Spotlight on AZ
Aisy is a Nashville native who has curated her love for fashion into a successful business. The fashion world is incredibly prominent right now with social media allowing for constant influence. Aisy has made a name for herself within this changing world and has been able to do so in a sustainable, inventive way. With an eclectic mix of patterns and colors, Aisy has been able to be a part of magazine shoot productions and have her work published within Strike Magazine Chattanooga.
With a background in graphic design, she believes “it’s important to incorporate analog processes into the digital as a reminder of where design started.” Merging a technical background with her creative side, she is able to bring to the table the analytical and innovative side of fashion. She works with a range of mediums including “sewing, painting, and designing digitally.” By using many different mediums and having the ability to create without a stylistic barrier, she can curate authentic work every time.
Aisy’s creative process is full of influences from anywhere and everywhere. She loves “love to listen to music in all aspects of creating”. The dissection of art and music is just as important to her as well. During her work, she will listen to podcasts such as “Dissect, a musical analysis podcast on specific albums” in addition to “Business of Hype (where they) interview many small, upcoming designers about how they have made it where they are today in the fashion world, and the different inspirations they pull from”. To any artist, the process of creation is just as important as the end result.
For her shoot with Strike Magazine Chattanooga Issue 02, she “incorporated a lot of analog processes into the layouts of spreads. Examples of this include the stampage in the staff list page and credits page, as well as leaves and flowers hand-picked and scanned in the Green spreads”.
The meticulous style and conscious choices made by Aisy are obvious. When starting her upcycling business, “I saw the acid wash trend on my social media and wanted to try it out for myself. I immediately fell in love with the process and all of the different designs you could make using bleach.”
Upcycling is intrinsic to Aisy’s work. Trend cycles have become increasingly shorter within the past years. This means clothes become trendy quickly and soon after lose their glamor and go out of style. Upcycling is a sustainable way to bring life back into a clothing piece. Aisy says, “sustainable fashion is conscious fashion.” She understands the artistic craft that every piece has: even old jeans that don’t fit you anymore. For Strike Issue 02, the jean shirt in one of the shoots was made from an old pair of jeans Aisy had owned. She said, “they were so worn in that I couldn't wear them as jeans anymore, so I recycled the fabric into the top.”
Image Courtesy: Strike Magazine Chattanooga
Because “trendy fashion is rarely sustainable,” Aisy tries “to not make purchases with the intent of following or keeping up with the latest trends.” She instead finds her influences from creators small and large. Whether it be small designers from Instagram such as @youngchickenpox @george.troch @lildenimjean and @greater.goods, or leading names in the fashion industry like Oliver Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, she looks for ways she can implement their art into her work.
Upcycling can be as simple as wearing a piece of clothing in a new way or even bleaching or sewing the piece. After saving up money, Aisy was able to buy a sewing machine. She says, “in the beginning, I felt like Dr. Frankenstein morphing so many different pieces together.” Recently, Aisy has explored curating pieces from scratch pieces into a completely new work of art. To add onto her previous knowledge of pattern work, this spring she will be taking pattern-making classes in Florence, Italy.
The world of fashion is changing. Upcycling has started to become the future of fashion. By defying social standards and ignoring trends, you can wear and establish your own sense of style: one that has no limits. Aisy has proven the power that every piece of fabric has, taking a piece from something you loved into another with a whole new life.
Strike Out,
Writer: AK Anderson
Model: Via Sinclaire
Photographer: Bria Vanwagoner
Graphic: CJ Barney
Featured: Aisy Nix
Instagram: @az.wrks
Chattanooga