Elaine George, the very first First Nations model to appear on the cover of Vogue Australia, opened the Iordanos Spyridon Gogos resort show, walking dramatically down the catwalk in a sleeveless dress composed of rectangular pieces of fabric in various shades of goldenrod, some of which she weighed heavily be embellished. The audience’s reaction was audibly joyful.
It was a fitting introduction to Jordan Gogos’ latest collection, which was anchored by many icons of Australian fashion. Among them is Akira Isogawa, a frequent collaborator of Gogos, known for his exquisite embroidery, rendered in both subtle and maximalist ways. This included a layered chiffon dress, embroidered with a note written by Gogos’ grandfather, after whom the brand is named. “I found my Pappou’s lotto numbers in a Greek cookbook and Akira made beads from them,” he explained in his studio the day before his show. “He always said, ‘If I win the lottery, I’ll buy you this; because when you’re Greek and live in a suburban household, a lot of your relationships are about the things they want to give you. He kept the same numbers all his life.”
Gogos also joined forces with Jenny Banister and created a series of her 1970s “punk” dresses, one of which was made from geometric pieces of fabric held together by zippers. And because you “can’t investigate Jenny without Linda,” as he put it, he delved into Linda Jackson’s archives and discovered the designer’s treasures in the process; specifically, a box of her brand labels, which he sewed one by one into a sleeveless dress with an all-over ruffled edge. A spectacular knee-length dress with dramatic sleeves had individual small squares of Jackson’s vintage fabrics – floral prints, tribal prints, statement solids – all sewn into origami shapes, which came together to create a kind of walking reference library.
Gogos’ fashion label is in fact an art project. The pieces are unique, individually worked on until he deems them finished, and are not intended for commercial reproduction. He has only recently started selling some of his archival pieces and is “very careful” about who he sells to. “I formally document who has it, where it is and where they wear it.”
“My customers are collectors who usually buy with the intention of donating to an institution one day,” he explains. “The dynamics of working with Akira, the pieces that were created from Linda’s archive, these are things that can never be replicated.” Their value goes beyond the usual parts and labor, but in history they resurface and build upon.
