Bless, Boudicca, Sandra Backlund

Boudicca’s films often enable Broach and Kirkby to present the seeds of an idea, a glimpse behind the scenes of their practice, to demonstrate the complex processes inherent in their work. Created in 2009 and directed by Ben Bannister, the film Tornado Dress is set to a haunting soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton and resembles a three-dimensional sketch of an idea for a dress, which plays out over the course of the film. As a white mannequin spins in space, long lengths of black material weave across its body, tracing a dramatic design that, unlike a rendering made with pencil and paper, is formed in three dimensions. Broach and Kirkby realize the need for multiple modes of representation for their ideas, and this film provides an imaginary narrative of how they work, building up their designs by hand on tailor’s dummies to test out ideas through a process of trial and error.

Check out the film.


Boudicca. Tornado Dress, from the collection Couture 3, 2009. Still from film. Courtesy of Boudicca.