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For Björk, healing is a gate through which the rest of your life can blossom. The enigmatic Icelandic musician’s 2017 single, The Gate, is accompanied by an otherworldly music video where this private universe comes to life: a world of dazzling colours and ethereal visions with Björk the centre of it all, moving like water in striking costumes.
One of those dresses was designed by Alessandro Michele for Gucci. The high-necked, beaded white gown, which has luminous PVC pleats and wings, took more than 500 hours to design, and a further 300 hours to embroider – that’s 33 days of non-stop labour.
Björk’s white orchid dress from The Gate music video being prepped for display at ACMI.Credit: Simon Schluter
It comes to Melbourne as a part of ACMI’s new exhibition, The Future and Other Fictions, with an accompanying headpiece by Björk’s long-time collaborator, the artist James Merry.
The dress is one of the highlights of the exhibition, which will explore imaginations of the future through screen culture. Other items on show include costumes from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, miniature sets from Blade Runner 2049, concept art from video games and original First Nations commissions.
Bringing such an elaborate dress to life in a museum setting is a labour of love that involves weeks on end of dedicated work. The dress, which travelled to Melbourne from Björk’s record label in London, comes in many separate parts. ACMI’s team of costume and fashion experts are working to create a realistic human body on a pink mannequin, then clothe it in the ornate outfit.
“We have a costume display specialist and a fashion and textiles conservator who are both working on putting in the underpinnings that will be on the mannequin to provide support and make the dress look its absolute best,” says Holly Robbins, ACMI’s senior registrar in exhibitions and collections.
Björk, The Gate, album artwork.Credit: Courtesy Andrew Thomas Huang
“It’s a really elaborate, intricately detailed dress. We want to make sure that we are able to give a bit more shape to the mannequin … That’s when the costume really comes to life.”
The dress will be displayed on a plinth under carefully considered lighting, surrounded by moving image clips. “There’s a lot of iridescence in the dress … it looks different in pretty much any light. Depending on what angle you’re at, it can change to blues and purples and pinks,” Robbins says. “We’re hoping with really dynamic lighting, you’re going to catch those changes in the iridescence and have all the different colours and palettes come through.”