Plastic, Rubber and Leather

The late 1970s witnessed the emergence of a style that strongly rejected the clean-cut, impersonal 'internationalism' of the 1960s. It was a reaction against architecture that manifested itself in glazed rectangular skyscrapers, paintings that were hard-edge abstractions, and the fashions of the French couturiers André Courrèges (born 1923), Paco Rabanne (born 1934) and Pierre Cardin (born 1922), all of whom often dressed people to look like spacemen. In moving away from the modernist aesthetic, this new style drew its inspiration from a great variety of sources. In fashion it resulted in an eclectic, almost anti-fashion style that found favour with the 'new wave' or 'punk' sub-cultures; in architecture and design, the term 'post-modern' was favoured.

The excitement of another form of expression attracted many artists who had found the more traditional modes worn out and boring, as well as élitist. Fashion designers could now create useful objects that were also works of art, and the result was what have aptly become known as 'art-clothes' — a term coined by Jane de Teliga, then Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings, as the title for the Art Gallery of New South Wales's Project 33 exhibition, mounted in December 1980. In the works on display in Project 33, what had formerly been seen as the distinctions between art, craft and fashion were blurred, and the roles of the artist, craftsman and fashion designer became interchangeable.

A fascination with alternative materials unites many of the artists working in this area. The materials of industry, particularly plastic, acrylic, and rubber of all kinds, are especially attractive as they are inexpensive and easily manipulated. Two less unusual but more expensive fashion materials — leather and occasionally fur — also present new challenges. Traditionally, leather and fur have been the preserve of the rich, but the use of less sought-after varieties means that they too become more readily available. At the same time, more exotic materials such as snakeskin are used in imaginative ways to create unique and costly garments. Similarly, unusual combinations of traditionally expensive and common materials are often employed to achieve what can be perceived as a sense of irreverence.

Two of the earliest objects in this exhibition, Peter Tully's Whoopee and Ubangi neckrings of 1977, take a simple delight in the pleasures of plastic as medium. Peter Tully's Australian Fetish necklace and Anaesthetic's Egg hat, both of 1977, and Jenny Bannister's Zinc Cream dress of 1978, all make use of non-traditional materials. At the same time, however, they reflect an interest in peculiarly Australian culture and in motifs that developed from the early 1970s — albeit in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner. Similarly, Jenny Bannister's Primeval Astro Shag dress, and Peter Tully's Ceremonial Coat for the Grand Diva of Paradise Garage, both of 1980, show a certain playfulness. Like his Ceremonial Coat, Peter Tully's earlier Bachelor's belt : Angel of Love, Ambassador to Hell, 1978, is dress and decoration for the 'Gay' movement. However, it is not without a strong touch of irony, nor of black humour.

Gretel Pinniger's Atom Age, 1982-83, a bondage outfit made for the designer's alter ego, 'Madam Lash', to wear as an administrator of sadistic sexual pleasure (or as a performance artist?), is dress for a more specific function. Displayed as a work of art, the 'on-the-hook' Atom Age looks like the flayed skin of the mythological Marsyas, or, with more relevance to our times and as suggested by the title, like the victim of a holocaust. Jenny Bannister's Extinct hat, with its tiger/leopard kangaroo skin, is similarly an eloquent statement about a contemporary concern.

Lyn Tune's outfit Rainbow adventurer, 1985-86, is dress for those who wish to, or must, travel without baggage — it is a reference to a primitive and nomadic existence, perhaps made necessary by nuclear war. However, this kind of existence is lived out in cities, and, like Rainbow adventurer, Peter Tully's Urban Tribalware, first produced in 1979, takes little account of a rural lifestyle.

Peter Tully's Primitive Futures tabard of 1984 also conjures up a time of lawlessness, and Michael Anderson's Vest, 1983, and Bangle, 1984, the latter decidedly Biblical, are certainly the vestments for some strange ritual in a future time. These more recent works are in various ways reminiscent of the fabulous costuming used in the highly successful 'Mad Max' films of 1979, 1981 and 1985.

Would this dress and decoration be worn?

By the 1960s the children of the post-war 'baby-boom' were approaching their teens. Rejecting their parents' values and with increasing financial independence, they chose clothes for themselves – clothing which would impress their peers and which expressed their own personalities rather than those of their parents. As the economic climate deteriorated and more and more young people remained unemployed, dress and decoration became a vital form of self-expression; the street-clothes of the punks of the 1980s were as ravaged and frightening as the lives and futures so many faced. What had begun in fun and as fancy dress became serious and everyday. The sense of outrage expressed in the streets found its way into 'art-clothes'. Rejection of society's expectations became more conscious, and in September 1985 it was possible for Jenny Bannister to wear to her wedding a bridal dress made of patent dark green python skin, with a crown to match and a mad veil of silver tulle, to carry a bouquet of arum lilies, and to be accompanied by her sister as a bridesmaid in a suit of matching snakeskin with rhinestone eyes. The groom wore a suit made of black ostrich skin.

John McPhee, Senior Curator Australian Art