Is it possible to grow up and stay a kid at the very same time? That was Peter Pan’s dilemma, right? It might have been River Phoenix’s too, but I guess we’ll never know for sure. (If that feels random, just wait.) It’s likely one of SPACE designer Ashley Williams‘ central concerns as well, but after viewing the spring collection on the kickoff day of London Fashion Week, it actually looks as though she’s managed to beat the system.
All images by Portia Hunt
With Alexa Chung and other brilliant Brit It girls in the front row—wearing current-season Ashley Williams graphic tees—the designer presented a collection heavily stamped with the words, “First Born” on a runway strewn with what would seem to be the baby of the family’s bedroom clubhouse mess. There were work suits for girls who like mom jeans, there were long-sleeve T-shirt dresses for skatepark club nights, there were exaggerated puffy sleeves, matchy two-piece slogan sets and cropped bombers and letterman’s jackets.
And they all quietly insisted that we take them seriously. Because it seemed the pieces didn’t belong to the preteen bedroom but instead to be rising from its implied ashes, everyone emphatically complied. It’s typically a boring cliché to call someone’s work their “best yet,” but we’re finding ourselves wanting to do that here.
Backstage after the show, Ashley told us that she’d really been feeling for the ultimate heartthrob River Phoenix lately—and more specifically for the crux he seemed to personify; the sensitive, emotional, loving human who fights for animal and environmental rights but isn’t always able to stand up for his or her own best interests.
She talked about coming-of-age stories and how so many of us, at that time in our lives, have an ultra-cool exterior that doesn’t totally match what’s inside.
In lieu of more straightforward show notes, on each seat was a set of quotes from the deceased actor, and some thoughts on his iconography.
“I just always loved the names Helen or Ashley, I don’t know, they seem familiar to me, like I need to be with them …”
and
“I would never, never do anything unless I believed in it.”
It’s a goof, it’s from the heart. It’s something no one else can understand, it’s something every one of us feels. It’s grown-up, it’s juvenile. It’s Ashley Williams.
But still, I needed a question answered: Who is the First Born? A quick Google search says River was the first in his family, but is that the intent?
No, Ashley said laughing, and she isn’t a First Born in her family either. It was just a set of words that felt right, a phrase she wanted to play with.
“It’s like how I use so many different kinds of girls on the runway; there is never one way or one thing,” she said, explaining how all collections are a conglomeration of disparate parts, and how the bigger themes of the collection didn’t necessarily have a strong connection to what seems to be its tagline.
“On its own it doesn’t really mean anything, but…” she said of the phrase before trailing off.
“Add it to a bag of Cheetos and it makes sense,” I suggested, referring to one scene on the runway (see below).
We laughed—I wasn’t being serious, but then again I was. Before joining her girl gang for a hug and some pictures, she agreed that that was more or less the case. There’s weight and gravity to words and ideas, and there’s the simple sound and visual appeal of them.
Kids—especially the younger ones—usually know that. We tend to forget it as we grow up.
Ashley (in the middle, in glasses) and her friends (from left to right) Adwoa Aboah,
Mary Charteris, Alexa Chung, Clara Paget and Pixie Geldof
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