The Disruptors: Alicia at AGR is the London designer redefining knitwear
London based and London inspired, Alicia is a sharply driven designer reinventing what knitwear means to fashion. From domestic to industrial, even hand knitting, her work is as delicately created as it is playfully relevant. Often using hand embroidery, Alicia’s designs for her rising brand AGR Knit are catching the eyes of the industry, whether it be creating for Missoni and A-COLD-WALL* or collaborating on a sweatshirt with Wavey Garms, her work is making waves in all the right places. We caught up with Alicia to find out how she became the queen of knitwear and why breaking the rules can be the most positive of ideas…
Talk us through your design process at the start of each collection, where does your research start?
My design process is constantly changing from one project to the next, I am always researching. Whether it’s from imagery on the internet to new exhibitions in London or spending time in a Library. Books are key. Everywhere I go I’m taking little snaps of advertisements, patterns and random colours that I like. The number of times I get clocked taking pictures of people in the street or on the bus because I like their style or a certain stripe they are wearing is hilarious! I then start putting together all this research with drawings and colour wraps into mental mood boards before I start swatching and sampling. I always have a lot of my ideas rolling around in my head, so work in quite a freestyle way when I jump on my machine and just make things up as I go along. The main thing that always translates through my own work is masses of colour and pattern. More is more…
How does what is happening in the world now affect you as a designer, does it feed into your creative process?
Of course, what’s going on in the world affects me and I’m very interested in new materials and especially trying to leave behind an eco-friendlier trail. Last night I watched ‘drowning in plastic’ which is actually heart wrenching and made me think a lot about how I can reduce my own plastic use. It is hard as in knitting you use yarn to create the material and certain fibres create more toxins in the water depending on specific colours that are dyed and so all these things can have an effect on the final look of your garment it just depends how far you want to delve into it. It’s getting the balance between helping the environment but also not sacrificing the end look. Also, Brexit will impact all designers throughout our entire process from making to the shop floor!
How do you feel London has shaped your style and attitude?
London has definitely shaped my style firstly being in one of the fashion capitals of the world how can it not. It allows me to be who I want to be with no judgement. Everything is so fast paced and every single person around me is expressing themselves in a different way. I feel like every one of my mates in London is a muse and bringing their own individual steeze to the table. London as a place to live helps you to become very thick skinned and also extremely independent I think which in turn produces talented creatives. You have to rely on yourself and be hugely self-motivated I feel as it’s so easy to get swept up and lose yourself. I remember last year being in Florence for work and getting stared at so much for my shaved head at the time and saying to myself “I can’t wait to be back home in London.”
What sets London apart from other cities when it comes to creativity, in your opinion?
In London people aren’t afraid to stand out and look different and be openly determined and cut throat for what they want. As a city we will work night and day to get a project completed, I don’t think I have ever turned down a project due to timing as I’d rather break my back to get something completed, appreciated and seen. Also, I’ve noticed more recently that London designers and creatives are becoming more and more brave to actually approach big brands with ideas. Young designers are finally being given more of a platform and really looked at. It feels a little bit like anything is possible right now! London’s creative hub and inner circle of stylists, designers, writers, actors, musicians, models etc is so overwhelming and mind-blowing that if you can make that one great connection say in the smoking area of a club off your face it can change your entire path.
What are the challenges you face as a young designer, and what more do you think could be done to support emerging talents?
As a young designer one of my biggest challenges is juggling two or three jobs to stay afloat whilst still trying to be as creative as possible. It’s such a shame when money issues put constraints on your creativity. I feel that in universities we need to be taught a lot more about the business side of a creative not just designing. They also need to look into some sort of cap on the rents of studio spaces in and around London as right now they are stupid money. If I hadn’t been lucky enough to have the support from Knit Works London in Bethnal Green I would still be working out of my bedroom.
Part of this project is about being disobedient and individual – why do you think creativity should be disobedient?
Creativity needs to be disobedient to keep it new and fresh. We need to always be exploring new materials, new techniques and most importantly new collaborations between artist, musicians and designers. It’s key to be breaking boundaries, creating new relationships and fucking things up really. Everyone’s up to mischief these days and trying to hustle and the Tn trainer is great example and reminder of this. Disobedience shouldn’t always be seen as a bad thing as this is when some of the best things are discovered or created. Sometimes you have to break things down to re build them in your own individual way.
Talk us through the jumper you’re wearing, what were the influences?
The influences for this jumper have come from the new Greedy Tn and Tns over the last 20 years. For me this shoe is best described as quite moody and gritty which I think has been translated well. I think the reason I’ve always been so drawn to them is because of how much black is usually used in the design. I love to heavily use black outlining and lines in my own work similarly to the design of the Tn. The colour of this jumper has come straight from the OG kicks with the sunset orange, hyper blue and also with hints of the purple fade. I have kept the colours separated very much like the layout of the new Greedy Tn. I’ve concentrated hugely on the that unmissable pattern which covers the whole upper shoe. I want to recreate it in several different ways which were then patch-worked together. I’ve also included several textures such as cotton, wool, mohair and even vinyl. This is the first time I have ever used vinyl on knit but I think it links in with the Tn perfectly adding that little bit of rubber and shine.
Your Instagram shows the personality of you and your work – how has social media changed your career?
Social media has completely shaped my career as all of my freelance work previously has come through social media and from recommendations. It’s crazy how powerful it is as it’s so easy to contact someone directly. After the carnival capsule that I put out in August I was overwhelmed by how many people wanted custom orders. You can reach such a wider community through social media especially in other countries. Sometimes I get people messaging me just for advice about machines or techniques all the way from America. It’s really sweet. It’s become clear as well that people don’t just want to see your work now days they want to see your whole life. I guess this way they get an insight into where it all comes from. Social media has also opened up our generation to be way more relaxed anything goes.
What’s your plan for the future of your brand?
Hopefully BIG things for AGR in London in January…
Alicia wears the Nike Tn in the Hype Blue, available from 24th November on nike.com Follow AGR Knit on Instagram here.
