Radical Bodies

Fabric has a particular power to hold memory and the past as well connecting us to one another. Whether worn as a garment or wrapped around the body during repose, textiles are akin to a ‘second skin’ to bodies past and present. With their capacity to evoke familial and matriarchal associations, textiles summon key moments of our lives through the garments we wore (or didn’t wear).

Fashion has long been a means for the expression of communal and individual identity. Katie Nicol-Ford of fashion design house, Nicol & Ford describes that ‘fashion is a radical vehicle in that it places yourself in society… especially for people within the queer community, it's how we find each other’. The work of Nicol & Ford and others including the work of Jordan Gogos are part of a contemporary movement in Australian fashion, spearheaded by a group of mostly queer designers, who are bringing conceptual and communal practice to the heart of the Australian fashion industry.

Examples of work by key international designers on display in this section also include work by the late Vivienne Westwood and Issey Miyake as well as more recent examples of gowns by Viktor & Rolf and Iris van Herpen. First Nations fashion also features prominently with the work by Paul McCann, Marrithiyal people and Grace Lillian Lee, Meriam Mir people. These garments remind us of the importance of fashion in navigating the promotion of culture, and the advancement of the rights of specific social issues and communities.

Words by Rebecca Evans and Leigh Robb