Romantic partners Armand Dicker and Anthony Dane Hinrichsen are a visual dream team creating unique fashion landscapes, with a taste of fantastical realism. The duo takes us through what fashion and caretaking mean to both their work, as well as their romance as they revel in the success of their iconic Cape Town-turned-international brand, Dicker & Dane.
We chat with them to find out more.
Photo: Jonathan Cope
What is the primary focus of Dicker and Dane?
Our primary focus is to create sartorial stories that celebrate the subject, the fashion and the environment, highlighting the South African fashion landscape. We try to bring people and teams together that would not always receive the opportunity or recognition, allowing for an environment where we can all grow and learn together. Whatever we do, we make sure that it has our stamp, and that it showcases a natural and raw finish that brings it back to a place of realism.
How did you meet and come to collaborate in the workspace?
We became friends in 2016, after meeting each other at SA Menswear Week. A year later we started dating and our relationship just blossomed. We moved to Southeast Asia in 2018, and it was here that we started styling and creating projects for magazines together. We came back to South Africa a couple of months before COVID-19 struck, and during this time we started doing creative direction and styling for international and local photographers. A couple of months into 2020, Armand picked up a camera and we started shooting editorials that we conceptualised and styled, but this time for ourselves. The rest is history: Dicker and Dane was born.
Dicker & Dane for MUNKUS
Dicker & Dane is a compelling platform for creativity. As a team, where do you draw inspiration from?
We draw a lot of inspiration from our childhoods and growing up in the 90s. It’s not so much the aesthetic of that era but rather the memories connected to experiencing a childhood before the internet. So much of our childhoods was exercising our imaginations, playing make-believe, and dreaming without limits.
We are also hugely inspired by nature, people, and reimagining classic visuals in a modern context. Current fashion, old fashion as well as cinema and art play a huge role in the stories we tell. We definitely have an eye for the weird and sci-fi, and a love for anything alien or otherworldly. We have an immense admiration for photographers like Zhong Lin and the visuals of legend Annie Leibovitz.
How does your relationship impact your work?
Our energies are in complete synergy when it comes to the creative stories we tell. After almost seven years together as romantic partners, we’ve started living in each other’s heads. Our relationship feeds our work because we can bounce off ideas and create stories that stay authentically true to who we are as individuals. We know each other well enough to know when one of us is unsatisfied while in the process of creating and are therefore able to address it and find a solution in that moment. There are challenges in every romantic and work relationship, but it is our desire to overcome these that allows us to learn and to grow. Most importantly, we are each other’s biggest fans.
Photo: Dicker & Dane / Vogue Portugal cover story
In what ways do you complement each other?
We view life through very different lenses, and both come from opposing upbringings. It’s in our differences that we have learnt the most about each other and ourselves. When it comes to work, we carry this understanding, and ultimately it is what encouraged both of us to shoot. Armand came to photography with a background in fashion design and garment construction, giving him a deep understanding of how best to capture and celebrate clothing and design. Anthony’s film background allows him to look at the story and character first, with a strong focus on narrative. We have managed to not overlap when both shooting, but rather each capture moments that at the end of the day fit together to complete the story.
Photo: Armand Dicker / Sindiso Khumalo / Confections x Collections 2022
What does love and fashion caretaking mean to you and your creative duo, Dicker & Dane?
Dicker & Dane exists because we love what we do but have not always had the best experiences. We witnessed and experienced some ugly moments early in our individual careers, often due to the photographers on set. We made a promise to ourselves that our sets would celebrate and foster the growth of young talent and new faces.
We try to nurture our crews and the models we work with by giving them opportunities, time, and experiences to help them grow and learn the right practices for them to move forward in their careers. Ultimately we want people to see their value, and to never be made to feel uncomfortable or less than on a set. We have had many self-appointed fashion ‘kids’, so as queer fashion dads we want to make this industry safer for our adopted family.
- Images supplied by Dicker & Dane
- To learn more about Dicker & Dane, follow them on Instagram or visit their website.
