Womenswear alumna Gayane Arzumanova has been announced as a finalist in the WOW Awards. The World of WearableArt®, known as WOW®, is a renowned international design competition that attracts hundreds of entries from all over the world. Finalists compete for over $165,000 in prize money plus internships with leading creative companies such as Weta Workshop. We spoke to Gayane about her collection and why she entered the awards.
What have you been up to since graduating from LCF last year?
I studied womenswear at LCF and I also did a year long International Preparation for Fashion foundation course. The final show at LCF introduced our work to lots of creative people in the fashion industry, and we were a part of many great projects with amazing stylists, musicians, photographers like Nick Knight and magazines like Garage, Dezeen, Dazed, Wallpaper, and L’OFFICIEL. In my first months after graduation we were meeting with many publications. I also did an internship, and had few months to myself to figure out who I am as a designer, what I want to achieve, what impact I can make on our world. Recently I started researching the market of sustainability in all aspects, visiting lectures and seminars, learning a lot about the process of sustainable production, and making textiles in innovative ways.
Why did you enter the WOW Awards?
World of WearableArt invited us to participate in the competition, after speaking with my collaborator we were very excited to be a part of such big and international event. We had doubts in the beginning, about not being as eccentric as the rest of participants, but we are really proud of our work, so we decided that our pieces are truly “wearable art” so we submitted and sent our garments to New Zealand.
Talk us through your Animism collection…
Everything in nature has a life, and exists beyond itself. The collection is called Animism which means breath, spirit, life in Latin. This reflects the Zen philosophy that non-human entities such as animals, plants and inanimate objects possess a spiritual essence. The biggest challenge in this collection is to create the transient moment, which you can see through illusion of thick and soft textures of the faux leather garments and plastic headpieces.
How does it feel to be a finalist?
It feels great to be able to show our work at such a big event, and especially to be chosen as finalists. I think winning will definitely be a huge deal for me as a young designer, it is a great opportunity to have my work recognised and to be a part of future projects.
What are you plans for the future?
My plan is to create an inspiring fashion company that motivates everyone to think about sustainability and recycling, and to inspire new upcoming creatives not to be afraid of innovation.
- More about BA (Hons) Fashion Deisgn Technology: Womenswear
- More about the WOW Awards
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