Stories

Jenny Kee x Jordan Gogos

The Age We're In
Words by Jenny Kee and Jordan Gogos
Jordan Gogos and Jenny Kee sit facing each other on grey chairs with an orange painted background.
‘An idea becomes tangible very quickly. It's like a conversation. There's an energy that's pulling people around to create and in such a dynamic way.’
Jordan Gogos

Setting the stage for IORDANES SPYRIDON GOGOS X POWERHOUSE Afterpay Australian Fashion Week 2022 runway show, Powerhouse Resident Jordan Gogos and Jenny Kee talk creative process and collaboration for the first episode of The Age We're In.

‘It just reminds me of just how Linda [Jackson] and I were here 50 something years ago and here you are. The whole idea of wearable art, you're taking it to another level.’
Jenny Kee
photographic print of three women in a bar standing at a microphone. the middle woman is holding a box of raffle tickets and speaking into the microphone.
Colour photo of Jenny Kee running towards the camera wearing pink and yellow striped outfit followed by other models in carpeted room
Photographic print, black and white, closeup of Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson in silk turbans
Jordan Gogos stand on a milk crate in the Powerhouse workshop. He wears a multicoloured shirt and pants with bright red shoes.
‘There's a lot of colour. I've got a lot of new people around me right now and new energy. When they walk into the studio, they recognise all this colour, but there's so much colour laid on that. You stop seeing the amount of colour. Your eye can't capture that intensity of colour. It becomes form and layering.’
Jodan Gogos
‘When I went to dress design school, they said you can't design what you are wearing. And I was in colour.’
Jenny Kee
A colourful poster print with the text ‘earth first wilderness. Jenny kee.’ and symbols of peace, religion and nature.
‘It's amazing because here we are in the powerhouse, you are going to have this amazing show and you are going to be taking recycled works of mine from the powerhouse exhibition, which is just perfect.’
Jenny Kee
‘I can't wait to go over it because when you look at a grid on a piece of paper you can scan it. But this is at such a scale that I'm almost going to have to walk up to find the grids. It's going to be like this monstrosity of things that I get to discover through the meterage of this work, this material.’
Jordan Gogos
A square multi-colour illustration with flowers, love hearts, dolphins, eyes, and swirls and the text ‘earth first wilderness’
A square multi-colour print of densely illustrated text and symbols.
‘To create things for the Olympics I found the most incredible artisans that I worked with. I would say something and you know, Paula Martin, the fabulous theatrical designer, she would say, oh, but we could do it like this or this or this, but beautifully. It was like a dream working with her and her team.’
Jenny Kee
A woman dress in a brown, orange, yellow and black costume that has layered discs from the waist down.
A woman dress in Rainbow dress with a stiff, circle shaped skirt and a large head dress with feathers.
A woman dress in Red feathered costume dress and head piece.
A woman dress in decorative red cloak-like dress with feather head piece and red eye mask.
A woman dress in a zig sag black and white patterned costume with a matching tall hat.
Woman wearing tall narrow gold hat with very wide collar is swathed in dress of red and gold crinkled material covering her feet and hold ups the train in her right hand.
‘My job's not designing half the time. It's like kind of pulling apart people's thought processes. I spend half my time just connecting on that level. The making's easy, the designing's easy, but to get on the same wavelength of thought and that continuum.’
Jordan Gogos
Runway model wearing colourful full length dress with a large hat and gemstone stickers covering their face.
Runway model wearing colourful shorts and matching zip up jacket. four rings of buttons sit around their waist. A matching large headpiece with an orange face is on their head. Orange faces are painted on the model's cheeks.
Runway model wearing colourful silk pyjama set with a large knitted sash with pom poms.
Runway model wearing a silk dress and copper pipes interlaced with flowers around their chest. On their head they are wearing a tall black pointed headpiece.
Runway model wearing a structured colourful dress with matching boots and matching headpiece.
Jenny Kee wearing a dress and jacket by Jordan Gogos standing in front of a mirror.

About Jenny Kee

Jenny Kee (born Sydney 1947) is one of Australia's most important designers, best known for designing and retailing a unique range of colourful clothing and knitwear. One major theme links all aspects of this collection, Jenny Kee's love of Australia's unique natural environment.

About Jordan Gogos

Iordanes Spyridon Gogos (ISG), "Wearables for the imaginative" was founded by Jordan Gogos in 2019 with the intention to use the brand as a conduit for community making and co-design. The brand is experimental, non-gendered and innovative in its approaches to sustainability through practice-led design research methodologies. The label staged its first runway show at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (AAFW) in 2021, receiving widespread acclaim for its colourful celebration of community and collaboration.