Interview with SEAN MCCALLUM and JAXON STICKLER 

Many students experience a form of chaos in their final year of university. For those enrolled in the esteemed fashion course at RMIT University, one of the greatest challenges faced is the preparation and subsequent presentation of their graduate collections. Here, they are confronted with the daunting task of sharing their work, which, for many months, has been arduously injected with craftsmanship and love. to Be editor Hugh Barton sat down with two RMIT alumni, Sean McCallum and Jaxon Stickler, who graduated from the Bachelor of Fashion (Design) in 2022. Speaking to their unique processes and techniques, both designers share their insightful perspectives on the challenges and triumphs of artistic practice and their future prospects in the industry beyond university. 

HUGH BARTON Let’s start with your graduate collection. Did you choose a title? If so, what did it represent?

SEAN MCCALLUM My graduate collection was called Entropy Intimacy. In a way, the title responds to Wim Wenders’ documentary Notebook on Cities and Clothes, specifically his observations on the way clothing naturally evolves, disassembles and degrades over time. The way clothing ages is quite personal; it’s quite fascinating to see how a garment can respond to its owner and how the owner can respond to the garment.

JAXON STICKLER My graduate collection was called Dark Ecology, named after the Timothy Morton book of the same name. That was the seed, or starting point, for the collection. In Morton’s book he describes a new way of considering the relationship between humans and the natural world. It embraces the darkness of our current situation, acknowledges our profound interconnectedness with the environment, the inevitability of ecological collapse and, to borrow from Sean, the “strange intimacy” of the non-human world. 

HB How did you choose the techniques, fabrics and textures for your collection?

SM I used spiral steel boning, which is used in traditional corsetry. Usually, it is used to silhouette the body, but I used it to extract elements of the human form. I created a big funnel from the boning, which I oxidised to develop rust. I then used that rust to stain the garment. The fabric used was a beautiful silk jacquard organza—a very luxurious fabric. By combining the rust with the organza, I tried to imbue the collection with a sense of sentimentality to seem as though it was ageing or falling apart. I’m quite interested in combining archaic construction techniques with traditional fabrics. It’s less about imitating the techniques than it is trying to grasp them from a new perspective. Nothing is sacred. 

JS I used a lot of upcycled rickety puffer jackets that I found in a lost and found box at university. I initially draped the jackets on the mannequin and let rocky forms emerge around the body. I also incorporated a second-hand mossy-looking coat, upcyled mohair blankets and old climbing ropes. Aside from the upcycled fabrics, I used a fifty percent organic, fifty percent upcycled cotton-blend jersey with some deadstock nylon that underwent a lot of object dying, laser cutting and machine quilting. 

HB What is your design process? Do you start with sketches or do you first experiment with materials? 

SM I don’t start with a sketch. I also don’t start with material. I usually start with an abstract idea. It’s also important to try to always look back to the past to inform present practice. I personally believe that time operates in a nonlinear way; time isn’t rigid, it’s flexible and shifts according to people’s needs and what’s happening in their world.

JS I start with research. As well as reading Dark Ecology, I also collected organic forms on little expeditions I would go on back home in Tasmania. I usually head up the central plateau and document the surrounding environment with field recordings, images and videos. For the morphed jacket in the collection, I was specifically inspired by an article I read of someone hiking a mountain and hallucinating that they were a rock and that their whole human form would dissipate and turn to glass. Even though hallucinatory, I was inspired by their feeling of release and the way they almost surrendered to the landscape. After the research phase, it’s a constant swirling storm of different processes: gathering materials, sketching, three-dimensional prototyping, draping, pattern making and AI modelling. It’s complex, and messy, and sometimes overwhelming.

HB What fascinates you both about the process of upcycling? In particular, Sean with your repurposing of Denim?

SM Until two or three years ago, I never wore denim. I always thought it was this rigid archetype that was bound up in all of these associations. But then, my perspective started to shift when I noticed that denim has this incredible way of telling stories and reflecting experiences across decades, acting like a direct map of time and cultural significance. It’s one of the most receptive materials—it has an amazing ability to reflect its environment. In this collection, I wanted to find a way of combining two pairs of second-hand jeans to create a whole new narrative.

JS Certain upcycled garments can’t be upscaled or commercialised, so big brands can hardly use the method or copy it. Although it’s intrinsic to the discipline of fashion, it’s also an art practice. It can really cross over into reality. 

HB Are there any particular designers or fashion houses that have inspired your work, or that you look up to as role models? 

JS I’ve always been interested in Craig Green and his eponymous label, as well as the Japanese masters Rei Kawakubo, of Comme des Garçons, and Yohji Yamamoto. I do like to focus on my own process rather than always referencing other designers.

