What is A2W?
Art2WearTM (A2W) is an educational event where students gain experience by coordinating and producing an annual wearable art production. Young designers are challenged to imagine, create, and inspire by expressing their point of view through wearable art. This highly anticipated show fuses the talents of several departments in the College of Design and beyond, exposing student designers to the broader field of wearable art, digital media production, and fashion. A2W attracts attendees from all over the Triangle by encouraging participation through engaging the student body, the Raleigh community, and the broader design industry.
Art2Wear 2026: Symbiosis
Art2Wear continues its traditions in pushing fashion and form in their 2026 exhibit: Symbiosis. Symbiosis works to integrate designers’ understanding of interactions, push and pulls, constraints and appendages. Whether ancient interactions between humanity and nature or emerging engagements with technologies, this year explores polarities in interactions to showcase the impact of forces and the world’s curation when things come together.
Mission
Our mission is to inspire and empower students to explore the art of wearable creations by providing a platform for them to express their creativity and push the boundaries of traditional art forms. Through collaboration, innovation, and education, we aim to create a community that values and celebrates the intersection of art, fashion, and the digital world. We strive to foster a supportive and inclusive environment that encourages personal growth and expression, and to showcase the power of wearable art as a medium for storytelling.
The Vision
Our vision is to inspire a new generation of artists and designers to use wearable art as a canvas to create unique, imaginative, and thought-provoking pieces that challenge conventional ideas of fashion and art. We hope to encourage the blend of physical and digital construction to push the imaginations of the next generation of designers.
Wearable Art & Technology
Wearable art is a product or sculptural piece that interacts with the body and serves as either a cultural artifact, an artistic expression, a reflector of society, outward illustration of a person’s identity, starter of revolutions, economic building block, basic human need, or body covering. Technology serves to enhance and elevate the story of these wearable pieces through digital storytelling, immersion, or to push the boundaries of what “wearable” means.
