Alexandra Owen

Owen goal

A maverick designer is committed to luxury and a vision outside trends.
In my experience, on the outskirts (pardon the pun) of New Zealand fashion, there are two ways a designer can go. Either they choose a road, an aesthetic, a style of making things that is singular in direction – or they try and please everyone, make everything.
For a young designer in a very small pond, it might be considered risky or worse to hedge all one’s bets on a single look: you have to be a very good singer if you’re only going to sing one song. Alexandra Owen, born in Auckland and bred in Wellington, has chosen the latter, perhaps harder, option and has officially raised the roof.
Owen is a woman who knows what she wants and is driven by her dream. In fashion, as in day-to-day life, she is intent on sharing her vision of feminine beauty – a vision coloured in hues of strength and character, rather than complications and layers of lace. Owen’s look is one of sophistication, a Hepburn-esque grace; it’s not crazy or overstated but it’s not understated either. What she wants to see is women dressed well; not dressed for the moment or dressed to thrill but with elegance and with a different kind of power. She is essentially an anti-hipster; she’s not interested in distressed denim or seasonal prints but in sumptuous fabrics and heavenly shapes – the sublime over the ridiculous.
In an industry that thrives on shock, change and disposability, Owen has made her name doing the opposite: taking her time, largely ignoring trends and, perhaps, most controversially, sticking to a luxury-level price point. Her uncompromising ideals are matched by great ability and the fashion scene has begun to fall in love with her. With a flagship store in her beloved Wellington and glowing reviews of every show since her breakthrough collection in 2007, she has asserted herself as the quiet achiever du jour on New Zealand’s fashion landscape.
High-end designer lines are all she knows, in a sense, after cutting her teeth as a sales assistant at Scotties Boutique – “the best place I could possibly have worked,” she says. The store houses some of the most exclusive and well-regarded labels in the world and, as a business, Scotties just doesn’t do average, ever. Exposed to an exceptional level of customer service, design and make, while she studied at Massey University, Owen learnt that she “couldn’t get away with anything less” in terms of quality, if she was to get within a sniff of this end of the market. She began to create her own small range each season – they were stocked at Scotties to begin with, until Owen felt a calling to do things her way.
Once ready to branch out on her own, she teamed with local businessman and owner of Wellington’s Museum Hotel, Chris Parkin. Like Owen, he was “someone who was focused on the creative future of the city – sadly, a kind of archaic vision” Owen laughs. They shared a love for local arts and culture. Owen’s single-minded and somewhat old-fashioned ethos meant bringing together a small, tight team who produce minimal runs of Owen’s creations and, being based in a workroom adjacent to the store, can produce custom-made pieces with her guidance.
2007’s New Zealand Fashion Week saw Owen arrive in Auckland alone and show a collection that dropped many a jaw with its masterful tailoring and breathtaking fabrics. As a result she picked up a dozen wholesale accounts including the well-regarded ‘H Lorenzo’ boutique in Los Angeles. Quite suddenly, things changed. “Proper learning” is how Owen terms this exciting time, saying, “At the time I was doing everything myself: designing, cutting and sampling. In terms of production, I had to work out how to continue in a way that was sustainable. Now, we are a business – a collective – but back then, I didn’t know anyone!”
That sentiment was soon to become history as Owen made valuable contacts including PR representation with fashion and lifestyle agency Showroom 22.
“Alexandra has a vision that is artistic, it’s not affected by trends.” says showroom director Murray Bevan. “And she has stuck to her guns.” It was Bevan who took a phone call last year from organisers of Mercedes New York Fashion Week, inviting Owen to be a part of the event and signalling a significant interest in her work. Other than seasoned New York darling Karen Walker, no other New Zealand designer has had this opportunity. After hosting exclusive showings of her range to US media over the week, Owen was officially ‘welcomed to the family,’ with the Huffington Post saying she “... has given fashionable grown-ups a place to go ... we look forward to seeing more of her.”
Owen’s is not a game for young players. Her typical clientele are of a different ilk to the distressed denim brigade and it’s something Owen is proud of. “I never want to undermine my customers,” she tells me. “We are a destination store, and the women who visit us are genuinely interested in the product. “She knows her buyers well and explains that in Wellington, “the ratio of people who attend cultural events is very high ... they are an extraordinarily loyal people and have shown me great support. “To provide options for her loyal fan base, Owen will debut a sister collection on 2 December called Little Black Dress – not so much a diffusion line as a partner to the mainline – within this, she delivers a range of simpler garments in more easy-care fabrics
“Sometimes I just don’t want fuss” she explains, referring to the good old what-should-I-wear-today dilemma. But it’s not a line that compromises her beliefs. “The range still has attention to tailoring and is impeccably finished; it’s just a lower cost option.”
Owen draws inspiration from her hometown and its thriving art scene, among other things. She explains that her imagination can be stirred by something quite abstract, and also tells me that her inspiration for the A/W 2011 NZFW collection, a film called L’Innocente and in particular a duelling scene, somehow resulted in her take on quilted jackets. Again this year, her fashion week audience was treated to a presentation like no other – a runway show so mesmerising it would have made her idols proud. The theme of the collection led it – although Owen herself says she “doesn’t like to reference anything heavily”. Instead of thriving on wildly different ideas and notions each season, the collection showed timelessly elegant dresses, full coats, draping fabric – but this time was paraded with the quiet help of master stylist Karen Inderbitzen-Waller who put the looks together and curated the show itself.
Her team is of utmost importance and Owen’s husband James is an integral part of the business, directing the company’s web content, advertising and branding. While her agent says that Owen sees beyond the ceiling of national success and is not afraid to project further, Owen is grounded and savvy enough to know that making the most of what she has here first is key. Her work comes not from a whim but from a multi-dimensional mind which values business planning, customer demographics and the people around her as much as the art of design alone. She will continue to be one to watch both here and internationally, but it won’t be because she keeps changing her tune to keep us on our toes. It will be because we want to hear that same, perfect song.
Angela Crane
www.alexandraowen.co.nz