For the Hong Kong show, there will be 10 pieces created by students from the Hong Kong Design Institute. 'They were not in the WoW competition, but we went and had a look at them and they are amazing,' says WoW artistic director Malia Johnston, who was in Hong Kong last autumn. 'They have been doing it as part of their course work.'

This will be the first time WoW organisers are staging a full show outside New Zealand. It resulted from arts festival executive director Tisa Ho's enthusiasm for the extravaganza when she saw it last year. For Moncrieff, who now describes herself as a 'guide' to Johnston, it is a dream come true as she's always wanted to find the show an international audience.

But touring the production is, she says, a massive undertaking, with not just the costumes being sent here, but also 10 dancers and 15 models, props and sets and three arms of the five-arm, octopus-like revolving stage that allows the performers to get close to the audience.

Johnston, who has been with WoW for 11 years, calls the logistics 'crazy'. During her last visit, she chose 20 local dancers and 18 models to work with the cast from New Zealand. She will have two weeks to train them in Hong Kong. 'It will be done very fast, but we will have all the material done so it is just a process of transferring the information,' she says. 'The people we have picked are fantastic and I am sure that they will pick it up quickly.'

It makes sense for the show to go global. Over the past 24 years, 4,500 WoW garments have been created, NZ$1 million in prize money handed out, almost 350,000 people have seen the show and it now involves a cast and crew of more than 400.

For Kerr, victory with Hermacea, which won this year's open section and the Weta award, chosen by Weta Workshop head Richard Taylor (whose company did movie effects for the Lord of the Rings series), led to the chance to work with his internationally renowned creative workshop, pivotal to movies such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In New Zealand and around the world - entries have come from 23 countries, including Korea, Fiji India, Alaska, China, Thailand, Australia, Britain and the Netherlands - artists, designers, architects, and home sewers, their sewing machines chugging away, have concocted their amazing confections in the hope of making it into the show.

'It is very accessible, that is what makes it different,' says Moncrieff.

'I have been doing it for about 10 years,' says Kerr. 'It is the process of getting a piece onto the stage. It is a way of creating that nothing else really offers you. You can create a piece that can go onstage and be modelled, exhibited.

'I enjoy the making, but it is a love-hate relationship, you could hurl it out the window at any minute and then you stand back and look at it and you think, 'that looks cool'.'

The show moved from Nelson to Wellington in 2005 - a sore point with Nelson's people, although the town retains the WoW Museum, from which most of the 'best of' costumes to show in Hong Kong will come, along with highlights of this year's show.

The museum offers a chance to get close to the costumes, their details and the bizarre array of construction materials. One of the things that make WoW so different and fascinating is the materials used and the emphasis on recycling. They range from the expected - paper, fabric, wire and plastics - to the unusual, such as fish skin, old milk bottles and teaspoons. Moncrieff says the most memorable are an entry made from recycled knitting needles in shades of grey - 'they were used to make an exceptionally beautiful sculptural shape,' she says - and one comprising aluminium pipes. 'When the model danced in it, it flicked the light.'

Canadian Lynn Christiansen, who abandoned corporate marketing to go to art school in San Francisco, has used brown silicone to make chocolate-look dresses, and textured, cut and shaped sheet metal to create a garment inspired by a thorny devil lizard.

Artist and former New Zealand member of parliament Mike Ward mixed canvas, papier-m?ch? and paint with curtain lace in creating his 2011 entry, Yes Dear ... A Pas De Deux, which sees a bridegroom as mere accessory. It will be in the Hong Kong performance.

The show will open with a South Pacific section, including Maori music and a performance by New Zealand opera singer Aivale Cole. Then comes the children's section, with local child models, featuring a flying book which opens to reveal a real-life scene.

Johnston says the creative excellence section features the 'wildest garments, the most unique, outlandish pieces, that's the crazy section' while this year's open section is a celebration of colour, 'simple but beautiful, based on a dance piece that stays in the centre for the whole time, with colours exposed as the women in the middle take off the layers of their dresses'.

The avant garde is where 'fashion meets art', and the works by the Hong Kong students will feature in this category.

Also in Hong Kong will be one of the most popular sections: glow-in-the-dark garments shown with the lights down. It is a highlight; fun, colourful, looks great, but does not tantalise with the intricacies of creation and unusual materials.

It's a significant frustration that mostly, as the garments whirl by, there is no way of knowing what they are made of or how, except by constantly consulting the text and tiny pictures in the programme. Save money by ignoring the programme seller and you won't have a clue what is going on.

It's a criticism Moncrieff knows well, but she rejects any notion that a commentary would help. 'I think a commentary would make it like a fashion show and it certainly is not,' she says, adding WoW is more a theatrical experience.

'It is a theatre of the many layers with big dance performances, amazing sets, inspiring lighting and a musical soundtrack. It is an emotional roller coaster that continues to be full of surprises and showcases extraordinary art-inspired costumes from all over the world. It is a big stage show.'

World of WearableArt, Jan 29-Feb 5, Star Hall, Kowloon Bay International Trade and Exhibition Centre. HK$160, HK$250, HK$360 (students HK$80, HK$125, HK$175) HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 3128 8288