Caroline-Reznik
Caroline Reznik making her Afterpay Australian Fashion Week debut with the coveted closing week spot. Image via Caroline Reznik.

To know Caroline Reznik’s work is to know that the viral TikTok aesthetic ‘Balletcore’ is the antithesis to the former professional ballet dancer’s avant-garde approach to movementwear.

Indeed, you won’t find a hint of pastel pink tulle or soft ribbon detailing in Reznik’s ‘IYKYK’ creations. Rather, you’ll be enchanted by her artisanal approach to creating wearable, and more important functional, pieces that exalt the human form.

In fact, we’d go so far as to say that aside from Reznik’s penchant for exploring motion through sartorial moments, the closest her designs would get to the world of Prima ballerinas would be if it was donned by Mila Kunis in the psychedelic nightclub scene from the psychological thriller The Black Swan.

Reznik’s eponymous label blurs the boundaries between art and craft, pleasure and pain and tension and ease. Pieces are so meticulously draped that, to the untrained eye, would come across as a loose thread or frayed hem. But it’s this attention to detail and subversion of dancewear—such as Reznik’s signature deconstructed black lace bodysuits or punctiliously threaded crystal bralettes—that have made Reznick a mainstay in the wardrobes of It girls including Kendall Jenner, Doja Cat and Rosalía.

Reznick may be a name on speed dial of stylists to the celebrity style set, yet, she’s a designer that even the most switched-on sartorial savants may not recognise.

Bringing her distinctly deconstructed creations to the masses, Reznik’s eponymous label is making its Australian Fashion Week debut in 2023 with a show set to round out the sartorially explosive week, bound to set the tone for the future of Australian fashion and introduce the country to the brand du jour.

Below, read on for what Reznik revealed to GRAZIA about making a name for herself here at home, and how dressing the celebrity style set impacts her methodology.

GRAZIA: Congratulations on making your AFW debut! What made you want to show in Australia rather than take your brand overseas for your runway debut?

CAROLINE REZNIK: Thank you so much! To show in Australia just means that I kind of get the chance to bring things back home.

My work instantly made its impact overseas and while that’s been phenomenal in its own way, to solidify my work within the borders of Australia is exciting for me. I see myself and my brand standing strong with longevity in Australia with ambition to build up a team on home ground. Australia will always be home, and I feel that where we come from is where we’ll be most supported.

To be recognized, encouraged, and accepted at Australian Fashion Week and by the people of Australia means more to me than debuting overseas.

GRAZIA: Your brand already has garnered quite a bit of support from ‘It girls’ like Rosalia and Kendall Jenner, how important is this to you? Does this impact your design process?

REZNIK: Yes and no. It depends on the artist and type of request or collaboration on offer. If anything, it affirms my design process and makes me feel as though my work, in its most extreme detail and complexity through construction has a place in this world for artists and celebrities to feel themselves. What I take away from these opportunities is the personable relationship I form with an artist’s creative director and/or stylist.

The conversations I have tap into fantasy as well as the touch of cloth on the body. I listen to everything that the director speaks on with how they feel about clothing or how they feel about the world that the artist exists in.

The work I create and conversation that exist, enable a partnership that marries clothing with the personality, and therefore unites a vision collaboratively that makes sense for a special moment.

Doja-Cat-Caroline-Reznik
Doja Cat wears custom Caroline Reznik at weekend one of Coachella 2023. Image via @carolinereznik

GRAZIA: Your designs are also art pieces. How do you feel Caroline Reznik as both a brand and a designer is contributing to the conversation around the craftsmanship of fashion?

REZNIK: I think first and foremost, it’s a literal reminder to those that view my work that my designs and art pieces are a slow process.

We live in a world that is so eager to replace the human touch with technology. While I think its importance makes sense when there is supply and demand with opportunity to develop quantity for consumers, I do believe that the touch of the hand, the chaos in the mind and the natural error of human nature is so integral to how we create.

Human instinct carries craftmanship, and this will always be of most importance for myself as a designer and for the future of the brand.

GRAZIA: How is this year’s iteration of fashion week different from previous years?

REZNIK: I believe this year’s Fashion Week will differ from previous years due to the new guard entering the space. We will see more designers create work that isn’t about the bottom line and while commercial pieces will continue to coexist, I think we will see much more individually spoken collections presented this year.

GRAZIA: What do you think is the biggest AAFW faux pas you wish your younger self knew?

REZNIK:  I simply think confidence with yourself, even when it comes to the unknown and others around you having differing opinions. I’m all about taking risks creatively and seeing where that possibility can take me. And that nativity is a blessing in disguise.

GRAZIA: What’s on your pre-AFW playlist?

As soon as I’m ready to switch into work mode I put my air pods in, and I weirdly find comfort listening to the same playlists. Of the moment, it’s either Enya or The Cranberries, and I’ll listen to them all day on repeat.

GRAZIA: What rituals have you implemented into your routine in the lead-up to AAFW?

REZNIK: My rituals are nothing crazy, there are certain routines that haven’t changed for me but some of them are just making sure that I meet the necessities of looking after myself and ensure I create space for me-time at the beginning and end of each day. It is too easy to put myself second to my work, but I think our bodies and mind must always come first, otherwise good work and good health is compromised.

Caroline-Reznik
Image via Caroline Reznik.

GRAZIA: What’s more important: the location of the show or the time slot of the show?

REZNIK: For me it was the time slot of the show. When I knew that I had been invited to present my work at Australian Fashion Week and had my first meeting with the IMG team, I pitched either to open or close the industry show.

The conversation became about whether my work suited a morning or a night show, I took that information home with me and requested kindly if they would consider me for the last industry show.

GRAZIA: How does your Australian customer embody your brand’s DNA in a way international customer don’t?

I’m yet to really understand how the Australian consumer embodies my brand DNA. I’ve had support from customers in Australia, however, they’ve been very few compared to my international customer base.

I don’t know my Australian customers very well. It will be a new learning experience to project my work in the Australian landscape and see how that natural inclination towards the DNA of my brand is experienced via Australians.

GRAZIA: What do you think your brand brings to the Australian fashion landscape?

REZNIK: I think my brand will bring new perspectives to Australian fashion, it will play on something bigger than clothing itself, while still celebrating the work in its entirety.

It will bring a dance between storytelling and emotive fashion.

GRAZIA: Your show is dubbed to transport us into a ‘new world’, how does Caroline Reznik’s fantasy world differ from reality?

REZNIK: I think this show makes you feel like you’re in a fantasy because of how dynamic the feeling of being in the room will be. The messages behind it capture moments of realism, just heightened in a timely manner of execution and playing on themes that entice the mind to feel like it’s escaping to something more like a fantasy.

Rather than creating in a world that doesn’t exist, the work is a reaction to actions. The way I choose to employ my understandings with micro and macro realism in projected into a space, a garment, and a character that resembles how a production in a ballet plays out. They’re not necessarily stories of unrelatable madness, but more so a collation of the now that transcends messages into the tomorrow.

GRAZIA: Without giving too much away, what are the three words you’d use to describe the vibe of your show?

REZNIK: Escapism, Electric, and Grounded.

Read more in-depth interviews with designers showcasing at AAFW 23, including ALÉMAIS,  in GRAZIA’s pre-fashion week series: ‘In Focus’.