Meet Alicia Robinson, the designer behind Jorja Smith’s go-to knitwear brand AGR

Throughout lockdown, indulging in craftcore—hand-knitted sweatshirts, crochet tops and tie-dye everything—has become a mainstream way to pass the time. And Instagram feeds continue to flood with DIY face coverings and other homespun designs. Case in point: AGR—the knitwear brand founded by London-based designer Alicia Robinson in 2018, who launched masks via the social media platform in May. And they’ve since become an increasingly hot commodity.

The Chelsea College of Art textile design graduate’s interest in knitwear is in part inherited from her mother. Robinson’s vibrant reinterpretations of Fair Isle motifs and tie-dye mohair have quashed traditional notions of knitting and led her to work with Kanye West’s Yeezy brand, Nike and Samuel Ross of A-Cold-Wall. Her own AGR collections stocked on Ssense, meanwhile, have found well-known fans in Jorja Smith and Anderson Paak.

Here, the designer delivers some of her foolproof knitting tips, discusses her creative process and reveals how she’s drummed up inspiration during the pandemic.

You’ve previously mentioned you want to dispel knitwear’s dowdy stigma. With that in mind, what’s your design process like?

“My work is super colour based, so I pull on inspiration from absolutely everything, whether [it’s] a favourite photographer like Martin Parr or an artist like Bridget Riley. I’ll be walking through Dalston market [east London] and see loads of colours stacked up—I’m that person who’s always taking pictures of everything, everywhere I go, starting by taking scraps of ideas and collaging them together in my mind or on mood boards. My go-to techniques knitting-wise are single or double bed stripes and then also intarsia—one of my favourite techniques for years, it’s almost like painting or drawing but with knit. When it comes to tie-dyeing, I try to push boundaries.”

Have you felt inspired to create anything new during quarantine?

“I needed this time to slow down. Sometimes you don’t get to take a breath—especially in fashion. Trawling through social media can create a bit of a negative mindset when creating, because you may see something you wanted to try and feel as though you can’t now. You should just do whatever you want to do and then put it out there. With the Ssense collection, I did a lot of hand-dyeing and I like to use brushed mohair so they merge into each other. I enjoy adding techniques together or even using slightly more traditional techniques like embroidery, but making them more of this century.”

Your vibrant knitted masks have taken off. How did the idea come to you?

“Every single scrap that I have left over from wovens gets used, whether it’s in a mask or a custom piece for an artist. Once you start putting collections out in big stores, you’re doing a lot of work in the factory, so it’s less handmade which I was starting to miss. Originally I wanted to take them down to the hospital and [give] them to nurses, but due to governmental restrictions, I knew it wouldn’t be possible. So, I put out one post [on Instagram] and people went crazy for them. Every day people are still trying to get them from me, I’m getting messages from people who say [the masks] are bringing light to their lives during this time—it’s nice.”

You’ve worked with Nike, A-Cold-Wall and Yeezy in the past. What were those experiences like and what valuable advice did you take away?

“It was a crazy experience! [Advice] I would give to anybody else looking to do things like that is always stand your ground, know your worth and be realistic with timelines. Kanye’s style is completely different from mine, but you’re researching different things and it’s refreshing. With A-Cold-Wall, it was just before they seriously blew, so it was nice to be part of that moment.”

What advice would you give to keep knitting designs exciting?

“The main thing is that somebody needs to feel good in what they’re wearing. I design for somebody confident in themselves and who isn’t afraid to wear colour or be bold. I was looking at my Wavey Garms collection yesterday [her 2018 custom collection for the Peckham concept store] and I made that by hand on a machine. lt was quite a bold statement [for me] putting the Burberry check on the sleeve [but] I’m not afraid to do things like that. I spent a lot of years working in clubs and this played a big part in my love for garments, style and fashion—I made some of my best connections through partying.”

What’s next for AGR knitwear?

“I would be quite interested in working closely with a mill to be able to develop some new yarns because quite often, the sustainable yarns might not be as colourful as original cottons that are dyed, but the waste from dyeing can be quite harmful. I want to continue making clothing genderless and exploring techniques that aren’t traditionally associated with knitwear. Outspoken pieces are important to me, like my Brexit design jumper. Sometimes designers don’t necessarily want to have a political input in terms of their pieces, but I want there to be a personality and a voice behind my designs.”

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