This interplay best represents the two contrasting strengths of U N D O N E designers Rachel Webb and Elise Barnes. Both are graduates from the Otago Polytechnic’s fashion design program. U N D O N E is based in their small studio in a 110 year old historic building on Bond St, which also houses the Salisbury boutique. The idea for creating a label began when both designers were in their second year of study and placed in the same knitwear manufacturers. This placement allowed Webb and Barnes to create samples and experiment to see how their different design aesthetics worked together. U N D O N E is founded on the designers’ dissimilar design aesthetics. The name of the label refers to their process of undoing their individual design concepts and then reworking them into a collaborative design. The label was launched in a WWII bunker beneath their studio in the Salisbury boutique. The launch also featured work by sculptor Renee Hope and photographer, James Stringer. The title of the collection Dream within a dream is taken from a poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The collection represents the essence of romanticism; contradictory, hard, yet soft. Much in the same way that the two designers are complete opposites..
Romanticism validated strong emotions as a source of aesthetic experience, placing an emphasis upon emotions ranging from horror, terror and awe. These sensations were previously unexplored in any artistic movement and were extracted from the experience of the sublime, especially in the face of untamed, picturesque landscapes. This is particularly evident in paintings, such as Joseph Mallord William Turner’sDunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland (1799). The visceral sublimity of the grumbling Otago landscape undoubtedly contributed to the creation of the playfully dipped hems and the bone-like presence of reworked vintage leather jackets. Indeed when such opposites are combined, it creates a tactile sense of symmetry, similar to that of the ruggedly untamed Otago Peninsula. The combination of both androgyny and femininity is a staple component of U N D O N E‘s design aesthetic. This feature is apparent throughout Dream within a dream and within their Bespoke collection. They are also strongly committed to keeping all aspects of design and manufacture in New Zealand. In the future, they would love to boast an international market, whilst sustaining a strong New Zealand following is of the utmost importance to both designers. U N D O N E is currently working on their upcoming summer collection, which will be showed at this year’s iD fashion week in Dunedin.
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U N D O N E is stocked at Palm Boutique (Nelson), Slick Willys (Dunedin), Carlson (Auckland, Wellington).
CREDITS
PHOTOS: LUCY FULFORD (www.lucyfulford.co.nz)
STYLING: HANA AOAKE (bellaandmadeline.blogspot.com)
MAKE UP: RACHEL WEBB
CLOTHES: UNDONE
JEWELLERY: LUCY NOONE (LUCYNOONE@GMAIL.COM)
