Undoubtedly the most colorful, energetic and imaginative of events at this year’s VAMFF, Nixi Killick’s Eco-Echo was more Melbourne than a chardonnay socialist arguing with a Metcop on the Number 96 down Nicholson Street. Picture this: serious fashion types come up against Earthcore techno-hippies in train carriages suspended five stories above Collingwood’s Easey Street. True story – Ruby Assembly were there.
There’s little more Willy Wonka-ish than looking out to the Dandenong Ranges and across to Clifton Hill from your seat in a train carriages resting atop a modern building – that venue being burger joint Easey’s. As we awaited the runway, we enjoyed floral gin aperitifs in riotous yellow – their colors mirroring the bright psychedelia of Killick‘s ‘Eco-Echo’ designs to come.
Eco-Echo ‘illuminates the vibrancy of natural influences on future dress technology. A techno-natural rapture.’ Killick’s designs are jawdroppingly courageous and robust when measured up against the staid blacks and safe-to-wear runway fare of the more commercial VAMFF runways – her models appearing out of an elevator like party aliens replete with full-face makeup which plays upon tribal motifs in hypercolor palettes.
Killick’s branding is also coherent and elegant – ‘NXK’ worked into a meander pattern which makes her work instantly recognisable without compromising on its neo-futuro aesthetic.
She-ra, Princess of Power! Look past the theatrical accessories to the core garments which are instantly recognisable in addition to being desirable to her core audience, all of whom see to be deeply connected to Killick’s brand and identity.
Tap dat? When it comes to Nixi Killick’s future as an intelligent, responsive designer to watch – there’s talent to tap indeed.
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