The World of Wearable Arts (WOW) is an annual event in Wellington that attracts thousands of people. Designers from all around the world submit outfits made from the most unusual materials.

Designers who have never entered before have to go through a pre-elimination round but those that have been successful in the past managed to skip the step. They are still required to submit images of the design plus a video showing how it is fitted to the model.

Through the connection with previous collaborations for a number I’ve been providing photographic services to a number of the designers. We would set up a simple studio that enable them to show off their designs in the best possible way.

In 2021 I worked with outfits creates by Jenny (above), Fiona and Vicki (below) all previous wow finalised. In fact the back Fiona was a previous category winner.

The requirement was a simple look-book shooting the garment from all four sides against a plain background. To achieve this are used two lights on the background and a main light and reflector on the subject. The background lights used my Elinchroms 400 while my Godox 600 provided the key light.

The Elinchroms and Godox lights use different triggers however this is not a problem as the Elinchrom also have optical slaves enabling them to fire when the main light goes.

Once the look-book images had been completed we were able to shoot more creative images which again was to demonstrate how the cost the outfit blocked.

The amount of detail that goes into these outfits is truly amazing as shown with this closeup of the dress.