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In trying to find the right words to describe the sensation of watching the latest collection from Sydney designer Alix Higgins at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, I found this quote floating around the aether of the internet: “The Earth does not vibrate as it moves—it’s a perfectly smooth motion. Therefore we don’t feel it moving.”
The question was: at what speed do you need to be moving until you feel like you’re not moving at all? As fast as a Google search, it seems…
At the risk of taking the metaphor to its nth degree, the internet and its entire lexicon is perhaps the most natural way to defines the approach Higgins to fashion: the 29-year old has managed to create that exact sense of peace, of standing still, within a collection that moves in megabits per second.
Models that moved slowly down the runway in what some guests post-show described as the most hopeful and serene post-apocalyptic wear they’d ever seen, the idea of how speed and stillness became a fixation that alternated from look to look. A plated skirt, shirt and tie made from digital print one second and the next a grey smock that had the hint of a monk’s habit to it.
Despite his relative youth Higgins has his codes already set in place: his graphic prints that suggest test patterning or the digital art of the Tumblr era that shaped his youth; the sexually suggestive tightness of skirts and tops that reveal everything and nothing at all. Even the playfully cute and subversive texts on prints: “Alix Higgins King”; “Baby”; Or simply “Oblivion” all throwback to the glory days of being online of disaffected innocence.
Intermingled amongst that familiar electric static were more subtle clues to what mindset Higgins is in: a coat with printed fur here. A recoloured crocodile print there. And, for the first time, upcycled pieces in the form of polos, recut and shaped into couture-esque shrugs.
“This collection began as a future facing forest, full of wild animals, an evolution of sorts as my brand grows,” explains Higgins. “There is a wildness to the prints. [Which also explores] a new aspect of myself. It is grittier, earthier, dirtier and darker than last season and the brand’s output to date. I wanted to do something closer to the way myself and my friends dress.”
Higgins has some lucky friends if this is their wardrobe.
This year, the GRAZIA Australia team travelled between AAFW shows in the refined style of Toyota’s new RAV4 GXL. With its modern and spacious interior, privacy glass, and fast charging portals for our phones, it was the perfect mode of travel for zipping across Sydney town. To find out more, visit toyota.com.au
