Phillip Adams BalletLab at Melbourne Now

19/02/14

Phillip Adams BalletLab presents OUTLINE, an homage to Christian Dior’s "New Look Fashion 1947" this Sunday, 23rd February at 2:30pm at The Ian Potter Australia Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square.

This is a new work, especially created for NGV’s Melbourne Now Performance Program. OUTLINE is a free event.

Phillip has created OUTLINE in collaboration with fashion designer Toni Maticevski, milliner and artist Richard Nylon, designer/stylist Ray Barry of Y Salon and photographer Rachael Bernhaut, and with choreographer/performance artist Brooke Stamp – all collaborators appearing live in the work! To top it off, OUTLINE will also feature a special guest appearance by Phillip’s adorable pet dachshund Pablo, in the capable hands of the dashing Edgar Wegner, who also makes a cameo appearance.

OUTLINE is a re-structuring of the Dior "New Look 1947” as contemporary fashion and art performance. The artists acknowledge the twentieth century fashion house du jour, the remittance of photographers and professed glamour of Dior, and our very own leading studios in the Melbourne salon precinct, or the ‘Paris end of Collins’ (Melbourne), many of whom specialised in commercial fashion illustration, creating enchanting images of ideal beauty and perfection for public consumption in the 40s, 50s and 60s. 

Phillip: "My first memory of Melbourne was at the age of eight, already donned in paisley-buttoned-up shirt and 100% cotton fitted pantaloons seated next to Mother, who was fitted out in a Dior-style long skirt and jacket on the tram.  We pass by a construction site near the NGV somewhere (circa 1970s) headed into the city to shop, see a picture and lunch at David Jones Cafeteria. I am interested to contextualise into fashion this childhood encounter from Melbourne then, transporting me to Melbourne Now. Now, as an artist at 48, I still ride the tram passed the NGV on St Kilda Road, transfixed by memories and Dior nostalgia, which has been my entry point for this commission.”

See this inspiring ensemble of artists re-create the "New Look Dior 1947" for Melbourne Now, a free event this Sunday at 2:30pm

Back to news