FASHION, FILM
Interview by Maria Dunne

After an informative seminar at ACMI about Fashion Narratives on Film [read Maria’s review of the Masterclass: Fashion Narratives on Film here] I spoke to Kristy Barber and Tim White about working together and their experiences in fashion and beyond.

So Kristy, Why do you think your main focus is fashion?
Kristy Barber: I don’t really have an answer for that, there was never a light bulb moment where I was like, “fashion is what I was meant to be doing”, and I wasn’t one who was three and knew I wanted to be a fashion designer. I kinda came to it because I was always creative and I always wanted to build things or make things. Not to build a house, but to actually create things physically. I went to try to study Psychology, so I was completely on the wrong track after High School. I just started making clothes for myself and I just really loved it, and I loved it so much I felt like I could make it into my life, and yeah I went on to study then continue it. I’m not really drawn to fashion for fashion’s sake at all. I’m drawn to it for the craft and I’m really interested in the politics and the emotion behind it. In terms of the fashion industry I’m not really interested in that at all. I think that is why Kuwaii is such a different brand, I have such a different perspective on it than most other fashion-type brands.
Tim White: Someone told me the other day that you got into fashion for the champagne.
Kristy: [Laughs] Now and then it doesn’t hurt.

Is there any reason you think you chose to establish your brand in Brunswick?
Kristy: It’s so intrinsically linked to me as a person, but also born out of necessity because we weren’t a business that had a massive amount of money so that’s what we could afford. That’s why we are on a weird side street because that’s what we can afford. But that shop in Brunswick is our spiritual home and it’s so successful.
Tim: I remember meeting in the Brunswick store many years ago and the people, this was before the city store opened, would drive from all the way down from the south side to just see the store.
Kristy: Yeah it became a destination-al retail space which is really hard to do and we did it by accident.

Did the two of you ever clash with ideas especially at the start?
Kristy: No we never clashed at the start.
Tim: We are both pretty chill.
Kristy: There was one time in the last film we did where the music became really stressful, the guy didn’t deliver.
Tim: We both wanted different things out of the music as well. I wanted one pretty weird idea and Kristy thought it was a bit too far so I had to try and pull it back.
Kristy: And then we had the guy actually not delivering so it became a bit of a difficult situation.
Tim: But we have never fought.
Kristy: Although Tim’s sometimes strong willed so I have to try to stand up to him [laughs] […] we both get along so well and I think that why we keep making these.
Tim: […] We have a really nice back and forth and a really nice relationship

What is your favourite film out of the ACMI Fashion Film Series this year?
Tim: The one that is in the swimming pool [Strangers in a Moment, Radioactive Gigantism Films]. My friends Andrew and Ramona and some of my other friends were in the crew. I think that it is a great film and they did a great job and hearing some of the challenges they faced reminded me of the challenges we faced in shooting Near the Light so they were shooting on a hot day in this empty swimming pool but they had a huge cap [cover] on top to block out the direct sunlight but inside the pool it would have been about 55 degrees so they had to shoot for two minutes at a time before the camera would overheat.
Kristy: Oh my god, why do we do it? But I also liked the other winning one [Shadow / Self, Laura Scrivano] so there was three winning ones. There was ours, CHORUS [designers of Strangers in a Moment] and […] Spender that incorporated dance. It reminded me about Near the Light just because it was very experimental movement and quite weird movement.