Designers, performers, and eager audience members are descending on the capital for the return of New Zealand's largest theatrical production - and with close to $30 million at stake, it is not just culture that the World of Wearable Arts Awards is bringing to Wellington.
The show opens tonight and runs for just under three weeks at the TSB Arena. It is the first time since 2019 that the show will be staged, following two years of Covid-19 cancellations.
More than 100 finalists from 20 countries will be eagerly waiting to find out if they have won their category on Friday night.
One of them is Brisbane designer Bethany Cordwell. She spent a year during Covid-19 lockdowns individually cutting and sewing 55,000 scales, made from plastic document folders, for her entry 'Documental'.
"I kind of had a purpose everyday which really helped those many months that I had out of work," Cordwell said.
"My piece was something that really helped my day-to-day process of going through Covid."
This year's finalists were chosen last year, before the show had to be cancelled. Cordwell had not seen her garment since July 2021, and said it had been a long road to finally seeing it onstage.
"I'm so excited. I think with the extra wait-time it just builds the anticipation even more. WOW is something that I've loved since I was 12 when a family friend introduced me to it, so to have that love for WOW for so many years, I think now to be here finally it feels like a full circle moment."
Sharn Te Pou has been performing at WOW since he was 14 years old. This year, he is dancing, doing aerials, and is one of the headline singers.
Rehearsals for WOW began online last year and it was during one of these rehearsals they heard last year's show was cancelled, Te Pou said.
"We all got a message saying that we couldn't do it, which was heartbreaking, so I think this year everyone is super amped to get on stage and to dance in front of an audience and to have their friends and family there supporting them."
Show director Malia Johnston, who has been involved with WOW for more than 20 years, said this year's show was centred around a female deity character.
"We were looking for a character that could metamorphosis," Johnston said.
"The vision is really for me about upholding the designs. It's a platform for people's ideas, their differences, their expressions, their diversity."
Just 200 metres down the waterfront from the show venue is Mulberry, a boutique clothing store. It's has been around for 17 years - since about 2005, the year WOW moved to Wellington from Nelson.
New Zealand musician Estère will perform in the 2022 World of Wearable Art Awards Show. Photo: Supplied / Andi Crown
Owner Christine Davies said it had been quiet without the show down the road, but now the buzz was back. She had customers who visited every year when they came to Wellington for WOW.
"Sometimes they'll come two or three times during their stay in Wellington over WOW, so that's always good, they bring back somebody else," she said.
"It's a fun time, it really is a buzz and customers are all talking amongst themselves in the shop - who don't even know each other - about the show."
Wellington Chamber of Commerce boss Simon Arcus said many business owners felt the same.
"We have had a lot of good feedback on WOW and part of that's because our members are hotels, they're retail, and they're also hospitality entities - they're the ones that are really going to benefit from having lots of people on the ground in the city and a great event for everyone to enjoy."
It was not just about the fiscal impact of events being cancelled, but also the resulting lack of vibrancy, Arcus said.
But the finances were a big part of it.
The region's economic development agency, WellingtonNZ, would not say exactly how much sponsorship money Wellington put into WOW because the details were commercially sensitive, but chief executive John Allen said it was a "pittance" compared to what the city got out of the deal.
About 60,000 people were expected to attend this year, with about 35,000 of those from outside the capital, Allen said.
"WOW generally produces about $28 million of direct economic value or benefit to Wellington City," he said.
"So effectively we've lost, not having it for two years, about $56 million of revenue."
Among those in town for the show are 23 students from Brooklyn School in Motueka. Teacher Kat Rayson said the two-yearly school trip to Wellington was centred around WOW.
"We're very excited to be able to come and see it today, we've been looking at some of the show reels on the website so we've got some idea of what we might see but we're looking forward to that great visual celebration of art and music and dance and drama."
Rayson hoped her students would return to school feeling inspired to work on their own wearable arts creations.