Representing the creative future

Alex Mullins makes a case for being bored while designing

Waiting for a crit to happen (or simply to end) after an allnighter? Notice how during your prolonged stare at a piece of fabric, it seems as if molecules start to exist and form patterns? Ten seconds later you blink your eyes and get back from a temporary daydream about how a piece of calico was transformed into something ‘larger than life’. Boredom. They nowadays call it a luxury. Having the space and time to let reality slip away and get inspired by something that merely exists in the mind. It was enough for Royal College of Art MA Menswear graduate Alex Mullins to design warped print faces and move into the world of the imaginary for his AW16 collection. “Have you ever stood waiting for a bus?” Alex asks us, to start explaining the motivation behind this season’s work.

“It’s boring isn’t it? This collection is kind of about what happens to your mind when you’re waiting. And you’re like ‘Fucking hell what am I having for dinner? What am I gonna do next?’ You’re so bored that you start looking around, you see a guy and you’re like, ‘Shit, he’s fit’, but then his hair starts to move all over his face and you’re like ‘Hold on…’ You know that moment when you’re really tired and you think you’re tripping? Things start to move and you think: ‘But what if that jacket actually wasn’t like that and it slid all the way to the back? What if the clothes melted off his body?’”

Ha, yes! Did anything melt off you while making this collection? What were your challenges?

It’s a tricky one, as you just take it as it comes. It’s all really difficult, but it’s really rewarding when you see everything come together like this.

…and do you prefer a presentation rather than a show?

Every season is very different for me, it depends on how I feel. I haven’t done a catwalk yet and I think that if I were to, I’d have to do it in my own way. There are pros and cons with both situations, but when you do a presentation, you get more of an atmosphere. With a show, you have 3 minutes and then it’s over. Personally, I quite like going to private views and getting drunk. Do you?

I do, yes!

And you don’t really do that at fashion shows… It’s so boring, isn’t it? You go to a show where the crowd is like ‘Oh I’ve got an outfit on’, but no one really cares! Let’s just hang out and look at stuff!