Wow impresses on international stage

The World of Wearable Art (Wow) show sold-out all eight evenings in the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Photo / World of Wearable Art

Overseas interest in New Zealand's World of Wearable Art show has grown following its first sell-out international show in Hong Kong.

The World of Wearable Art (Wow) show has just returned from the Hong Kong Arts Festival, in which the show sold-out all eight evenings, founder Dame Suzie Moncrieff said.

"This meant 16,000 people saw the 70-minute Wow performance, and loved it. This of course sparked the interest of agents representing other festivals and events, so we have had a number of approaches."

Wow would evaluate those offers over the coming months, Dame Suzie said.

The 70-minute show in Hong Kong showed the "best of the best" section from recent award shows and garments from the historic Wow collection.

Going into the Hong Kong show one of Wow's objectives was to encourage participation by overseas designers, Dame Suzie said, and Hong Kong designers have already started registering their garments for this year's event.

The Wow show has received growing international entries in the past few years, with a British woman taking out last year's supreme award, a pair from India winning the top award in 2010 and in 2009 an American man won the supreme award.

The event started in Nelson in 1987 but moved to Wellington in 2005.