Stories
Anthea Tucker
Anthea Tucker has always had a fascination with fabric – especially how it can be "cut to fit the human body". Anthea was taught to sew by her grandmother at the age of six, and on leaving high school she polished up her technical skills at the New Zealand Institute of Fashion Technology.
As part of the Snake Pit/Luck House artist collective, Anthea presented in group fashion shows with Nymphets and 6x4, and has since held solo shows under her own eponymous label. She is also a founding member of art/design magazine Project Y.
There is an emphasis on the handmade in Anthea’s designs. Most of the pieces in her collections have been one-offs, including delicate hand- knits, where she focuses on quality over quantity. The Anthea aesthetic aspires to be ageless and non-gendered, seeking to break the societal conventions that place people into gender-specific boxes.
Image © Anthea Tucker.
Her most recent collection, Ant’HOMME II (a follow-on from last year’s Ant’HOMME) consists of a range of structural contrasts in shades of grey; androgynous garments in heavy woollen fabrics with hints of soft chiffon and mohair. The colour palette goes beyond visual appeal. Used as a metaphor, grey is "a reference to society – how nothing is black or white".
Text by Arielle Walker. Banner image by Frances Carter, © New Zealand Fashion Museum.
Last published September 2014.
