INTERVIEW with Oana Roșca || 2026 Finalist for The Australian Wearable Art Festival
SD: Hi, Oana. Can you introduce yourself to my readers who don’t know you yet?
OR: Hello, and thank you for having me. I’m Oana Roșca, a Bucharest-based visual artist and lecturer at UNARTE’s Fashion Design Department. My work plays at the intersection of art, fashion and transformation.
SD: How and when did you get into wearable art?
OR: I was drawn to wearable art through my work as an educator. In the university environment, students are often offered inexpensive materials to ease their financial burden, or we turn to second-hand garments and found objects as accessible resources. Yet these materials are frequently overlooked or undervalued. I felt a responsibility not only to guide artistic practice, but also to raise awareness about the environmental impact of the fashion industry and the importance of reuse and waste reduction.
Wearable art became a way to unite education, creation, and re-creation. I began working with discarded materials, reimagining them through creative upcycling and shaping them into costume-objects that carry new meanings and emotional presence. I’m drawn to what is overlooked and to the idea that beauty can emerge from reinvention. For me, creativity is a continuous process of questioning, observing, and giving form to what is often unseen.
Through this practice, I seek to challenge our perception of waste — to show that any material holds artistic potential, even what we discard. It depends on us to offer it another life, transforming what is often associated with garbage into something radiant, proud, and alive.
SD: What advice would you give to a younger version of yourself when you were starting out in wearable art?
OR: If I could speak to my younger self at the beginning of my journey in wearable art, I would tell her to trust herself more and to follow her creative energy without hesitation. It’s easy to get caught up in questions, doubts, or pessimistic thoughts, but the true magic happens when you let intuition and curiosity guide you. Embrace experimentation, honor the process, and believe that even the simplest materials can become extraordinary if approached with openness and imagination.
SD: What keeps you inspired?
OR: I find inspiration in the overlooked and the everyday — in textures, discarded objects, and moments that often go unnoticed. Nature, art, and human stories constantly remind me of the possibilities hidden in the world around us. I’m inspired by the idea that anything, even what seems ordinary or forgotten, can be transformed into something meaningful and beautiful. Ultimately, it’s curiosity, the desire to explore materials, and the energy of creation itself that keep me moving forward.
SD: Explain your understanding of sustainable fashion practices and how you incorporate them into your design process.
OR: Sustainable fashion, for me, is about respect — for materials, for the environment, and for the stories embedded in what we wear. It’s not just about using less, but about seeing potential where others see waste. In my design process, I focus on creative upcycling, giving discarded materials a new life as thought-provoking costume-objects. I carefully consider the lifecycle of every piece, exploring how garments and materials can be reimagined, reused, and cherished rather than discarded. This approach allows me to combine artistic expression with responsibility, proving that fashion can be beautiful, meaningful, and environmentally conscious all at once.
SD: You’re a 2026 finalist in The Australian Wearable Art Festival. What excites you most about this?
OR: Being a 2026 finalist in The Australian Wearable Art Festival is incredibly exciting because it represents a space where imagination and craft come alive on a grand scale. What thrills me most is the opportunity to share my work with a global audience that truly celebrates creativity and innovation. It’s inspiring to be among so many visionary artists, to witness the limitless possibilities of wearable art, and to see how experimentation, risk-taking, and passion can captivate and move people.
Tickets are going fast. Go and buy tickets to see Oana Roșca in The Australian Wearable Art Festival here
The Australian Wearable Art Festival Website: https://australianwearableart.com.au/
The Australian Wearable Art Festival Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/australianwearableart/
The Australian Wearable Art Festival Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/australianwearableart/
Oana Roșca:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oanamariarosca