Alpha60 Fashion | Australian Fashion Review Blog

Alpha60 Fashion – A Label from Melbourne

First published on the Last Modified on the

A boutique designer Melbourne based label by Alex & Georgie Cleary

View recent Alpha60 Collections on Australian Fashion Review Blog.

Introduction to the Alpha60 Fashion Label

Brother and sister duo, Alex and Georgie Cleary we destined to enter the world of fashion from a very young age – at the ages of 9 and 11 the pair were selling flowers cut from their farm at a local market. The junior business partnership evolved into selling roses, camellias, T-shirts, jewellery, tote bags and even Christmas cards.

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Their sibling’s fashion label ‘Alpha60′ pretty much started as a hobby, making just a single t-shirt for brother Alex to wear. Someone expressed an interest in the t-shirt, so they made five more and sold them on to friends, which garnered more interest in the duo’s designs, so they made more and more t-shirts to meet the demand – they were on their way.

Despite having no background or formal training in fashion – Georgie studied graphic design and Alex started out as an aircraft engineer – the Alpha60 fashion label was launched officially in 2005 alongside a Vivienne Westwood retrospective at Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia.

Alpha60 soon flourished as a fashion label after that, specialising in both menswear and womenswear, the brand were finalists for the Tiffany and Co Designer Award in both 2006 and 2007. Further achievements include solo shows at Rendezvous Paris and L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival; collaborations with Sportsgirl, ASOS and Polaroid; and being selected as the resident uniform designers at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant.

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As of early 2012, the Alpha60 fashion label has six ‘Welcome to Alphaville’ stand-alone boutiques, four of them being in Melbourne and two in Sydney. The list of distributors continues to increase across Australia, Japan, the UK and Europe, and has recently been included amongst the exclusive group of designers at Liberty of London. Alpha60 is definitely an Australian label to watch for the future.

Alpha60 Fashion Label: Key Dates

2005: The Alpha60 fashion label is launched by siblings, Georgie and Alex Cleary alongside a Vivienne Westwood retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia.
2006: The Alpha60 label were finalists for the Tiffany and Co. Designer Award, an achievement they repeated in 2007.
2010: The Alpha60 brand collaborates with The Australian Ballet on a limited edition T-shirt for The Australian Ballet Shop. Alex Cleary’s relationship with The Australian Ballet stated many years before, in 2003, when he worked for the company’s merchandise department in the early days on Alpha60. Also this year, Alpha60 collaborate with Sportsgirl to create a nine piece capsule collection inspired by The Marchesa Luisa Casati – a notorious early 20^th Century celeb renowned for her decadence and scandalous lifestyle. The line features velour dresses, graphic prints and statement jackets.

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Alpha60 and Sportsgirl Collaboration.

Aesthetic of the Alpha60 Brand

The Alpha60 brand has become well known for its fresh, contemporary and graphic take on classic styles and cuts, reflecting a ‘sophisticated quirk’ unique to the brand. When creating each collection, the siblings send a salute to popular culture, which serves as a constant source of inspiration – influence comes from iconic films, such as Buffalo 66, The Ice Storm, La Haine, Twin Peaks and most notably Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 cult classic Alphaville. The unique aesthetic of Alpha60, has won the brand many a celebrity fan, including the Kings of Leon, Patty Smith, LCD Sound System, Arcade Fire, the Klaxons and Kate Moss.

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