“We are about putting together two things that should never meet. They shouldn’t work or fit, but once you place them there, somehow they do.”
— Antoni + Alison
Antoni Burakowski and Alison Roberts-Jopp, are London-based, internationally renowned contemporary artists and fashion designers, perhaps most famous for their work as the successful British womenswear design duo as Antoni+Alison. The wit and humor evident in their photographic work is carried from their irreverent approach to fashion.
They met at St. Martins School of Art in London, where Alison studied fine art and Antoni studied fashion. ‘From our college days we were blurring the edges of the two disciplines and have continued to do this for the past thirty years, we have only ever worked together. We create for ‘the individual’ and follow our instinct rather than the trend.’
Their work, which spans over fourty years, explores the relationships between oddly juxtaposed objects and images that would never otherwise have existed together. Often the resulting image contains a strong element of humor completely unrelated to its component parts, but produced as a result of the amalgamation of the two.
Antoni + Alison's clothes are collected and worn by a very diverse range of celebrities and artists worldwide, including: Bella Hadid, Chloe Sevigny, Clare Danes, Beth Ditto, Thandiwe Newton, Rachel Whiteread, Nicole Kidman, Kiki Smith, Agnes Deyn, Kate Moss and Katy Perry.
In 2008 Antoni + Alison were awarded MBE medals (the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth for their services to fashion and photography.
Antoni + Alison's work exists as a ‘Living Archive’ at The Victoria & Albert Museum, London and is also in the permanent collection of The Huis Marseille Institute for Photography, Amsterdam and the Citibank Collection, London. They have worked on commissions for the esteemed Wallace Collection, London and have exhibited as far afield as The Photographers' Gallery, London; Paris Photo; The Barbican London and The Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, amongst others.
