Alix Higgins thought of earthquakes and animal sensations. The visceral, basic emotions of Lars Von Trier’s films (Dogville, Antichrist) and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” resonated with what he repressed after many meetings to discuss business. The end of the brand. “I felt this creative frustration of wanting to really shake the world with my work,” he said. “It was kind of like feeding a creative beast.”
At his second show, he arguably didn’t get bogged down in muddy public links, earthy patterns—even though the models wore bare feet in black that looked like peat. The scans of a vintage wolf fur he owned from working under Marine Serre in Paris are the most authentic. Prints were printed on halter tops and skirts in his signature stretch fabric, then transferred to cotton trench coats; his “fur coats” were part of what he called “elegant wildness.” His signature Stretching Horizon print is back, and his gender-neutral work features casual words, some humorously plucked from the internet and queer dictionaries (“Bottom” is also Shakespeare’s) and some more benignly Poetic, though quietly evolved in monochrome and applied to pleating.
Higgins is someone who creates by instinct, not by sketching and creating mood boards. That’s how he creates novelty with upcycled polo shirts, handcrafted into sculptural evening tops, and dramatic caped evening gowns that capitalize on the ease of use of T-shirts. This makes his compositions delicate, light in form and subtle in meaning. Those clean shapes and subtle thoughs come naturally to him – it’ll be exciting to see what happens if he lets animal instincts unleash them properly.
