Wearable art wows Raglan audiences

Dazzling works of wearable art made their way down the catwalk at Raglan Town Hall on Saturday as 48 contestants wowed audiences in the biennial ArtoWear Awards.

ArtoWear co-ordinator Jean Carbon said the fifth one-day event had packed out the 200-ticket town hall for two shows and the entries had not failed to amaze and impress.

"Both shows were sold out. The support and the crowd were amazing, and the contestants were fantastic."

Entrants including school children competed across six sections: Purple Reign, All That Glitters, Re Vamped (which had to be 80 per cent recycled materials), Excess-arise, Rebel With A Cause (for teenagers), and Organic Matters. The winner of the Organic Matters section, Te Manu Maranga o Te Pungarehu; Phoenix Rising from the Ashes was judged Supreme Winner.

Creators Roslynd Goodlet and Phillipa O'Connell of Raglan took home the $1000 prizemoney donated by Century 21 real estate. Second place-getter in the same section, Papatuanuku and Ranginui by the Ropu Raranga group from Huntly's Te Wananga o Aotearoa, won the third Supreme Winner title and $300, while Carmen Rogers' Galacticas in a Vacuum creation which won the Re Vamped section took second Supreme Winner and $500.

- © Fairfax NZ News