Presented by the Rare Trades Centre and the Gold Rush Collections Centre, the Pecha Kucha series kicked off on Friday 1 March with Pecha Kucha Volume #1: Fashion as part of the Melbourne Fashion Festival Culture Programme.
So, what is Pecha Kucha? In short, Pecha Kucha (Japanese term for ‘chit-chat’) is a series of spoken word events featuring a line-up of creative speakers sharing their work in short, impactful lightening presentations with 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide for a total of six minutes and 40 seconds each.
At the first Pecha Kucha, we were treated to a compelling line-up of fashion industry professionals including Amanda Nichols, Avril Buchanan, Chantal Kirby, Lyndal Salmon and Sarah Bendall who peeled back the curtain and gave an insight into their ideas, research, and practice.
If you weren’t able to join us in person for Pecha Kucha #1, we have a treat for you! Thanks to Klapper Films, we were able to film the presentations which are now available for catch up in your own time.
Amanda Nicholls, founder of Replica Project and RMIT PhD student
Amanda Nichols is a Melbourne-based founder of Replica Project. Amanda's training in film and haute couture informs a multi-layered practice interrogating the complex connections between historical costume and fashion.
She's worked as a costume cutter and maker in film and haute couture, including Baz Luhrmann's Australia and The Great Gatsby, and Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant.
Through her Replica Project, Amanda uses subversive reproduction of archival forms to comment on mechanisms of contemporary fast and luxury fashion.
Connect with Amanda Instagram: @replica_project_ LinkedIn: Amanda Nichols Email: mandy.nicols@rmit.edu.au
Avril Buchanan, pleater and ISSI Fellow
As a pleater and textile design student, Avril is engaged in a collaboration with Melbourne-based Specialty Pleaters after recently completing a year-long placement at the Global Pleating workshop in Egypt.
Collectively, their work encompasses both the pleating of fabric through heat-setting process, and the design of pleat pattern moulds used to shape the fabric.
Connect with Avril Instagram: @specialty_pleaters @smallfixations Facebook: Specialty Pleaters Email: avril.b96@gmail.com
Chantal Kirby, D&K collaborative fashion practice
Together with Ricarda Bigolin, Chantal is the co-founder of D&K, a collaborative project exploring the potential of fashion practice as a site of critical questioning and ubiquitous revelations.
They produce practice research exploring the modalities of reflection and imitation as a way to critique fashion.
Originally called Dolci and Kabana, D&K uses citation and imitation across activist performances, collections, films, and writings.
Connect with Ricarda and Chantal Instagram: @d_and_k @ricardabg @chantalkirby LinkedIn: Ricarda Bigolin and Chantal Kirby
Lyndal Salmon, AHFA Australian Hairdresser of the Year 2023
Lyndal Salmon is the Creative Director, head educator at BIBA Academy and Australian Hairdresser of the Year 2023.
Lyndal has been a practicing hairdresser and leading industry educator for 20 years.
She's proud to lead future generations of Australian hairdressers with her work at BIBA Academy and strives to instill the belief that the craft of hairdressing is a brilliant way to express one’s creativity and live a fulfilled life.
Connect with Lyndal Instagram: @lyndalsalmon Email: lyndal@biba.com.au
Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer in History, Australian Catholic University
Sarah's an historian of fashion, material culture and gender, and has been recreating historical garments for over a decade.
Her work focuses on the production, trade and consumption of global commodities and fashionable consumer goods, with particular expertise in 17th century dress and recreative methods.
Sarah is the author of Shaping Femininity (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Co-Investigator of the Making Historical Dress Network (AHRC Grant, 2023-2025). She has written about recreating historical dress in articles, books and print media, and regularly appears as an historical fashion expert on international radio and podcasts. She has been recreating historical garments for over a decade.
Connect with Sarah Web: www.sarahbendall.com Instagram: @sarahbendall_dresshistory LinkedIn: Sarah Bendall Twitter/X: @SarahABendall Email: sarahabendall.dress@gmail.com
We couldn't have done it without you
A big thanks to Amanda, Avril, Chantal, Lyndal and Sarah for kicking off this event series that brings together thinkers and creatives to share work, foster collaboration and connect like-minded people.
Thank you to Klapper Films for filming the presentations and Ruby Staley for curating the music for the night.
Feeling FOMO?
Don't worry, we'll be doing it all over again for Pecha Kucha Volume #2: Form + Function on Friday 24 May as part of Craft Lab 24. Stay tuned for more details about the speakers who'll be announced over the coming weeks.
You might also be interested in
