The RIXO universe is a colourful one. Stepping into their Kings Road pop up, expect an excess of prints, colour palettes and antiques as an introduction into the designer’s, Orlagh McCloskey and Henrietta Rix, aesthetic. Opening at the end of last August, the space is filled with personal connections to the pair. Hand drawn sketches by Orlagh have been blown up and plastered onto the walls, the furniture has been hand picked by the girls from antique shops and flea markets, and artworks available to buy from Laetitia Rouget of Shoopy Studio and Astrid Wilson, fill every bare space around the shop.
Their designs exude the charismatic and cheerful energy that the girls are filled with. Best friends as well as business partners, their fourth presentation at London Fashion Week will celebrate the collaboration with historic couture house, Christian Lacroix. “As a couture house, it was always the one that we’ve been obsessed with,” says Henrietta. “It was a dream come true to be able to go into their archive to look at all the pieces, and just communicate with the team to find out how they developed their pieces back in the day.” Last season, Christian Lacroix collaborated with Belgium powerhouse, Dries van Noten, and the historic collection amazed and excited those lucky enough to see it in person. Despite RIXO being a smaller and newer brand than DVN, the collaborative vision with Lacroix was still the same. “It was just a really nice collaborative approach, where they were quite keen to show it in a contemporary, modern light,” states Orlagh, Henrietta adds. “They were the ones that came to us and said ‘We love the way you shoot a sequin dress in a newsagent, we love the way you do this.’ So they were really open to letting us take control.” 
An archive Christian Lacroix, that the pair were inspired by. Photography by Guy Marineau.
The journey was explorative for both, with undiscovered elements brought to light. “We’d had stuff on our mood boards from their collection before they had even contacted us," professes Orlagh. "One of the prints there, which is on a blouse and a dress, I had that saved down from a really old post from Etsy and when we actually went to the archive to find it, it wasn’t even in there and I was like ‘No this dress does exist because I have it!’” Said print, contains numerous Christian Lacroix bags on a background of turquoise and fuschia - not for the faint hearted, but oozing with vitality that could give feelings of joy for whoever wears it.
The same bouts of energy was reflected within their presentation. Hosted in the Kimpton Fitzroy, the ballroom was filled with roses and flowers, while an orchestra played in the background. While it was still a very immersive, presentation format, elements of the traditional show formats came through. “We’ve looked at the old couture runways of Christian Lacroix, and instead of actually having a big catwalk, we have this huge square so that models can strut up and down, but they can also stand around so there will be different backdrops,” Orlagh explains. “We’ve got a dog on the runway as well.” Henrietta chimes. Pre-show, the excitement beaming off the pair is contagious, and the thought of viewing a collection without the politics and drama of show seating is refreshing. “We just want people to come and actually mix around and chat to people and you can’t really create that when everyone is sitting down in a runway setting,” shares Henrietta. “I feel as if people can come and really get to see the collection in a way that shows the movement and the models wearing them.”
The ‘see now, buy now’ collection is now available to purchase, from London stockists, Browns as well as from RIXO online store and shop. The brand’s Instagram and digital presence has helped show the designers, that this is what customers want. “We were hearing loads of frustration on social media that they wanted it straight away and we like to think that the collections are very on season,” Orlagh expresses. “We just felt that with fashion week now there’s such a part of it that’s the digital side, and the want to buy something straight away is there. One of the things that as a brand we have been quite interested in is trying to get the normal consumer involved in fashion week and being part of the brand, rather than it just being the press and influencers.”
Inclusivity is paramount to Orlagh and Henrietta. “We always say that a RIXO woman can be anyone who just loves to embrace prints, fun, colour and really be able to wear her clothes,” shares the latter. Fun in visuals, ideology and execution - with that mindset, we’ll happily be a part of the RIXO world.
Shop RIXO London below:
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