Hunter gatherer

Hunter Gatherer was Boudicca's Ready to Wear collection for Autumn/Winter 2004. Comprising 34 outfits designed by Broach and Kirby, the show explored the theme of hunting and gathering as a metaphor for our relationship with fashion. Outfits from this were subsequently shown in three museum group shows.

AW04 has been selected as epitomising Broach and Kirby’s rigorous experimental and conceptual approach that underpins Boudicca’s twenty Ready to Wear collections to date. The hunter gatherer theme was developed through motifs such as distinctive coat pockets, heels with silver stirrups, or jumpers with riveted leather strapping. Two recurring themes in Boudicca’s work include attention to detail and arresting fusions of looks. For example one outfit cross-fertilises a bee-keeper’s veiled hat with a modern-day gangsta baseball cap. Hard sculpted forms and the roughness of khaki combine with the fragility of floral chiffon, as in the chiffon overtrousers over military-style combats. Sourcing of fabrics was extensive, and the research process explored new ways of using functional sportswear fabrics to become seductive, for example, tough fibres from Shoeller’s were pleated, or a parker jacket combined chiffon and khaki. The set was inspired by the photography of Geoffrey Crewdson. Zowie Broach and Brian Kirby work as a duo, collaborating on all aspects of the research and creative process. Their fashion research was recognised by a number of curators (Judith Clark at V&A, Edwina Ehrman at MOL), who included outfits from the AW04 collection in museum group shows, alongside other top international designers such as Chalayan, McQueen, Quant and many more. Hunter Gatherer also featured in the book accompanying the Museum of London show, The London Look, Christopher Breward, Edwina Ehrman, Caroline Evans, 2005:

http://www.museumoflondonshop.co.uk/the-london-look--by-christopher-... Outfits from Hunter Gatherer were developed into costumes for the experimental opera Liebeslied/My Suicides, a collaboration based around Rut Blees Luxemburg’s photography and Duttman’s philosophy, at the ICA in October 2004.