Tauranga designer Emma Highfield has achieved a rare record, with her latest wearable art creation selected as a finalist in the 2026 World of WearableArt (WOW) Awards.

It is the sixth time Highfield has entered the internationally renowned competition and the sixth time she has made the final selection.

“I’m pretty excited and relieved,” she said. “I spent a long time making it, so to be able to see it get all the way through to being in the final show is incredible.”

Tauranga designer and 2026 WOW finalist Emma Highfield at work on her designs. Photo / Kelly O’Hara

Highfield’s WOW journey began in 2007, when she was in her early 20s. She was a finalist for four consecutive years, from 2007 to 2010, before taking a 15-year break.

She returned in 2025 and was again selected as a finalist.

It followed Highfield’s decision when she turned 40 to make more time for creative endeavours.

“Creative pursuits for me really got put on hold in my late 20s and my 30s,” she said. “I had babies, young kids and was working on my career, and I just didn’t really have the time to do creative things just for me.”

Emma Highfield’s Tiers of Resolve, one of six designs she has had make it to the finals of the World of WearableArt Awards. Photo / Andi Crown

Highfield studied fine arts at Elam, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and developed an interest in sculptural work while studying under New Zealand sculptor Michael Parekōwhai.

She later entered Auckland’s Trash to Fashion competition before moving into fashion design. She previously owned a bespoke lingerie brand and has spent the past six years co-founding and working full time on women’s fashion brand Dear Dylan.

WOW provides a different creative outlet, she said.

“Making a garment for WOW is very much just doing something creative just for me,” she said.

Part of Emma Highfield’s design for the 2025 WOW competition. Photo / Kelly O’Hara

Highfield said she does not feel pressure from being a finalist previously.

“I think entering a competition like WOW with a deadline is really good for me because I have something to work towards.”

Highfield’s 2025 WOW garment was inspired by her experience with endometriosis and undergoing a hysterectomy at 39.

WOW rules mean Highfield cannot reveal details of this year’s garment, but she can say her garden was a major source of inspiration.

A keen gardener, she previously ran a flower farm supplying specialty blooms to local event florists and still spends much of her spare time growing flowers.

“My garment this year was very much a reflection of my time in the garden,” she said.

Her creative process begins with a material rather than a finished design.

“I just start making something and then it evolves,” she said. “I see what I can do with the materials and how they work, and then do lots of testing and lots of playing around.”

Emma Highfield says her design process begins with a material rather than a finished design and evolves from there. Photo / Andi Crown

The creation required a substantial investment of time. Highfield estimates one major part alone took more than 200 hours, with work beginning in September last year and continuing through evenings and weekends.

Just before the submission deadline, her husband took their children away for four days, giving Highfield time to finish the piece.

“You do need to have that luxury of time,” she said. “You need to be able to set that time aside to really focus and have fun creating.”

That support is important because Highfield runs her fashion business full time while raising her two children, aged 8 and 12.

Designing for WOW also gives her freedom that commercial fashion cannot.

“In my day-to-day design work for Dear Dylan, we’re making wearable clothing that is sellable – people want to wear it,” she said.

“With designing for WOW, it can be anything you want. There are no limits to the design.”

While winning would be “incredible”, the real reward is seeing her creations brought to life on stage.

“You can put all this time in and make this incredible creation, but the team at WOW and how they present that on stage, they bring these garments to life,” she said.

“They are just so incredible at picking the right person to wear your garment. I think seeing it on the stage is where the magic truly happens.”

Highfield encouraged other Bay of Plenty creatives considering entering WOW to take the plunge.

“I definitely think people should enter,” she said.

WOW finalist Emma Highfield says you need the luxury of time to put together a creation for the annual competition. Photo / Kelly O’Hara

There is no entry fee, and designers submit photographs and video of their work during the selection process.

Highfield said creatives can use inexpensive or readily available materials and still produce something extraordinary.

She saw that potential while judging the Tauranga leg of Showquest’s Toi wearable art competition, where some creations by local schoolchildren impressed her enough to imagine them on a WOW stage.

“The only thing is that these kids weren’t 18, so they couldn’t enter,” she said. “But I really hope platforms like that encourage these kids to keep going and enter once they’re old enough.”

For Highfield, being one of three Tauranga finalists is something special.

“I was born and raised here,” she said.

The 2026 WOW Show: GLO! runs from September 17-October 4 at TSB Arena on Wellington’s Queens Wharf, featuring 108 wearable artworks brought to life by more than 60 models, dancers and circus artists.

Highfield plans to attend and is looking forward to seeing her creation on stage. “If my garment has made it that far, then I’m happy,” she said.

“I’m really excited to see whoever wears my garment and how they move on the stage and bring it to life there.”