Gotta have it

Alex Mullins’ SS15 Malibu motorcycle gang’s repurposed and race ready
By Tempe Nakiska | Fashion | 11 September 2014

For his SS15 collection, Alex Mullins looked to his love of Americana and ‘the outsider’ in constructing a narrative to found his designs on. The faded image: a “Native American motorcycle gang” dressed in the dusty, customised clothing of racers past, repurposing materials in their Malibu trailer park with each generation.

Textiles are ripped, layered, ripped again. A mega moto ensemble is cast with colourful illustrations, printed cotton applied applied in endless repetitions to achieve the totally visceral effect. The collection showed at NEWGEN as part of LC:M this season – fair to say it was a stand out.

Originally hailing from south west London, Mullins studied fashion print at Central Saint Martins before completing his MA at the Royal College of Art. He then worked his way across studios including Alexander McQueen, Diane von Furstenburg and Jeremy Scott before diving in with his eponymous line which he now directs from his work-home space, an “old carpet shop”, in Shoreditch.

The XL graphics and tendency for distressed materials have become a signature, but it’s Mullins’ fascination with what spurs that in-the-gut, gotta-have (and cherish) feeling real clothes radiate that’s really surging his brand forwards.

Tempe Nakiska: Where does it all stem from for you – what are the key ideas behind your line?
Alex Mullins: Well I think a lot of it has to do with my obsession with American cowboys. I think mainly because it’s a relatively new country and you can feel very connected to the cross-over of nationality and the heartache between them. I really love the early Frank Gosh photography of America, 1860, seeing that as the beginning of the exploration of that country. I’m quite dyslexic so I try and do what I do with minimal text or word play. I find explaining myself quite frustrating.

TN: Can you tell me more about the idea behind the SS15 collection? It’s quite an interesting concept…
AM: I think it stems from my fascination with American culture in general. And this idea of the mixture between the very formal traditional ‘cowboy’ style and the very wild, ethnic element of native American culture. It’s always underlying my work.

TN: There’s also a very faded feel to it all, the tonal feel of the colour palette.
AM: It was this idea I had this summer, of when you’re lying on a beach and the sun is really bright. It hurts your eyes and when you open them your vision is kind of bleached out. And you don’t realise how burnt you’ve got! For me when I’m doing my collection it’s easier if it’s based on a narrative. I was thinking about this dusty, sunny place, as well as motorcycle gangs and how they compete in drag races and I had this fantasy of motorcycle gangs making each other trophies to give to each other when they win their races.

Alex Mullins SS15

That’s where much of the graphics come from. And the idea that these trophies are generational, as the clothes are, you can see the pieces in different states as they get older. There was this t-shirt that I printed and then tried to make it look like somebody had tried to get rid of it all. You know how like on toilet walls with graffiti, somebody will paint over it? That same idea, these graphics still shining through, a second life.

TN: It sounds like it might have been quite an involved process.
AM: When I was studying my fashion print BA I was exploring the process of print itself. When I finished that degree I wanted to create something special to do with graphics but I wanted it to be special, the graphics not so flat but three dimensional and integral to the garment itself. I’m interested in the complete marriage by the textile and the garment. It’s not a garment with a print on it, it’s the whole thing. It’s about the depth and the 360 degrees of a story in each piece.

TN: Like the printed biker jacket in this collection?
AM: Yes. That piece is actually printed cotton and on the print itself I collaged all these folky graphics I created narratives for. I collaged them on paper then scanned them in and printed them onto cotton, which was bonded… It’s quite a long process! [Laughs] Then you bond it onto the denim base. Once it was all together I hand bleached it to look like it was sun damaged. It’s that last stage of the process which gives it that authenticity, it’s more special.

Alex Mullins SS15

TN: Where does that idea of sun damaged garments come from?
AM: I quite like that idea of time’s impact on clothes. I have things in my wardrobe that I really shouldn’t be wearing, they’re falling off my back. But I love them so much. And the thing with that jacket is that whoever buys it, when the piece gets older, the top layer will start to fall off, peel off and the denim will come through and reveal another layer. It’s like giving it another life, in a way.

TN: And it gives it more longevity, as well. Is it a reaction to something as well, to our industry, to an extent?
AM: To be honest, when I was working in fashion and I was earning decent money and going shopping I found that I wanted something more special than what was on offer. Something that was worth the money I was spending on it, even if it was super simple. Or something that I just had to have. Once, I was in a shop and I found this huge blanket and I spent quite a lot of money on it, but I had to have it, it was amazing. I want to create that feeling with my pieces. And that they have more depth to them than just a ‘thing’. I also get quite attached to things I love and I want them to last longer. When I got my favourite denim jacket I would wear it all the time. But when it does fall apart that becomes part of my story, as well.

TN: How do those outside of your own world inspire you?
AM: I often think about people who are not in fashion think, whether it’s a similar attitude to mine anyway. I think that idea of feeling something with your clothes is universal. I remember seeing an interview with Diane Von Furstenberg, she said that all of your clothes in your wardrobe are like your friends. You know where you wore them, the good times you had with them, and on that level you really connect with them.

TAGGED WITH


Read Next