Hues of pinks, blacks and red, poetry prose and nylon so shiny it resembles a lustrous lip gloss: an Alix Higgins design is instantly recognisable by anyone in the know. The Sydney fashion designer launched in 2021, and his futuristic textiles and provocative designs have been worn by everyone from Hunter Schafer to Troye Sivan and Heartbreak High’s James Majoos.
He creates clothes that are playful, romantic and represent a distinct vision of the future for the Australian fashion industry — and in doing so, has become a staple of Sydney’s queer party scene.
Ahead of Mardi Gras, we sat down at his Haymarket studio to talk muses, fashion as identity, and the lack of queer brands in an industry where so many queer people work — all while sitting under a white t-shirt that read: ‘I don’t believe in heaven but I know there is a HELL.’
How would you describe your designs to someone who hasn’t seen them before?
My work is very kind of future-focused. There’s a lot of poetry and emotion in it. I’m a textile designer by trade, so prints and textiles take the lead, but there’s a real sense of freedom and play and ease to my work.
Where do you take inspiration from when designing?
I’m very inspired by my friends and the people around me and the kind of creative community. A lot of musicians, a lot of artists, [they] sort of become muses in a way.
I’m also always trying to challenge myself and actively look for inspiration outside of what I naturally gravitate towards. So trying to approach things that I find kind of ugly or challenging I guess.
I’m very inspired by film and music and art and the history of fashion and trying to guess what’s happening next or predict the future in a way as well.
I love to hear that your friends are some of your main muses. I think that when you speak to some artists about where their inspiration comes from it’s not necessarily their direct community
Yes it’s like Tilda Swinton.
Totally, and I think that some of the best designers’ work comes when it’s being created around their muses.
Yeah absolutely. I don’t know how that really started, but I was making work that you want your friends to like… The people around you who you love, you really absorb them and they rub off on you. Their idiosyncrasies and the way they put things together.
My life bleeds so much into my work and the people around me are so much part of that as well. I’m not really a designer who [has a] concrete plan that I execute. It’s much more about response and working a bit on something, and then seeing where that takes the next thing.
It’s very organic and so it’s certainly natural that my friends become part of that.
What is one of your favorite pieces that you’ve designed?
I’m very proud of these skirts which are upcycled from two shirts plus lace. There’s just a real sense of ease to them and freedom. I have a lot of clients that responded really positively to [the skirt] because it’s kind of feminine and masculine and also it’s elegant, but also really casual.
There’s something kind of unplaceable about it and consequently it’s very versatile. They’re all one off because they’re all from different original t-shirts, so there’s something special in being able to find the one that you respond to.
That’s also something that has been really special and beautiful about having a physical retail space. In here there’s that interaction of the clients or my friends or whoever that’s coming in with the pieces that they can actually pick which piece most kind of response to.
There’s a real exchange and that’s been really inspiring for me as well, seeing what people love and what really jumps out at people. How people put stuff together as well. I’ve been selling online for quite a while now and it’s great, and it’s obviously makes the world a lot smaller and opens up a lot of possibilities but it’s also very anonymous, so I never get to see that moment when someone opens their order. I just can only imagine what that experience is like, whereas here I get to see people’s palpable joy.
So I think that is something I’m quite proud of at the moment, but that changes also all the time, and when I’m working on a new collection I also just get a bit like tunnel vision about that.
Your designs have also kind of become so synonymous with queer parties. What do you think it is exactly about your work that has made it such a fixture of the Sydney queer party scene?
It’s funny this comes up a lot about my work, and I love to party for sure, but it was never my intention. It’s not something I’m against at all. It’s just funny that it’s a life that it has taken for some people. I don’t know why that is.
It’s funny that fashion is so full of queer people, but there aren’t that many brands that feel that queer. As much as there is an element of like emotion and poetry in my brand, and there is a seriousness to it. There is also a humour and a sense of play and joy and sex and freedom and dancing. So I think it kind of makes sense in those contexts, so maybe it’s that?
I think what you were saying about your work being like you’re able to wear feelings, maybe it’s also that?
Yeah, it’s expressive for sure. I’m also a musician and I hope that there’s a sense of music to it. I think also there’s a fantasy to the work and that maybe that fantasy makes sense in a space like a nightclub where maybe things aren’t quite as they seem.
How does your own queerness influence your work?
I’m a very romantic person and I’m queer, so I guess my view of the way my queerness bleeds into the work is through that kind of romance and almost like a sense of yearning.
I think an interesting thing about queerness, and something that I think gets spoken about, or theorised is, queer as an approach to life. You know, it’s not straightforward, it’s a kind of a questioning and I think that really comes through in my work.
Why are things the way they are? And what if they were like this? I don’t really think of myself as a radical person, and I don’t think my work is that radical, but some people do.
I think there’s often this simple action that will really turn something on its head or make something quite challenging. Even just splitting open the sides of an old rugby polo and suddenly that piece feels kind of elegant and with this like couture spirit about it.
So I think that is a queer approach, looking at masculinity in a different way and trying to not, well break it down, but just kind of twist it a bit.
5 Quick Questions with Alix
Palms.
Favorite queer spot not in Sydney?
Werrong Beach.
Favorite queer movie?
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
Number one tip for surviving Mardi Gras?
Controversial number one tip is go to one thing – that’s it. I’m not doing the Friday, the Saturday, the day party, just do one.
Describe your first crush is an emoji.
Let me look at the emojis, I want to get this right. Oh my God that’s a really hard question but I’m going to go with the puppy dog. The original dog with the tongue out.
This story is part of our Mardi Gras digital issue, celebrating the LGBTQ+ culture makers and game changers who make this city thrive.
Read more from this issue:
- House Of Silky’s Father Xander Khoury on Ballroom’s Past, Present & Shining Future
- Felicia Foxx on Queer Blackfella Excellence & Change Through ‘Artivism’
- Heaps Gay’s Kat Dopper on Community, Chosen Family & Creating The Ultimate Vibe
- Kath Ebbs on Non-Binary Joy, the Pink Dollar, and Falling in Love Over Line Dancing
The post Alix Higgins on Friends As Muses & Twisting Masculinity In Fashion appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
