FASHION
Interview by Hannah Kuhar

Less than 48 hours before her upcoming runway show The Fabulon, I spoke to Teneille Clerke, the artist behind Tenfingerz, about the nature of fashion shows, the Melbourne fashion scene and the importance of wearing colourful underpants.

How’s it all going? Are you feeling prepared for Friday?
Uh yeah, I am feeling… pretty prepared (laughs).

More so than this time last year?
Yeah. Definitely. There was heaps more to do last year. But I’ve figured out how to make it more sustainable and easy.

Do you reckon that’s just the nature of having done a show, and thinking ‘right I’ve figured out how to do it’? Or do you feel changed as an artist, that you have a better group of artists around you this time around?
I think it comes from definitely doing it a bunch of times before […] but also this time I set an intention to not do as big an extravaganza [because] it’s really unsustainable and took it out of me and cost a lot of money.

If you compared your show to a traditional runway, which do you think would be harder to run?
Probably my show. I would imagine that they would have funding, so that makes it all easier. I fund all mine from ticket sales. Also, because what I do is invite artists to showcase and bring their own models […] rather than, as far as I can tell, in ‘proper’ fashion shows, traditional fashion shows, they have the models and they get the make-up team in there and then they use the same models for each designer. But I just like to make things way more complicated. And [in my show] everything has to be performed, so the models aren’t just any models on the night.

Yeah. Do you feel weird that your show is being included in VAMFF, where there are lots of couture designers walking pristine runways, do you feel privileged that your wacky show makes the cut?
Yeah totally. I love that they want to have my show in there, because I’ve worked in fashion since I was 21[…] I love fashion but I’ve never really liked how it’s done. I just want to do things differently, push the comfort zone, shake things up a little bit. It’s really awesome that VAMFF is happy to have something new and something a bit weird and wacky in their program.

Do you feel like the Melbourne fashion scene in general lacks that ‘shaking things up’ and that aspect of difference?
Yeah, I think it’s pretty boring! (Laughs) I think there’s a lot of black and being really cool and lack of expression and allowing things to be not so serious. There are definitely heaps of amazing, crazy designs going on and I can definitely appreciate Melbourne fashion for that. The community that I’m a part of, the underground arts and fashion scene, are definitely bringing a new element of radical expression, colour and design that are missing in the Melbourne fashion scene.

What advice would you give to the black and white Melburnian who’s afraid to inject more colour into their lives?
Start by wearing colourful underpants and work your way up from there.

(Laughs) Is that what you did or have you always been a colourful person?
I’ve always had an out-there style, but in my early twenties when I was a photographer and when I was a student I definitely wore lots of black. I still like to wear black and I still wear lots of black. I say wear [colourful] underpants because I studied meditation eight years ago and that’s what my teacher was saying, [that] wearing colour actually brightens your mood and can help alleviate sadness or depression. He said “just start by changing your underpants!”

And the message stayed with you!
I know! And I met more and more people in Melbourne who were designers, who made their own clothes and expressed themselves by wearing clothes, like art on their bodies. They started making clothes for trade so more and more colour came into my life.

Right! So what do you hope your audience feels after experiencing your show on Friday?
I hope that people leave the show feeling really inspired and that they have experienced a bit of escapism from their daily lives. I want to take them on a journey where they forget the outside world and they get immersed in colour and performance and maybe have their minds blown and consciousness expanded (laughs).

That sounds fabulous. Best of luck.
Thank you.