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Ruth Carlile, Nelson, NZ
World of WearableArt™ 2006; South Pacific Section; 3rd South Pacific

Anyone lucky enough to watch a World of WearableArt™ show is impressed by the fantastic costumes and the work each designer has put into transforming their original idea into reality. For Ruth Carlile, the idea was formed as she developed the garden in her Nelson home. She was inspired by the colours, shapes, texture and movement of the harakeke (flax) growing there. She says her main objective in creating her costume Harakeke was to "catch the essence of this beautiful plant and bring it to life" –the leaves, flowers, seed pods and the tui which feed on its nectar.

Designing wearable art means, of course, that the designer has to ensure that the costume will fit a model and be capable of moving around the stage during the show. As she worked out how the look of the harakeke could be transformed into a costume, Ruth also wanted to incorporate the influence of a fashion designer she admires. The hooped skirt and intricate bodice-work in Harakeke reflect her admiration for the late Gianni Versace's operatic costumes.

Ruth didn't have any formal training in art, design, dressmaking or costume-making so committing to enter WOW was a daunting challenge "totally outside my comfort zone". She says that although she could sew "a little", drawing and sketching weren't her thing – "I struggle drawing stick figures!"

Having decided to create a garment based on harakeke, Ruth spent many hours thinking about how she could construct it to reflect her idea. She first researched photos of harakeke and studied the tui feeding on the plants in her garden, to get a good understanding of her subject. The red/brown colours of a flowering harakeke were an important part of the overall look, as were the different sections of the plant, so Ruth evaluated an extensive range of fabrics to find the most suitable colours and textures.

After selecting the fabrics she draped pieces over her dress-maker's mannequin in different configurations, to help her work out how she might construct the costume and to evaluate the effectiveness of the different combinations. Ruth notes that "Exploring textures, colours and techniques is a major part of the creative process" and says that her basic design ideas didn't change significantly when she started making the costume, because she only began when she had found the appropriate fabric with all the qualities she wanted.

Planning the structural foundation of the hooped skirt involved more experimentation. Ruth originally planned to use fibreglass for the base of the skirt but decided to look at a cheaper option. She tested pipe lagging, shaping it into a frame for the skirt and draping the underskirt and some of the overskirt 'leaves' around it. The lagging proved quite bulky, however, so Ruth went back to the fibreglass option.

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