Proportion Distortion

The relationship between the body and proportion in fashion design will be explored at the next NGV Studio exhibition, Proportion Distortion.

From 6 October to 11 November, emerging Melbourne fashion designers will transform NGV Studio into a working design space.

Proportion Distortion will include five local designers; above., Simone Says, Elyse Barker, Anisha Bhoyro and Molly Herben. Each designer will work to produce garments that push the boundaries of proportion in fashion to illustrate how designs can create symmetry or distortion.

Tony Ellwood, NGV Director, said NGV Studio is a space that encourages audiences to engage with artists through new and experimental art forms.

“Proportion Distortion will give NGV Studio visitors the chance to see the innovative work of these up-and-coming designers first hand. The exhibition will also host the Proportion Distortion Fashion Hub, an evening where visitors can drop by for fashion workshops and demonstrations,” Mr Ellwood said.

The designers will explore a range of themes during Proportion Distortion including femininity and fashion, celebrity influence and luxury materials, gender stereotypes for clothing, the idea of the basic wardrobe and the organic movement of fabric.

As part of a series of free public programs, on Thursday 25 October from 6–10pm visitors are invited to drop by the Proportion Distortion Fashion Hub. Demonstrations of leather-making and knitted flower brooch-making will happen throughout the evening, and at 6.30pm above. designer Nyssa Marrow and curator Paola Di Trocchio will hold an ‘in conversation’ about pattern drafting, grading and adapting design to different sizes.

For further information about NGV Studio and Proportion Distortion, please visit ngv.vic.gov.au. NGV Studio is open Sun–Wed, 10am–5pm and Thu–Sat, 10am–10pm. Entry is free. 

Proportion Distortion designers:

ABOVE.
Created by Nyssa Marrow and Kerry Findlow, above.’s collection re-imagines the basic wardrobe from a structural point of view and aims to seamlessly integrate into the life and wardrobe of the wearer. Above. was chosen as a finalist in the 2012 National Designer Award and has exhibited internationally for London Fashion Week.

SIMONE SAYS
The designer behind Simone Says, Simone Agius, translates the idea of the celebrity influence with luxury materials and larger proportions into fashion objects that can be worn on the body. Throughout Proportion Distortion, Simone will use leather as a second skin to the human body and will treat it as a foundation to the personal wearing space of the end user.

ELYSE BARKER
Expanding on her previous explorations of femininity and fashion, Elyse Barker will demonstrate how proportions in women’s fashion have changed over the last century. A flower, much like the physical profile of a woman, changes in proportion each day and Elyse will show the similarities between the proportional aspects of women and flowers through a host of highly detailed floral pieces.

ANISHA BHOYRO
Taking inspiration from the act of making, Anisha Bhoyro works organically with fabric and drapes the material over a stand allowing the nature of the cloth to determine its shape around the body. Her work in the exhibition will be based on the movement, weight and fit of the fabric and how it reacts to the proportions of the body beneath.

MOLLY HERBEN
Molly Herben looks beyond the typical gender stereotypes commonly associated with femininity and masculinity to create new proportions of clothing for an androgynous body. Her abstract pieces will disorient the viewer and invite them into a realm of bodily confusion. 

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