DI$COUNT UNIVER$E

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DI$COUNT operates on the assumption that in the post-modern world, nothing is new, and re-appropriation is vital to an honest and transparent approach to design. Through this subversion of, and fucking with the fashion system, DI$COUNT… is steeped in humor and irony, cliché and imitation.[1]

Cami James and Nadia Napreychikov are the collaborative duo behind Australian ‘anti-fashion’ label DI$COUNT UNIVER$E. They first met as students at RMIT University and began their collaboration with a grassroots fashion blog in 2009, launching their label the following year. Known for their subversive brand strategies and garments featuring punkish feminist statements, over-the-top glamour and wry humour, DI$COUNT UNIVER$E has since become an international success, worn by celebrities the likes of Beyoncé, Madonna, Katy Perry and, most famously, Rihanna in the Spring/Summer 2014 You Will Never Own Me gown.

James and Napreychikov’s rebellious vision is foundational to their brand. Observing radical changes to the music industry across the early 2000s, the duo anticipated similar seismic shifts in fashion, and looked to the internet and online consumers to build their audience. From the outset, they abandoned fashion’s standard seasonal cycle, instead opting for small, one-off collections; rather than rely on magazine endorsement or being picked up by major department stores, they built their following through a web-store and burgeoning social media channels at the time; and, just six years in, they staged a career survey exhibition It’s Too Soon for a Retrospective from their Collingwood studio. Even the name itself, DI$COUNT UNIVER$E, was devised as a parody of the fashion industry, bringing into question ‘concepts of exclusivity, mass market and luxury.’[2]As curator Paola Di Trocchio describes, the duo are ‘rebellious and playful but at the same time, serious businesswomen… that [is] very Australian – to project an image of casualness but be absolutely serious about doing things.’[3]

James and Napreychikov’s DIY ethos extends to their aesthetic. The jacket, body suit and boots, from the 2016 resort collection Sin Is In, is emblematic of DI$COUNT UNIVER$E’s maximalist style, where embellishment and sloganeering reigns. Featuring political one-liners (‘Eat the Rich’), alongside sexual antagonisms and feminist provocations (‘Eat Pussy’ and ‘Listen To Your Mother’), the ensemble is a chorus of pithy statements chiming in gold, silver and royal blue. “The collection is a second coming of age, an inquiry into love, sex, desire, art, and destruction, hence 'Sin Is In.' The motifs and concepts embrace feelings of recklessness, self-discovery, hedonism, and debauchery.”[4]

Working in sequins, which remains an enduring material for DI$COUNT UNIVER$E designs today, the ensemble draws on a visual language of gaudy, low-brow luxury, campness and the aesthetics of drag, particularly the costume designs of Australian performer Leigh Bowery and the New York City Club Kids scene of the 80s and 90s. Here, the ‘cheapness’ of sequins has been reworked into a high fashion art object, an alchemical transformation mirrored in the duo’s elevation of everyday–yet unfortunately overlooked–socio-political concerns:

The feminist messaging, sense of empowerment and ownership of identity and sexuality in the punchy language and bold imagery has been woven in since day one. The work is cyclical in that way, we started in order to empower young women like ourselves who couldn’t afford expensive fashion, who were sick of being told what luxury was or that their bodies weren’t good enough.

…being well-behaved certainly doesn’t get you anywhere when you want real change.[5]