Fashion Meets Art: Adriaan Kuiters X Jody Paulsen + KLûK CGDT at CTFW

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo IMAGES SDR Photo

Here at VISI HQ, we’ve long been proponents of collaboration and interdisciplinary work. In fact, we launched the year with our collaboration issue, where we celebrated some of our favourites. So you can imagine our excitement this past week, at Mercedes-Benz Cape Town Fashion Week, where the spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration was alive and well.

On the first day of fashion week we once again witnessed the successful collaboration between designer Adriaan Kuiters (aka Keith Henning) and artist Jody Paulsen. Adriaan and Jody have been collaborating for a couple of years now, and this marked their last collaboration, as Jody will now take time to focus on his art career.

The show, which took place at The Watershed at V&A Waterfront, maintained the androgynous feel the pair has been developing over the last few seasons. “We have used women’s items on men and men’s items on women,” says Jody. “The fits are spacious and forgiving. However, we have introduced fitted women’s trousers and shirts, and paired them with boxy and loose garments, something that was important to us to retain an effortless, easy-wearing look. We went for a light, minimal look with a fresh sporty theme, working in particular with the grid-like ’70s graphics and motifs of a tennis court. We further used ballet-like embellishments inspired by Lucinda Childs, the celebrated American postmodern dancer/choreographer, to give it a feminine fluidity. We both admire Childs’ physicality, perseverance and androgyny.”

Just two days later, Klûk CGDT showed their range at CAAM Gallery in De Waterkant. However, instead of the usual catwalk, the worlds of art and fashion met through a fashion exhibition of sorts. “We always try to find new ways to present our collections,” says the duo. “This season, the artisanal quality of fashion was important to us; the couture, the exclusive, the luxury, the made-to-order aspect of it, which is what KLûK CGDT is all about. It made sense to play with the idea of art and create an exhibition that would last longer than a catwalk show.”

The collection was made up of 31 looks with a strong Asian influence, following the pair’s recent trip to Tokyo. They handpicked and invited nine photographers whom they commissioned to interact with the range and create three limited edition prints each. Videographer Roice Nel documented the project in a series of fashion films. “The brief was completely open. We wanted them to be creative without any commercial restraint. Call it our Andy Warhol/Factory moment!”

The exhibition, titled Artisanal, will be on show at the CAAM Gallery until the 8 August 2015. The prints are on sale and 20% of all proceeds will be donated to the Sunflower Fund.