She loves the night life, she loves to boogie — and she is the latest creation of Dunedin costume-maker Jason Connolly.
She was created as an entry for this year’s World of Wearable Art (Wow) competition in Wellington.
Mr Connolly said the costume was inspired by his son, who was interested in marine biology — particularly the colourful mantis shrimp.
‘‘Then I started thinking about ’70s disco, like Abba and Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.
‘‘I'd play Abba when I was making it — like, a lot — just to try and infuse it with ’70s disco spirits.
‘‘Now it’s become sort of like this bright, inclusive, fun thing, that represents the rainbow community.’’
He spent six months tying individual coloured hairs on to a mesh suit that he made.
‘‘It’s also got bling on it, shiny bits, lots of colour and flared sleeves and legs; and it's quite kinetic, so when you move around, all the fur goes flying all over.
‘‘I just wanted it to be really loud and brash.’’
Disco Shrimp is a much more relaxed dude than most of the other characters Mr Connolly has created over the past 30 years.
Usually he creates Star Wars and comic book characters, such as Stormtroopers, Chewbacca, The Thing from The Fantastic Four, and Hellboy.
He said it was his first time entering the Wow competition and was enjoying creating something from his own imagination.
‘‘I've been meaning to enter it for the last 10 years, and every year I'm too lazy,’’ he said.
‘‘So this year, I thought I'd give it a crack.’’
While his Disco Shrimp costume got through the first few rounds of the Wow competition, sadly, it did not reach the final.
‘‘Which is fine, because the fun was in making it.
‘‘It would have been a laugh to see it reach the finals though.’’
It had inspired him to try again next year, he said.
As for the future of Disco Shrimp, Mr Connolly said it would likely end up in a box in his garage.
‘‘Unless I get invited to a fancy-dress disco party ...’’
