Photo Diary: How designer Erik Yvon prepares for Afterpay Australian Fashion Week

An ode to queer culture and his Mauritian roots.

Fashion week, however glamorous, is no easy feat for those working behind the scenes. The lead-up to the event – for programmers, editors, stylists and designers alike – is a time of mental (and sometimes physical) endurance, often requiring longer days, little sleep and a resilient attitude.

But as an official media partner of this year’s Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (and long-time attendees), the Fashion Journal team can confidently say the madness is all worth it. For local fashion designers, in particular, the lead-up to Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (AAFW) is utter chaos.

Discover up-and-coming local designers in our Fashion section. 

Melbourne-based designer Erik Yvon knows this well. He’s freshly off the back of his second ever solo show at AAFW – and those lucky enough to watch his debut show know what big shoes he had to fill. While last year saw an explosion of hyper-saturated colour and movement down the runway, this year Erik tapped into the more “dark and moody” side of himself. Either way, camp is camp.

Here, he takes us through the strenuous, considered and involved process of pulling together an entire runway show and collection. Feast your eyes below.

My work centres around the recurring idea of queer fashion while drawing [from] my Mauritian roots. Coming off the back of last year’s high-energy showcase at AAFW, I really wanted to share and expand my breadth as a designer by taking this year’s collection into a more dark and moody experience.

For this collection, I collaborated with Melbourne-based ceramist, James Lemon, and drew a lot of references from the Mauritian landscape, particularly Chamarel and the Seven Coloured Earths. [I] combin[ed] these references to explore ideas of transformations [and] igneous processes that occur with volcanoes – those of which can be seen in James Lemon’s ceramic work.

[I] articulat[ed] feelings of flow, heat [and] movement [through the] energy of lava, the hardness of stone and smoke, the pockets of colour in the landscape and the life that forms around these geological events. This reference can be seen in the textile constructions, garment silhouettes and the transformation of James Lemon’s works into digital fabric prints.

For the show creative, I wanted to add another layer of creative exploration. It was a chance to expand on the queer and diverse representation that I want my work to embody. It’s been a creative process of exploration for everyone involved in the creative team. [I] enhance[ed] the story of the collection through the show and further enhanc[ed] it with elements of queer nightlife in the styling.

The process [leading up to fashion week] is endless, with lots of late nights burning the midnight oil. Typically for my collections I like to start with the creation of the collection prints.

I usually approach a few creatives that have inspired me and see if they are open to collaborations – this year I’ve been working with James Lemon. Using their creative work as a base, I begin transforming their work and creative input into a series of artworks that form the basis of the textile prints.

Once I have these artworks fleshed out, I begin further exploring other fabrics, materials and textiles. I have a very material-driven process when it comes to making… I like to source unique fabrics and start from there.

There are a lot of consistent garments that you will see in my work, they are the Erik Yvon signatures. These are the handmade crochet pieces, knits and beaded works in collaboration with Sam Seary, the classic Erik Yvon Doudou Dress [and] our motorbike jacket inspired motto jackets. These are must include[s] for every collection.

Once I have these, I expand out into other styles and looks. I work closely with stylist Karinda Mutabazi and Fozia Akalo of Side Eye Creative to develop the collection further [by] filling in the gaps and refining the pieces. Fashion week is also an opportunity to create fun and wild runway pieces – these are more of an art exhibit of my practice rather than being commercially viable.

It’s a lot of to-and-froing with the collection, reworking and remaking until things are executed to the vision I have. I love seeing things come to life, seeing them walk, seeing the movement. It’s really a process of storytelling and sharing my experience and life.

I think my work and process can surprise a lot of people, as I think they expect me to be quite a high energy and excitable person. While I love to make and wear fun, vibrant and loud clothing – I tend to be more quiet and reserved than you might think.

Keep up with Erik Yvon here.