By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Nov 4: Sarawakian student Mohammad Faris Mohd Fairusham brought pride to Malaysia after winning the ‘Air’ category at this year’s World of Wearable Art (WOW) competition in New Zealand with his stunning Wau Bulan-inspired design.
According to the Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka—where Faris came in 2023 on a twin-degree programme and recently completed a Bachelor of Commerce—in June last year, Faris heard about WOW while talking to a performer.
He conceived the concept for the garment before reviewing the competition categories and began gathering materials by October.
“I thought of Wau Bulan before I even saw the sections. When I saw that ‘Air’ was a section, I knew I had to do it,” he said.
Faris’s journey into clothing design began with his fascination for fashion and self-expression through dressing up.
“It wasn’t until the first year of my degree, in 2022, that I started dabbling in upcycling clothes and sewing for fun,” he said.
Faris’ garment, Wau Bulan, represents a tradition and national symbol in Malaysia. The corset was crafted using traditional Sarawakian batik, paying tribute to his birthplace in Sarawak.
“I was born there, and I wanted to incorporate that part of Malaysia into the garment. You never know exactly what WOW judges are looking for. So, I think the most important part is understanding your storyline and what you’re trying to embody, because art in itself is a story. You need to understand what the garment represents to you,” he explained.
The toughest part, Faris admitted, was working against a tight deadline. By mid-December, the skirt was done, but the wings were still unfinished—and he had only a few weeks left before leaving for his student exchange in Colombia that January.
“It was a busy time. I had a part-time job during that, working a hotel night shift from 11pm to 7am. I remember it being so crazy that I had to bring one of the wings to the hotel to work on it there, while preparing for my exchange. It was a lot of fun, though,” he said.
Faris also credited his friend Matilda, who studied architecture at the same university and has since returned to Finland, for helping him to finish painting Wau Bulan and perfecting its final details.
However, shipping the garment to Nelson for judging proved to be a challenge. The piece was too large to fit into any shipping boxes, and since Faris had already left for Colombia, Matilda stepped in to help ensure it reached its destination safely.
“She had to make me her own fixer-upper box; it was the last day we could send it over to them. A few days later, I got an email from WOW, saying they were ‘alarmed’ by the state of my garment.
“They sent me a picture of the box, crushed. But the garment itself was fine; it has quite a robust structure,” Faris laughed.
He also elaborated that his garment was largely constructed from furniture materials. The wings of the garment, made from rattan rods and repurposed gold curtain trimmings, were robust but rather heavy and needed to be held in place with straps covered by shoulder pads.
Faris intends to stay in Wellington until graduation in December, and perhaps beyond—either to work or to continue with WOW for another year.
This year’s WOW competition featured 85 finalist garments from over 17 countries, where they were judged on creativity, construction, and storytelling.
They competed for a prize pool of over NZD200,000 (RM480,600), across 25 awards. — DayakDaily
