Kaleidoscope
Featured Artists:
Jody Kahlon
Nuha Saad
Photography: Diego De Nicola
Geometric shapes pop in vivid colour on precisely engineered dresses. A colourful painted ceiling rose forms the mannequin base. Striking architectural pieces hang from the ceiling. Jody Kahlon and Sydney sculptor Nuha Saad created this vibrant window igniting fun and optimism during a turbulent time in Australia’s history.
‘In these challenging times, art can bring a small bubble of joy to all of us.’
Jody describes some of her processes below:
Working out how to make these dresses was one big mathematical equation! It took 5 samples (attempts) to get the sizing and proportion right.
I used small offcuts of silk to test colours, divisions and balance of the design.
Alek (Left) and Jemma (Right). Two of my students helped to cut the hundreds of pieces of fabric.
A paper template of the dress pattern was fixed to the table to help keep the order of colour and construction. As each piece of fabric was cut it was then placed over the template.
There are 64 octagons and 56 Diamonds in the long dress.
Half of the octagons were made up of multi colours. These pieces were cut and sewn one at at time, then placed over the paper template on the table.
Students Alek Mathiang and Adau Dut helped to make the tulle petticoats to go under the dresses.
Checking fit and finalising details.
Nuha’s work arrived from Sydney bursting with colour.
I had custom-made mannequin stands turned by Tracey from Malady Designs and Nuha transformed them beautifully into an almost eatable form.
Jane Parker – Co-Founder of Country Road and Head of Fashion and Costume at LCI Melbourne, with her student Josh Rubite at the window party.
Students from LCI Melbourne, together contributed more than 500 hours of work placement to help create the window installation.
(From left – Josh Rubite, Adau Dut, Alek Mathiang, me and Jemma Osbourne)
Working with Jody on the Kaleidoscope project was a delight. Jody and I share a love of colour and form. Our collaboration encouraged us to experiment and create works that filled Jody's shop window with a cascade of hypnotic patterns, vivid colour combinations, and joy!