D&K All or Nothing

BACKGROUND: Critical Fashion Practice explores key political, social and cultural concerns that affect fashion production and consumption. This research area uses mostly publication, film and installation to critique the fashion industry, often overlooking deep interrogation of traditional formats such as garments and fashion shows. Curator Olivier Salliard has produced several performances that critique fashion shows by highlighting the distinct language and gestures of the models and the qualities of high fashion garments. CONTRIBUTION: ‘All or Nothing’ by D&K (Ricarda Bigolin and Nella Themelios) is a fashion collection presented on one model over two hours as a durational performance in spaces inside and outside the gallery. Fashion production is critiqued through slowing down the usual 15-minute runway show, using the same model to include moments of stasis and social interactions between models and audience. Garments and accessories use co-design strategies with 13 artists to expand how collections are composed. Basic and abstract garments are transfigured by luxurious textiles questioning the capacity for fashion to illicit desire via the fashion show. This project continues D&K’s exploration of the function of branding signifiers and value hierarchies in fashion, questioning the role of materiality, branding, garments and collections. SIGNIFICANCE: This work presents a shift in the discipline around the way design is conducted while highlighting the social space and engagement of fashion. D&K’s interrogation of luxury garments and their performance is globally unique. The project’s significance is attested by: - Commission of the project by RMIT Design Hub as part of Melbourne Design Week 2017 - Inclusion in the RMIT Design Archives’ Journal Vol. 8 No. 1 2018 - Inclusion of associated textual work in independent fashion magazine Press & Fold - Invitation to feature the work as a monograph entitled ‘D&K Look Book 2019’ by independent publisher SURPLLUS