What It’s Like To Dress Lady Gaga: An Interview With Australian Designer Nixi Killick

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There’s a question that usually gets capped on the end interviews with artists from all fields, and nine times out of ten the answer is so vague it’s not worth printing. The interviewee’s usual response is an elongated sigh as they deliver one of the go-to replies tucked up their sleeve for just the occasion: Study, persevere, be yourself, be someone else, panic, don’t panic or sleep with producers.

So it was with some shock that, when I lazily asked Melbourne fashion designer Nixi Killick what advice she’d give emerging artists, the answer came back like a bullet: “Hi-jack the industry.” When you’re talking with a creative whose clothing is being sought out by Lady Gaga and gracing the stages of Vicenza, Italy, you can expect the conversation to be anything but usual.

Born in rural NSW, Nixi is purposefully bold, blindingly colourful and has a knack for making words like “imagineer”, “maverick-hybrid” and “techno-optimism” sound genuine and meaningful — no mean feat. When I call her she is in her Footscray studio in Victoria having just returned from five days without reception in Strawberry Fields, where she was sewing for the label. There’s a buzz of work around her. “It’s was nice to go off the grid, but my phone hasn’t stop vibrating since I got back.”

The studio itself is the home of Killick’s label, NXK, which evolved directly from a project she created for RMIT, where she studied fashion and design. “From my perspective, in an independent arena, study was pivotal. RMIT gave me so much support, I can’t speak highly enough of it; to have access to all the information and these facilities… You can really just focus on fostering a culture of your own.”

Nixi’s final university thesis, available on her website, reads like a kaleidoscopic roller-coaster through her mind and the art she loves; the lyrics of Bjork are brought to life as rainbow suits sewn out of wigs, and later models slicked with oil are used as tools for a conversation on politics and individualism. You get the feeling Killick doesn’t want her fashion to be simple; instead, it aggressively asks us to consider the future. “If its not about the future,” reads her website, “it doesn’t exist at all.”

After graduating from RMIT, and being selected for an international designers workshop in Italy, Nixi returned to Australia ready to dive into the “the real world”. But just as she was about to drive out of range for a rural sewing trip, an urgent message came from the same team who had decided meat would be a fabulous fabric for a dress.

From Alexander McQueen to Jean Paul Gaultier, Lady Gaga has always been dressed by the best and, after a series of wonderful events lead them to her work, it would be Killick’s turn to dress one of the most watched artists of the decade.

“My work with Gaga was actually rather intimate,” Nixi says. “They saw my work featured at a conference in Italy, and made the connection. I had friends speeding to our studio to pull out as many styles and images as possible, while I spun the car around and made the trip home. She ordered a few pieces and it ended up in her book. Since then, everything has been a bit of a blur.”

Gaga’s Little Monsters have reacted to Killick’s work with Mother Monster with a frenzied madness that few fashion designers will ever have the opportunity to revel in. The young designer puts it down to the striking similarities in their artistic intent. “You team up with people who emanate what you are trying to say. The concept of fashion through celebrity can be such a powerful platform, and with Lady Gaga I found not only a celebrity force, but an art practice which matched mine.”

Perhaps even more impressive was Killick’s ability to back herself when repeatedly asked by big agencies to supply her work, for no financial return. “For me, I have to look to my own work and the integrity of my work,” she says revealing the businesswoman within. “So when I get in those situations I ask myself, ’Yes, this might be the biggest singer or whatever on the planet, but I’m trying to survive here, I’m trying to get off the ground. If it was anyone else, would I ask for money?’

“And in the end, if I don’t stand up for my art now, what do I have?”

Post Gaga, the work hasn’t stopped. Her clothes have landed on the shoulders of Grammy-nominated Hiatus Kaiyote and funk pop princess Kimbra, backed up by invites from Melbourne Spring Fashion Week and iD Fashion Festival. And now having, for the most part graduated from the field of “emerging artist”, she is hoping to offer younger designers more than a few warm and fuzzy quotes.

“Fear of being an artist is perpetuated by how hard the industry is. And it is hard because it’s a closed off network; people guard their information. I looked at people with labels, people who had their start, but I couldn’t crack the circle. I didn’t have a mentor who could give me the key.” Nixi is quick to clarify: “You start by saying, ‘I wish they’d share more.’ And then it takes you so long to get there. Look, I understand why people might not want to give away their secrets, but I’m trying to resist that, to really band together and move forward.” Soon, Nixi will return to Italy where she will act as a mentor, sharing her knowledge with 100 international designers that are being unearthed by London fashion platform Not Just A Label.

“You don’t have to leave the country to succeed, but it helps! Even just finding your identity in Australian culture can be tough. There is often only one weird kid, one rock chic, one goth –”

I interrupt, “Was that you?”

“Lord no! I was always in the one in way too much colour.”

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Killick will next be presenting her couture and wearables at The Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival. Visit her website.

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Brendan Maclean is a solo artist, actor, writer and a casual presenter on triple j. He tweets at @macleanbrendan

Feature image from M E T A – F L O R A, S S 1 4, © Nixi Killick