Guidelines

Wearable Art is an artistic expression of individual, hand-made garments that highlight the skills, techniques and craftsmanship of the designer.

Entry to Wearable Art Mandurah is inclusive to established and upcoming artists across all design forms, within five categories; Avant-Garde, Black and White, Migration, Paper, Waterproof, Tertiary and Youth.

Criteria and Judging

Criteria

Explore the world of wearable art by creating extravagant, revolutionary, provocative works of art on the body. Be inspired to transform artisan skills including sewing, felting, weaving, dyeing, leather tooling, beading, painting, knitting, crocheting and more into expressions of history, personal stories and a new perspective of design. Consider innovation in materials including traditional fibres and finished fabrics as well as recycled, reused and repurposed materials.

Garments will be judged with equal weighting across five criteria:

Artistic Vision

  • Articulated inspiration or narrative in your Artist Statement
  • The synergy between your artwork and your Artist Statement

Creativity and Originality

  • Use of traditional techniques in a non-traditional way
  • The presentation of unconventional ideas

Innovative Use of Materials

  • The innovation, manipulation and transformation of materials

Quality of Craftsmanship and Construction

  • Excellence in form and technique
  • Durability, safety and freedom of movement

Visual Impact

  • Level of visual impact from all angles

Artist Statement

The Artist Statement is the communication between you and the audience, describing your creative process of construction and results. It may include your personal history, symbolism, purpose or philosophy and should represent your artwork. Write in simple language and consider the relevance to the category (maximum 100 words).

Judging

  1. Your Pre-selection photographs and Artist Statement will be judged by a panel.
  2. Successful Pre-selection artists will be notified by 9 July 2021.
  3. Successful Pre-selection garments will be judged at the Final Judging on Friday 27 August 2021 and Saturday 28 August 2021 - all entries will be professionally photographed.
  4. Finalists will be notified by Friday 10 September 2021.
  5. Finalist garments will feature in the Showcase events on the weekend of 5-7 November 2021.

Judges Considerations

  • Consider structure and form
  • Change thinking from the traditional form of dresses, skirts and trousers and more towards a sculptural artwork
  • Be innovative with materials – try to use materials that have been manipulated or transformed rather than using commercially available fabric or materials
  • Consider how the garment will perform, move and appear on stage. How does it compliment the human form? What makes it stand out from the rest?
  • Ensure the garment looks as good from the front as it does from the back.
  • Poor quality photographs may reduce your score in the Pre-selection Judging.
  • For the Final Judging, carefully consider the overall presentation including hair, make-up, movement and choice of model.
  • For a garment to be considered for the showcase, it must:
    • fit a female size 8 – 12 or a men’s size medium
    • be durable and be able to be worn up to 15 times
    • include clear dressing instructions
    • be safe to wear eg. no sharp edges, not excessively heavy

Photography Requirements

  • Three full length images; 1 x front, 1 x back, 1 x side
  • One close up image to show material detail and technique
  • Photograph your garment on a person
  • Use a plain background
  • Consider the background colour to contrast against your garment
  • Where possible, use a light source from the front rather than the back
  • File size minimum 2mb, maximum 5mb

For more tips see our Guide to Photographing Your Wearable Art 

Showcase and Exhibition

Awards Showcase

The Wearable Art Mandurah Awards Showcase is a multi-artform event on the weekend of the 7 November 2021. This year, we will be taking the show to an exciting alternative space in the City of Mandurah. Keep your eyes open for an announcement in the New Year!

Exhibition

A selection of garments will be exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Spaces Mandurah (CASM) in February 2022.

Categories and Awards

Categories

Avant-Garde    $1,000 

Push the boundaries of radical design, innovation, concept development and execution. Avant-Garde puts the “revolutionary” into Wearable Art Mandurah.

Conceptual Category: Elemental $1,000 

Your interpretation of the theme is up to you - but you should make it clear in your Artist Statement how your garment relates to the concept! Some ideas on how you could consider Elemental are:
- Relating to the scientific elements
- Considering or utilising inherent or rudimentary design concepts
- Relating to the environment and the basic elements that make up our world

Paper    $1,000 

Accept the challenge of fabricating a garment that is at least 90% paper, demonstrating the fragility and resilience of the materials. Successful entries will be displayed in the Alcoa Mandurah Art Gallery. These garments will not be worn in the showcase but must be wearable.

Tertiary Student    $1,000 

Open to artists who are students registered at universities, TAFE institutions or government-approved registered training organisations by 23 June 2021.

Youth Award:
Gillian-Kaye Peebles 12 years and under award     $250
13-18 years award     $750 

Celebrating divergent ideas and the emerging talent of artists 18 years and under.

Special Awards

Artist of the Year Award    $5,000 

The artist with the highest score across all categories will earn the prestigious title of Artist of the Year.

International Award    $1,000 

Open to artists living outside Australia.

Creative Reuse Award    $3,000 

Reuse discarded objects or materials to create a product of higher quality or value than the original. Requires a minimum of 80% repurposed materials. This is an award that applies across all categories.

Taftainc Award   (valued at $1,400) 

For the garment that uses traditional fibres or textiles in an original and creative way. The recipient of this prize receives free entry to the 2022 Geelong Fibre Forum, inclusive of meals, accommodation and tutors fees.

First-time Entrant   $1,000 

Open to artists who have submitted garments to the competition for the very first time.

Tertiary Pairing Project    $1,000 

An opportunity for tertiary students to explore the concept of migration by collaborating with other artists, perhaps far away! Tertiary Pairing Project PDF

These entrants will be nominated by their tertiary institution to be paired with a student from a different institution.


Artists are not eligible for multiple prizes. If an artist is the highest scorer across multiple categories and/or awards, they will be deemed to win the prize of the highest value.

How to Enter

Visit the Designers page for details and entry form