Lifelong friends mark a WOW anniversary

Wellington designers Kayla Christensen and Renee Louis have known each other since kindergarten.

They’ve gone through school together, they live together and one more thing: they’ve become World of WearableArt (WOW) finalists together.

A decade ago, the best friends won a high school wearable arts competition. The prize? Tickets to see their very first World of WearableArt show.

From that moment, they were hooked. The next year, they both entered garments and have continued the tradition up till 2018, entering designs in WOW together and separately.

‘‘It just happened that our first experience of WOW was the 20th anniversary show. After that show, we decided we would enter WOW the following year and we have been entering as a team and then individually ever since,’’ Louie said.

This year, both of the women have been named as WOW finalists.

Louie said her designs were normally inspired by life experiences or her culture and heritage. ‘‘Probably my culture has been a good inspiration. I once made [a garment] out of bamboo chopsticks and that was inspired by me and my dad, we always go out for Chinese.’’

That, however, was an endeavour unlikely to be repeated – working with chopsticks proved a difficult task.

But both designers said originality was key in creating a winning garment. ‘‘People think it’s so easy and you’ve just got talent but it’s hard work. The thing you’re making has never been made before,’’ Christensen said.

In the lead-up to this year’s WOW, the designers spread their materials and work throughout their small Island Bay flat. ‘‘Our poor flatmate,’’ Christensen said. Creativity comes at a high cost: late nights, creative blocks and one or two panicky moments in pulling a garment together. ‘‘It’s good we’ve got each other,’’ Louie said.

The friends submitted their designs – which are strictly confidential until WOW launches later this month – in June. The next time they will see their garments is on stage at the TSB Arena.

Last year, the pair entered their designs separately: Christensen with a native birdinspired creation entitled Kuini and Louie with Sporadica.

Christensen placed third in the Aotearoa section with her garment. For Louie, hearing her friend’s name called as an award-winner was one of her highlights of the last 10 years of WOW.

For the past decade, Wellington designers Renee Louie, left, and Kayla Christensen have been entering garments in the annual World of WearableArt competition, both together and separately.

The friends’ work, such as Louie’sSporadica ,is entirely handmade.

Christensen’s 2017 WOW entry, Kuini, placed third in the Aoteara section.