It's so rare to have the opportunity to chat to a designer who is still organic and has not yet been influenced by the pressures of production and the notion of excess is better, there is a certain sense of transparency in well-established and serious emerging designers that many of the top designers in the world have unfortunately lost. Kara herself told me that right now, her and Jason are just both trying to establish a name for themselves in the fashion industry and that right now, it's not about money. Nonetheless, she and Jason both recognise the importance of generating a revenue in the long term to be sustainable as a brand and creative force in the industry.
I asked them both what stores they would like to see stocking their respective brands in Melbourne and Kara replied "Green with Envy" and Jason, "General Pants" (although I still think that he could definitely go for Marais - I believe that sort of demographic would respond extremely well to his brand). It shows that these two designers are not just your typical self-proclaimed "passion for fashion" designers, but instead through their brands they are trying to say something and present something unique to present to the fashion industry.
Jason listed his influences as Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, Mary Katrantzou and Dries Van Noten among others and Kara, Céline by Phoebe Philo, Jil Sander (presumably by Raf Simons as well as Jil Sander herself) and Marques Almeida. Their influences are extremely obvious in their work if you are familiar with the designers' but at the same time, their work is far from being a copy of their influences' work. It was interesting that Kara listed Marques Almeida as being one of her influences as it shows that she is not simply a clean-cut minimalist designer - she is also fascinated with deconstruction, which once again displays her knowledge and want to truly know the fabrics she chooses for each collection.
They both have strong ethics attached to their fashion brands and they also truly believe in their brands. I have a lot of respect for both of them to try and establish themselves in an industry which is notorious for habitual scepticism at a time when fashion is struggling with it's identity of quality vs. quantity.
I was so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet both Jason and Kara, they are both idealistic young designers with so much to offer the fashion industry.
Thank you both so much for having me and welcoming me into your showroom. I was extremely honoured to have had the opportunity and it was inspiring to have met you both. I wish you all the best in the future and encourage you both to keep progressing and growing as designers. I look forward to meeting both of you again!
To view more of Kara's work head over to her website and head over to the AM.XANDER website for Jason's work.
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