I really like the Aotearoa category, which is NZ themed. This one is called “Human Nature,” by a designer from the Netherlands:

It’s even more phenomenal up close.

Second place was “The Cloak of Piwakawaka” by a New Zealander. I love all the native birds depicted on the cloak.

Up next, some science fiction!

Whose feet are whose?

This one could be worn by an especially glam elf from Lord of the Rings.

Last, but definitely not least, was my favorite section – “Illumination Illusion.” Some of the costumes didn’t show up very well on camera, but you get the idea.

How’s this giant hand for realistic?

These ones were amazing during the 2017 show, since the stage was dark and you could hardly make out the black-clad models at all. Everything was just floating about.

In addition to the WOW exhibit, this museum also houses a huge collection of classic cars. Worth a look, while we were already there.

This soda fountain lady is NOT impressed, probably because she’s sick of eternally holding that sundae.

Groovy, baby!

Em and I are never ones to pass up a good photo op.

Farewell for now, you strange mashup of a museum!

Now I can’t wait for this year’s 30th anniversary WOW show! Hope you enjoyed coming along on the tour. Next blog will take us to the Nelson Lakes, with some epic NZ South Island scenery in store.