D&K Covers

BACKGROUND - Critical fashion practitioners Tenant of Culture and Elisa van Joolen use waste and discarded materials to critique social and political contexts of fashion production and consumption. Garments and wearables use arts-based and material methods (Woodward 2020), critical tactics of wearing and performing (Jungnickel 2020) to reveal relationships between fashion, dress, value and use. Sinha et al. (2016) proposes upcycling as means to restore waste materials to new or higher value. This research extends the potential of upcycling by what Kollnitz and Pecorari (2021) argue as performative transformations acted out in everyday fashion experiences. CONTRIBUTION - D&K Covers by Ricarda Bigolin and Chantal Kirby is a collection of wearable ‘covers’, performance and video produced for the launch of the monograph D&K LOOKBOOK 2019. Exploring issues of single use materials in book packaging, the covers include worn t shirts, old curtains and lingerie, refurbished as book covers, bags and wearables. The performance involves participants wearing and engaging in the transformed functions and use, as prototypes that break everyday interactions (von Busch 2016). Presented in multiple venues internationally, video documentation of the performance by artist Kate Meakin includes transcribed audio as subtitles, exploring language also as a ‘cover’. SIGNIFICANCE - The project has been selected and presented at: -ASVOFF13 ‘A Shaded View on Fashion Film’ festival known for challenging the way fashion is presented, 35/37 by Comme des Garçons, Paris, France, Casa del Cinema, Rome and online via FNL Network. -‘Fashion Moves’ as part of ASVOFF13, curated by artist and researcher Dr. Alex Murray-Leslie, with jury including Prof. Peter McNeil (UTS) and international artists and film professionals. -UTS Gallery, Fit for Purpose exhibition public program, Art Month, Sydney. -Warehouse (Amsterdam) critical fashion practice platform, bookstore San Serriffe and Colours, Melbourne.