Wearable Art
First, Some of my garments from Art to Wear. All are shown on exhibition in
Sydney.
1.
2. 
3.
1, 2, and 3. My 1996 contributions: Bloke I, Le Rouge et Le Noir, and Symphonic Variations
respectively.
4. 
5. 
6. 
4. Torami, which, with Bloke III (the vest of which is shown in 7 below), made my 1998 contribution.
5 and 6. Oread and Bloke IV, two of my contributions for 1998.
7. (a)
(b)
(c)
8.
9.
10.
Some cubist-inspired pieces.
7 shows the vest for Bloke III with shoulder and side studs separated.
I was making a tongue-in-cheek statement about Wearable Art: this piece took its stylistic
inspiration from a school of art and it was in a Wearable Art exhibition. Therefore, I lined the back
and fronts separately and assembled them with large, uncovered press studs. Studs were also used
in the vests of Another Bloke and A Bloke in the Landscape, where I covered them with fabric.
It means that the garments can be either worn or hung flat on the wall: Wearable Art!
The right front shows a tabletop on which there is a comport of fruit and an aggressively
cubist cup and saucer. On the left, there is a woman sitting in an upholstered chair. Her gloved
hand forms the closure and it looks as if she is reaching for the cup: "Miss Toklas Takes Tea".
8 and 9. These appear elsewhere, but I've put them here to keep the Bloke III vest company. As
compensation, I've included the back yoke on the crossover/double-breasted vest. The hair forms
the front neckline and continues over the shoulder to the back, where it is tied in a cubist bow.
11.
12.
11 and 12. A piece of conceptual wearable art: Necessity (Who Became the Mother of
Invention). This was made for an exhibition in 2000 entitled Outrageous Brides, which was
curated by Helen Lancaster and held at the Fairfield Gallery in Sydney. She is shown on exhibition
in the gallery. I have aimed for sumptuous raggedness: her outfit is made from strips of silk, mostly
torn. Her bodice is embroidered with them, trimmed with needle lace made from them, and laced
up the back with them. She has also been exhibited, along with Bloke I, in the Elemental
exhibition (November, 2003; curated by Judith Trager at the Loveland Museum and Gallery,
Loveland, Colorado).
13.
14.
13 and 14 show the vest from A Bloke in the Landscape, from Art to Wear, 2004. It's my take
on the parti-coloured garment, except that it is divided into different landscapes (including aerial
ones) rather than different colours.
15.
16.
17.
Two commissions
15 and 16. Commission for Roz - a jacket in black charmeuse and silver lamé covered in some
places with two layers of hand-painted georgette, in others with one. It is extensively embroidered
and lined in a hand-painted charmeuse which matches the georgette. There is a matching bag.
17. Vest for Bubbles. The gold "Matisse" shapes across the yoke are nylon-organza-covered gold
lamé reverse-appliquéd behind the faced edges of the silk negative shapes on either side. The red
fabric is corduroy which the client wished to have included.
18.
A lamé-taming experiment
This vest was made as a challenge. A student had given me a piece of cheap and vulgar pink lamé
printed with magenta, royal blue and emerald green flowers and leaves. It was rather startling. She wanted
to see what I'd do with it.
I decided to use the back - much more subdued. I further toned it down by informally pleating some
shibori-dyed georgette in a combination of smoky greys and lilacs. Then, having laid it over the lamé, I
proceeded to embroider it with a variety of threads, including heavy threads. These were mostly metallic, to
bring the sparkle of the lamé to the surface on a more refined scale. I used a multiple meander-within-
meander, which gives the effect of interlocking leaves or seaweed. To finish, I embroidered a tiny meander
filling in a mid grey in the spaces between. There is a matching bag.
Accessories are wearables, too
19.
Some embroidered bracelets/bangles, featuring open-work (including some worked off the outside
edge), reverse appliqué and off-the-edge stitching as a finish. The closures are fabric-covered press studs.
20. a
b
c
d
e
Evening bags - a series of samples (though by no means the only ones!) for my workshop Sheer
Heaven.
They illustrate just some of the creative things that can be done with sheer fabrics - including layering
them (cut or whole) and burning holes in them (see A and B). As these are all evening bags, I've used plenty
of glitz.
21.
This is the Left Front of my contribution to Art to Wear 2005: Bloke VII: a Man of Letters. The embroidery
has been finished, and the piece cut back to the size of the pattern piece. It's double-layer bonded appliqué
under a sheer. The first layer (big dark capitals) are under black nylon organza. The top layer (lower-case) is
under navy polyester organza.
22. a
b
c
This is the vest for my Art to Wear exhibition contribution, 2006: Bloke VIII: Homage to Gerard Manley
Hopkins. The inspiration was his poem Pied Beauty, and is concerned with dappling, mottling and broken
colour.
It's photographed after the red silk charmeuse facing was turned and before the navy habotai lining was
hand-stitched in. Unfortunately, I don't have an image of the outfit on exhibition. The trousers were
mottled grey linen-look tussah. The shirt was navy habotai and featured collar and cuffs in the same fabric
as the lower front of the vest.
23. a
b
Bloke IX: After the Burn-off (Art to Wear, 2007; image a by courtesy of Virginia Koster). This was inspired by
seeing a stretch of countryside in the Northern Territory after it had been given its annual clearing by fire,
a practice which dates from time immemorial (from so long ago that many Australian plant species need to be
burnt before their seeds will germinate. Image b shows the back of the vest. Much of the stitchery is layered.
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