item details
Elizabeth Whiting; designer; 2002-2003; New Zealand
Feeonaa Wall; designer; 2002-2003; New Zealand
Colin McLean; assemblage artist; 2002-2003; New Zealand
Overview
This 'cabaret outfit' was conceptualised and worn by performance artist Mika. It was inspired by Josephine Baker (1906-1975), the famous American-born French dancer and entertainer.
Elizabeth Whiting designed the dress coat (or tailcoat) and hat. Colin McLean (aka Polly Filla) added the collar made from hair and feathers. Feeonaa Wall of the Pacific Sisters designed the raffia skirts.
Mika wore this outfit (or parts of) several times. In 2003 he wore the complete outfit in the Mika Haka Show at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He wore it at the Tokyo Fringe Festival in 2009. He later wore the dress coat in his stage show Salon Mika in the Edinburgh Festival, 2014.
In 2004, Sara Orme photographed him as 'Māori Barbie' wearing the dress coat and raffia skirt: her work featured in the Barbie Aotearoa exhibition held at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Christchurch.