SM I was also really drawn to the work of Rei Kawakubo. Once I discovered all the layers (or lines) of Comme des Garçons, I learned that fashion can not only be about utility or function. It should explore so many different ideas and span multiple disciplines including art, music, culture, activism and philosophy. Kawakubo is a true modernist. I always consider the connotations and semiotics of her work. Another big influence, is Martin Margiela. Every collection of his was an exercise in deconstructing what a garment is; I was super inspired by that. The funny thing about my graduate collection is that I wasn’t really inspired by other designers. I actually looked at the works of American artist Richard Serra. He was one of the first artists to create immersive sculpture that people could move in and around. 

HB Many graduates have a hard time deciding whether to work for someone else or start their own label. What would you prefer to do? 

JS Ideally both. I am definitely going to start my own project, but I would also love to continue learning from others, especially outside of the industry. I’m not convinced I want to go work at a big fashion house. The whole idea of creating masses of clothes every season, or two or four new collections a year, just seems like so much work. Sometimes I wonder if the people working for those brands ever have time to stop and think about what’s actually happening in the world… I’d like to do some design work for companies that don’t have the time to consider how interconnected the world is. I think they need some younger people who have a different perspective of what’s going on out there. 

SM For me, it’s important to work for someone else. I want my perceptions on fashion to be challenged. I want to learn what fashion’s applications are and how they can be sustained. I have a relatively good idea from my experience working as a model and stylist, as well as hearing from friends who design for fashion houses in Europe. But I think I need to experience the fashion industry firsthand, so I know how to change it. I need to really home in on what it is I would do differently. 

HB What are you most excited about this year? 

JS Making new objects; working with clay and metal; creating charms and weapons; resting. I’ve recently started working on my honours collection, which is going to be quite a slow process. I’m thinking of making smaller, more wearable, and affordable pieces. 

SM Yeah, I’m really excited to create my Honours collection. I feel like the past three years of this degree have been exploratory; my ideas and thoughts have constantly been challenged, and I’ve really taken the time to define who I am as a designer. I think I’ve finally started to work out the blueprint of my design language. I’m just going into this year with a focus on discovering what my story is. Every designer has a story, and they just have a different way of telling it with each collection. So, this year, it’s my turn. 

HB How was it documenting your collections with the photographer Edward Mulvihill? 

SM It was really cool. It was the first opportunity where I had an amazing collaborator with an incredible vision and practice. He was very constructive, which is quite hard to come by in fashion. It was quite a liberating experience. In terms of the concept behind that shoot, I was interested in positioning my work in a surreal context to create an almost alternate reality. I also wanted to focus on the interaction between people and the earth. So, we chose to shoot at a huge muddy lake, which felt super surreal.

JS It was great. Edward saw my collection from a different angle and unleashed a new perspective. I hadn’t given him any conceptual background. He envisioned the collection as dark and anthropocentric. It was very different from anything I had imagined. The surrounding rocks worked really well with the collection, which was inspired by the earth and the idea of slow growth. It was nice to let Edward execute his vision because, obviously, as an artist, you have specific ways of how you would want things. It was nice to let that go and let someone else shed a new light on the work. 

HB Did you and Sean ever influence or challenge each other? What do you think is different about your approaches?

JS Yeah, we pushed and challenged each other for sure! We became better friends and supported each other… lots of hugs through stressful times! It’s funny, Sean pulls creative energy from a very different place than I do, and we also work in very different ways. I feel like he’s way more interested in clothing and fashion and has a deep vault of knowledge about it that he draws on. You could say I have a more traditional approach, with a taste for good quality materials and techniques. He also tends to form an idea or concept and then work toward it. A lot of the time when creating, I’m not sure what the outcome will be. 

SM I think Jaxon and I think about things quite differently. Jaxon is obsessed with this idea of clothing as something ritualistic. He’s not usually inspired by the fashion industry, whereas a lot of my initial inspiration comes from previous experiences in fashion. Although we work differently, we both appreciate similar things. We both look to costume dress, sculpture and art as inspiration, as opposed to runway collections or fashion publications. 

HB And finally, do you have any advice for people interested in studying fashion?

JS I think it’s valuable to have an art practice so you can actually be intentional about what you’re making, rather than just making clothes for the sake of it. Your work should be responsive. 

SM My recommendation to students (current and future) would be to use fashion as a vessel to express what frustrates you and what you would want to change about the world. That’s what’s going to be most impactful, and that’s going to be the future way of creating. [EXEUNT]

@jaxonstickler
@seanserror

SEAN MCCALLUM shoot:
photographer EDWARD MULVIHILL
talent YIXIN ZHAO (People Agency, IMG) HARPER BERMAN (People Agency)
hair and makeup ROSE LETHO
photo assistant BENJAMIN DOWD 

JAXON STICKLER shoot:
photographer EDWARD MULVIHILL
talent MARVIN YE (People Agency)
photo assistant HARRY BURMEISTER