Dolci and Kabanna: Brand Delusions

BACKGROUND The work first presented by BusProjects in 2012 was developed as a special curatorial project by the board of directors with a range of expert knowledge in the field of art, design and curation. The work became an early example of critical fashion practice. CONTRIBUTION The project highlights a collaboration between fashion design and curation in critiquing the role of the fashion brand. Key precedents for the exploration of critical fashion and art practice were explored. D&K curated in the show a film from practitioners Bernadette Corporation, a notable precedent in this area of art and fashion, who use a 'mock incorporation and ambiguous branding strategies' (Artist Space 2013). D&K as a 'Brand in search of an Identity' are said to explore the allure of the fashion brand and the strategies used to seduce and provoke desire in their audiences in asking 'What is the essence of the brand and how does it function typographically in the media' and examining 'the cliches that are used in fashion photography and brand representations' (Arts 2014). The work involved print, installation, video installation and performance. A film was produced 'Faces' from a participatory performance on the opening. SIGNIFICANCE 'Dolci and Kabana: Brand Delusions' was featured and reviewed in The Future of Fashion is Now (2014) and formed the basis for D&K's receiving an award and commission. It launched D&K as part of 'A new generation of idealistic and socially engaged designers are viewing society and the fashion system with a critical eye' (Ex 2014). The Future of Fashion is Now relates the work as 'fashion activism' in describing D&K as 'A fake commercial brand in which a series of activist installations are used to make the viewer aware of the all the facets of brand identity' (Teunissen 2014). The work aided establishing the practice as part of a distinction of fashion practitioners concerned with critically operating within the fashion system.