Natural order coat & dress

A quote from playwriter Samuel Beckett "Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order", became the theme for the Doris de Pont Winter 2005 collection titled Dance. The textile print was developed from a vibrant and colourful painting, by Grey Lynn artist Linga Krishnasami, of a collection of people engaged in the pure fun of dance. It was the movement in the painting that coloured the collection and the presentation of it at New Zealand Fashion Week in 2004. Rather than a runway show, the collection was animated as a short DVD dance work using performers from the contemporary dance programme at Unitec as the models. While Dance included coats and dresses, these two pieces are not from that collection. When Doris closed her fashion business and label in early 2008, clothing and fabric from her archives were sold off. This coat and dress were made in 2013 from one such remnant that she had kept for herself. The pattern for the coat comes from a combination of styles with the body coming from the original Dance collection and the collar from Cross my Heart (Summer 2007–08). The dress is taken from an original 1968 dress that belonged to her mother. Both were made to be worn to the investiture when Doris was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Fashion in the New Years Honours list of 2013.

Details

Credit: Loan courtesy of Doris de Pont.
Copyright: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 Licence
Designer: Doris de Pont
Garment type: Coat, dress
Material: Screenprinted viscose polyester Prince of Wales woven check
Colour: Black, white, multi coloured printed figures
Label: Doris de Pont
Date: 2013