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“Bling Warrior” Brings Home Two Awards World of WearableArt success for VCUQatar Fashion Professor Ali Khan, assistant professor in the VCUQatar Fashion Design Department has submitted another successful entry into the internationally renowned World of WearableArt (WOW) Awards Competition, held annually in Wellington, New Zealand.
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The event, now in its 27th year, challenges designers to move “art off the wall and onto the human form.” The competition is a twohour spectacle of dance, theater, music and art, and is New Zealand’s largest arts show, hosting over 50,000 attendees from around the world each year. Entrance into WOW is fierce with only 100 garments nominated to participate in the final presentation of work. Once the month-long exhibition has ended, the garments become part of the permanent collection of the World of WearableArts Mu-
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seum in Nelson, New Zealand and can be selected for international
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WOW touring exhibitions.
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Khan has presented three garments in the WOW Awards Competition, each a collaborative effort with his design partner Frida Khan. The creative process is a lengthy one for each piece. From development to realization, each takes well over four months.
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Their entries “Bling Warrior” (Avant Garde Section) and “Skulls
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of Bondage”(Bizarre Bra Section) were both entered in the 2014
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competition. “Bling Warrior” was the recipient of two awards (the First Time Entrant Award and third prize in the American Express Open Section). Their piece, ‘Soldier of Fortune,’ was nominated in the Man Section 2015.
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“Bling Warrior” and “Soldier of Fortune” are part of their Warrior series, which perceives of the soldier as an ‘idealized model of invincibility.’ In Khan’s words, the soldier is “adorned with the reminders of his achievements that are toxic, gaudy and a predominant element of his being, reflecting the collective decisions of the social order that produced this soldier.”
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Khan explains: “In developing these outfits we wanted to maintain a strong connection between them yet push the techniques further forward, as well as bring the distinct and strong codes of menswear and masculinity to the pieces.” Materials include vinyl, white and gold chain, canvas, lurex, football pads and 10,000 Swarovski crystal diamantes. Khan, who has been teaching at VCUQatar for eight years, is currently working on his PhD thesis which has the working title of: “Anatomy of Contemporary Macho: Breaking stereotypes to define a new ‘macho man’ through the eyes of five unique global pop subcultures.”
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