Artist Scotty So On Performing High Fashion

MELBOURNE-Based mostly general performance artist Scotty So grew up looking at Harper’s BAZAAR publications in Hong Kong. Early in life the composition, theatricality and “utter glamour” of BAZAAR’s shiny addresses and editorial pictures piqued his desire in vogue as a effectiveness medium to check out personal and cultural id. 

Now centered in Melbourne, So’s blended-media follow brings together drag, performance artwork, and visible art in every little thing from dwell operatic performances to self-styled theatrical studio shoots showcasing garments of his individual creation. His get the job done invites viewers to take into account the role of trend in tradition and modern society, checking out the notion of a superior manner ‘illusion’ as a result of the lens of an artist who does not discover as staying aspect of the style market. 

“I didn’t have a vogue track record when I started out my artwork observe, I was under no circumstances portion of the fashion earth. Even now, I just cannot pay for to buy into that planet of haute couture,” states So. 

“But I realised that I enjoy cultural garments as substantially as superior vogue, and I began exploring the elegance and glamour present in other models of outfits I could access, garments that were being common to me like kimonos and the common Chinese cheongsam.” 

So began to explore the creative alternatives at the intersection of photography, general performance and textiles though learning good art at the Victorian Higher education of the Arts. With no official stitching or trend design and style schooling, he would sneak into the costume division and check with the workers if he could use the sewing machine to experiment with making kimonos and cheongsam in whatever material he could obtain. 

Now represented by major Australian modern day art gallery, MARS Gallery, So’s apply has progressed to be very research-led, drawing from his very own Thai and Chinese cultural heritage in conjunction with narratives from trend, queer society and well-liked-society inspiring his performances as alluring female figures. Be it a Kabuki theatre star, an aria-singing operatic femme, or his particular drag change-moi, Scarlett So Hung Son, vogue and outfits are the performance guise through which the artist explores tradition and identification. 

“The far more I accomplish as diverse people, the much more I explore who I am as an artist and a man or woman. Diverse silhouettes give you different postures, and a various sensation when you use them,” So suggests. 

“When I was growing up in Hong Kong I wore satisfies a lot, and they created me experience subtle, and so I carried myself in a selected way. When I moved to Australia, I truly created my drag and effectiveness artwork, and I carried myself in different ways when putting on clothes like the cheongsam and kimono. With this improve of bodily motion arrives a change of identity,” he provides. 

So’s exuberant artistic point of view has attained him effectiveness and commission chances at some of Australia’s most superior-profile artwork and tradition activities, which include NGV Triennial (2020), Melbourne Artwork Good (2022) and Image 2022. Exactly where will the subsequent So-extravaganza pop up? RISING’s Golden Square, an immersive artwork carpark wherever you are going to be mesmerised by an iridescent So dressed as the Chinese moon goddess in a holographic organza robe that drifts ethereally by way of the area, amongst other guises. He will also display a everyday living-measurement hologram of himself doing as drag character Scarlett So Hung Son. Sci-fi-seductive, think holographic Kate Moss for Alexander McQueen Drop/Wintertime 2006. 

Like quite a few millennials, So also grew up seeing manner fact Television demonstrates like America’s Future Top Model and Project Runway, where by he was first introduced to conditions like ‘high fashion’ and ‘haute couture.’ He remembers getting captivated by the editorial pictures he saw on screen, and would test to do the job out how they ended up produced, or what he appreciated about their composition. Then a person working day, he identified Alexander McQueen. 

“I would enjoy his exhibits and they blew my head just about every time. I was witnessing stay artwork, not vogue. What McQueen put on the runway was, by some specifications, thought of ‘ugly’, but you definitely couldn’t halt looking at it, notably collections like Voss from 2001. That a person actually hit me difficult,” he says. 

Artists and designers often favour a recurring stylistic motif, which permeates their do the job as their observe evolves. For So, it is the cheongsam. With its sophisticated standing collar and sort-fitting proportions, this conventional Chinese women’s evening dress has been reimagined by the artist in a variety of components like those people crimson, blue and white nylon storage baggage and, far more just lately, a Louis Vuitton-fashion monogram printed fabric. 

“My function is about truths. At first the Louis Vuitton monogram was impressed by a Japanese relatives crest. So is the cheongsam I have designed from this reproduction material motivated by Louis Vuitton, or by Japanese culture and record?” So muses. 

“If I’m in drag hunting fabulous carrying faux Louis Vuitton, does it matter if what I’m wearing is bogus or genuine? Soon after all, I’m not a true girl either. I consider I’m developing an illusion, and which is what issues. If you glimpse pricey and current yourself in a particular way, men and women genuinely are captivated by your aura, and quickly, it is not about how significantly you compensated for your handbag.”

And a trendy last word from Scotty So?

“Of training course, my guidance is to go for the authentic thing. If you can find the money for the Hermès Birkin, unquestionably go for it.”

See Scotty So complete stay at Soaring Melbourne.