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“The Aaizél girl is out to play,” Minhee Jo tells GRAZIA with a giggle. At Afterpay Australian Fashion Week overnight, the Melbourne-based designer made her debut with a standalone presentation for Aaizél – which means “progressive individuals with poetic spirits” – after quietly establishing cult status since 2016. The RMIT fashion graduate has become known for producing slow and sustainable fashion with her forthcoming Resort ’23 collection, unexpectedly colourful.
Prior to the highly-anticipated runway on Monday, Jo recalled two years of lockdown where she says all creativity “disappeared”. She looked to the works of Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Reimagine’ installation, James Turrell’s ‘Sustaining Light’ series, and Dan Flavin’s fluorescent light fixtures for inspiration which informed a “non-conventional approach” to contrasting colour
“I see the importance of colour in our lives and it’s a powerful communication tool that can influence our mood and impact our emotions,” she said. “I tried to understand the aspects of different visual artists depicting light and wanted to incorporate into my own colour palette.”
Combining Jo’s signature use of tailoring and a neutral colour palette, Resort ’23 sees an infusion of vibrant tangerine, shimmering aqua and emerald. Midriff flossing – a familiar cue of this season’s sexy evening wear – takes an unexpected direction by way of cutouts at the hip and across the shoulder. Mini party dresses with puffed sleeves and slinky evening gowns appear alongside everyday separates and bold crops.
“The overall atmosphere and energy and people has just been so trapped and inactive for so long and now, people are ready to make up for lost time,” the designer adds. “This being a resort season, it’s a party season, it’s fun, it’s loud, it’s sexy, it’s about living life. I’ve seen way too much loungewear and knitwear and I think it is time to spice it up.”
