By Gabrielle Riley Mai
I spent my Valentine’s Day at my favourite event, London Fashion Week, and it made it even more special to have the honour to interview Agne Kuzmickaite before her presentation. Her presentation was at Somerset House in London, a beautiful rustic building, my favourite kind in London. I was greeted with prosecco while I waited for Agne, her team was bustling around making sure everything was set up and ready as rehearsals were starting soon. Agne came over and introduced herself to me, looking beautiful in her statement butterfly T-shirt which is her brand logo, she looked amazingly calm for someone who is just about to present at London Fashion Week.
After we introduced ourselves I dove into the interview, so Agne tell me about you, how did you first get into fashion? “I always dreamed of getting into fashion so I took the traditional route by studying in the Art Academy in Lithuania and The Netherlands. I then started to showcase my work at student fashion shows. However, my work really evolved after university and I was designing independently.” An inspiration to all fashion students who worry about standing apart in this creative industry.
But what I really want to know is about her latest collection, which was interesting to hear how her collection was mainly based upon a sustainable ethos. “My collection is split into different lines, one line of garments is made up of dresses, shoes and accessories in recycled and sustain- able materials, my second line is based around my logo the butterfly. I love to be playful with colours and fabrics so I use a range of hues from black to bold, vibrant shades. To me this reflects today’s climate, compared to history we live in a peaceful world and that is my main inspiration. My collection, however, isn’t trend-focused as I don’t believe trends are sustainable. If you cre- ate trends you are telling your client they need something new each season, my collection is more contemporary.” As a person who loves to research fashion and sustainability, I found this point so true and how the trend-led fashion industry we are so used to reading and buying is not a sustainable cycle, that must start to change. Agne’s business model is one way it could.
Interestingly enough Agne’s collection does not reflect her personal style, she creates a collection away from her own day to day looks. Agne’s collections are usually worn by performers, artists, actresses on stage or the catwalk at high profile events. The Agne Kuzmickaite collection is not an everyday casual collection you can find on the high street, “I don’t see the point of doing basic casual wear as the shops are full with these styles, so I want to create something you can’t buy easily.” The Agne presentation was certainly that, each garment was unique in its own right, linking on from each other elegantly as each model walked on the catwalk.
Moving on from the Agne consumer I asked Agne how she would describe her style or her collection in her own words, but the inspiration behind Agne always comes back to the butterfly. “Butterfly is my brand and slogan so it starts and ends with the inspiration behind what the butterfly means to me. I love their shape, the idea behind them and their meaning, they help inspire me with every collection”. As her brand is built and inspired behind the butterfly and what it means to her she uses it as a playful logo. “It is different to work with a range of logos, for example, I use the butterfly as mine, brand logos are important these days so i enjoy working with branding to a recognisable, unique brand identity”. Branding is so important now and with fashion becoming so competitive getting the right logo and brand ethos is more important than ever.
To finish off our interview before Agne headed to rehearsals I asked one last important question: what are her highs and lows so far? Today was one of her highs, so I loved being apart of it “my highs are showing my collection in London as far as this is the biggest challenge for me to create constantly and showcase my work, this is my biggest joy. I don’t like so much the commercial and business part of fashion, I am a creator, however, you have to have a balance and showing my work at Fashion Week is that.” This is an interesting point as fashion is one of the biggest businesses and most powerful industries in the world, to be successful you need a balance between creative and business thinking and after seeing Agne’s presentation showing at London Fashion Week I know she knows how to work that balance. Creativity was not only shown through her designs but her innovative studio and catwalk combination in her presentation. I loved being apart of this day and seeing her collection debut, I will be following her style evolution avidly from now on. Oh, and one thing for sure is, I won’t be looking at a butterfly and not thinking of Agnes Kuzmickaite fashion brand next time.
Interview also available in latest PRINT issue!
For Agne’s webshop, see > https://agnekuzmickaite.com/eshop/
_________________________
No Comments Yet!
You can be first to leave a comment