Dual Outlook

Dual Outlook was created by New Zealand artists Kim Fraser and Deborah Crowe for the 1997 Smokefree Fashion Awards. The garment was entered in the Avante-Garde section, where the brief was to design for the year 2005. By combining the latest advances in textiles technology with traditional weaving techniques, Fraser and Crowe created a garment that protected the wearer and created a safe space from which to observe the quickening changes of the future. Their garment won the Avante-Garde section and the Supreme Award.

Five parts
Dual Outlook has five parts. The undergarment - a Lycra© sheath - is covered by a 'body shield' in a twill weave of nylon line and copper wire. The skirt-type accessory is made of pleated copper-covered polyester. The pyramid-shaped head cover or visor is also constructed of copper and nylon, woven in a plaid pattern. Black nylon gloves complete the garment.

Competition garments
Garments created for competition are characteristically made to showcase a designer's skills and provide a benchmark against which other designs can be compared and contrasted. Award-winning garments are thus valuable as social and cultural documents marking taste, style, and place at a particular time.

Dual Outlook draws on the complementary skills and mixed Maori/Celtic heritages of its creators, Kim Fraser (Ngāti Hako), a fashion designer, and Deborah Crowe (Scotland/New Zealand), an art weaver who specialises in sculptural form.