The entirety of Alix Higgins’s runway was covered in an antique persian rug, except it wasn’t an actual rug, but scans of a rug, with bits of poetry overlaid on the top, printed in the designer’s signature sans-serif font. In front of this editor’s seat a verse simply read “i think we are in love.”
“In the last year, three of my close friends had babies, and I was thinking about how when you’re a child you have this freedom of dressing, playing with your wardrobe and playing with identities as well,” Higgins said backstage after the show. “When I started this collection, I was so happy about my friends having kids, and also I was in love. So it was sort of this very joyous way of writing this season. There’s a lot of text about tenderness and joy and family and motherhood.”
There was an ease to his lineup this season that did evoke a mood for love: a polo shirt-cum-poncho (none of the side seams had been completed) was embellished with a crown of little bells that wrapped around the model’s shoulder and made a gentle sound as the model walked by; tops and skirts made from upcycled t-shirts were draped across the body in unexpected ways; and scans of the rug that adorned the runway space were turned into digital prints on a variety of separates—casual pajama pants, slinky skirts, and draped dresses. “It’s my grandmother’s rug, and it’s been in my studio for the last six months and it was just kind of bleeding into the collection—I was draping with it at one point—and I thought I just needed to scan it,” he added. “It worked with this idea of being at home as well.” Following the idea of being comfortable at home with the ones that you love, models were often barefoot or wearing classic white socks—or otherwise Ugg slippers.
There was also a bit of a boho feeling present in this collection—though, of course, as seen through his unique point of view—with sheer ruffled neck blouses and flowy maxi skirts in bold shades of purple, turquoise, and maroon, printed with a collage of his signature iconographies (words, textures, etc). Scans of a vintage fur coat he’d had in Paris in his younger days were recolored in acid shades of green and pink and used on a terrific coat, among other pieces.
For the finale, a model with beautiful flowing long hair wore a gown made from barely there lace—we’d call it gossamer if we didn’t know any better—that dragged behind him as he walked. He was the bride, but also he evoked the iconography of Saint Sebastian. “I love the tropes of fashion, I’d always wanted to finish a show with a bride and I’d never done that before,” he said. Another bit of poetry on the floor nearby read “and desire, and potential, of course.”
