item details
NameKiwi 1/4 Acre
ProductionMargaret Marr; 1997; Auckland
Classificationworks of art, costumes (character dress)
Materialspaper, cloth, plastic, metal
Registration NumberGH007400
Credit linePurchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds
Overview
A wearable piece of Kiwiana
This garment was made by Margaret Marr for the World of WearableArt, or WOW, competition. Margaret entered the garment in the 'Attick Bar Pacific Paradise' section, the theme of which was 'Kiwiana', and won.
Quarter acre dream
The costume pays homage to what is known as the 'New Zealand dream', that is the desire to own a freestanding house on a quarter acre section. This 'dream' was supported through-out much of the 20th century through a range of government policies and schemes. The headpiece is based on a classic New Zealand State House.
In the 21st century, with pressures on land and rising house prices, the 'quarter acre dream' is considered to be no longer feasible.
The World of WearableArt
Suzie Moncrieff staged her first WearableArt Awards™ in 1987 in Nelson. She had read an article in the New Zealand Listener about an annual ‘wearable art’ exhibition in Auckland. Intrigued, she flew north to see it for herself, only to be disappointed by a display of ‘dreadful fashion’. Moncrieff had imagined wearable art to be more akin to sculpture than handcrafted clothing.Spurred on by the potential of the idea, Suzie decided to organise her own wearable-art event. In her call for entries, she challenged makers ‘to take art off the walls … to adorn the body in wildly wonderful ways’. The results were mixed at first, as practitioners grappled to understand Suzie’s vision. By the early 1990s, however, the entries had become increasingly adventurous, and a new genre of wearable art was beginning to emerge. Today, WOW® attracts entries from all over the world and is recognised as a national cultural event.