Nixie Stardust

Story telling is one of the key aspects of our design process here at Nixie and we have been dying to relate the latest chapter...
It all started with Nicole's admiration for (read that as 'OBSESSION with') David Bowie and the shoulder detail on Rose's old '50's varsity jacket. 

David Bowie in a jumpsuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto, 1970s.

Shoulder detailing on Rose's old jacket.

Glam rock and '50's Americana don't at first glance fit together but once a large pinch of 'Nixie' was blended into the mix we were on a roll. 
Nixie as a brand is well known for it's use of vintage and heritage textiles and silks; many a 1940's and '50s silk scarf have been sacrificed for our past collections. This season we wanted to launch ourselves into the modernity with a space age concept.

Bowie's alter ego, 'Ziggy Stardust'.

We took Bowie’s alien harbinger of hope, Ziggy Stardust, as our muse and balanced a quirky, humorous aesthetic with the principles of high quality design and construction we are passionate about.
Nixie is committed to producing sustainable clothing so we chose to work with organic cotton and bamboo jerseys that drape beautifully, work with the body and are easy to wear and care for. We spent a lot of time choosing exactly the right mix of colours for the garments and even had to hand dye the grey fabric for our samples as we couldn't source exactly the right shade. We generated two glam slam colour ways; muted mink, baby pink and caterpillar green or space suit grey, nova pink and celestial turquoise. 


The eight piece collection is a space oddity of graphic form and colour. We are thrilled to be headed in a new direction with our brand. 

Ashes Trousers

Diamond Waistcoat

Lady Stardust Dress

Major Tom Dress (front & back)

Moonage Bomber

Rebel Skirt

Time Top

Ziggy Top

All pieces come in our two colour ways and will be available in ages 4 through to 12.

Latest News from Tribe Nixie

We have been busy bees here in Nixieland. We have a lovely intern, Jenny, a french darling who dwarfs pixie sized Nicole and Rose with her willowy limbs (she can dust the top shelf without standing on a chair). Jenny has been doing some sterling work blogging about her favourite children's books and assisting with PR...Jenny is in our boutique from Wednesday through to Sunday from 10.00 till 6.00 so if you are in the Chatsworth Road area of Hackney (E5), pop in and pay her a visit!

The Nixie Boutique is located at 92a Chatsworth Road, Hackney E5 0LS

If you are in Berlin you will find us popping up in the glorious retail concept [littlepopup]. The pop up store is the brain child of Dimitra Zavakou and brings fashion, art and events for children into new locations. As children play parents can relax and enjoy some exclusive retail therapy. They are currently touring Berlin and popping up at various venues, check their website and Facebook feed for updates. Click for links here and here.

Finally we can't wait to share our new spring summer 2013 collection with you all. We are launching it on Monday the 25th of June (feverish preparations are in full swing!). It's going to be pretty damn special and we are super excited about showing it off...here are a few teaser outtakes from our shoot.

We've got some other projects on the boil that we aren't quite ready to make public yet, so carry on watching this space...!

The magic of children books

Literature is everywhere in Nixie land.
We have selected some beautiful stories for your kids and we hope they will love them!

Fancy Nancy, an extravagant little girl, wants to
teach her family the art of fanciness.

The lonely boy Tom discovers that at
midnight, his ordinary flat goes back to a
magnificent garden of the Victorian times. 

The wonderful story of Charlie and the chocolate factory.
Adapted for the child from 5-years-old.

For the smaller ones.. 

The Mr Men and Little Miss classic books.

By Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs - The journey of and elephant and a baby.
The book is made of both pictures and text which seems perfect for the kids who are starting to read.

Cute little story of the journey of a geedy caterpillar.
This is an illustrated little book, perfect to read before bedtime. 

At Nixie's we try to keep imagination and dream as a driver for our designs. 

Nixie encourages children to read beautiful stories that will help them to discover new worlds.

A peek at production for Autumn Winter 12

Nicole and I popped out yesterday afternoon to pay a vist to our highly skilled, creative (and like the rest of Tribe Nixie, a bit camera shy) seamstress Sev at her studio in Stoke Newington...we were thrilled to see how beautifully things are shaping up with production for autumn winter 2012.

For the season we were inspired by the concept of contrasting a bohemian vibe with an urban setting. We love the contrast between the austerity of concrete and the elaborate luxury of nature. We set our shoot in an underpass down the road from us in Hackney marshes, an environment that perfectly expresses our concept for the season.

Sev working on one of our sailor blouses in her studio.

Nixie Clothing Sailor blouse AW12 collection

Sev's machine with her clever little device for keeping pins handy.

Threads, fabrics and putting in a seam on the sailor blouse.

Some of our pleated cardigans, 100% wool & embellished with hand dyed heritage crochet lace.

The ones with one pink sleeve are particularly awesome. We love some pieces so much it is a bit of a wrench to part with them!

We love the vintage oilskin that covers Sev's cutting board and the eclectic collection of rock n' roll and travel memorabilia she has decorated her studio with.

We came away with the accessories that have been finished & we can't wait to see the rest of the collection take shape...Many thanks to Sev for letting us share her workspace with you all.

Nixie Clothing's autumn Winter 2012 collection will be in store from late August at Harvey Nichols, selected boutiques world wide, of course from nixieclothing.com and at our boutique in Chatsworth Road,  Hackney E5.

Pin it to win it...

After almost one month of intense competition, it's time to announce the three big WINNERS of our Pinterest Diamond Jubilee contest ! We have had so much fun watching the boards grow and develop and have been inspired by the inventiveness and creativity of our entrants.

Banksy Queen from Arty and Bella's board

Congratulations to our three winners:

1. Belinda Matthews
2. Lucy Zelazowski
3. Nat Taylor 

Here is a selection of a few of Tribe Nixie's favourite pins...

Adam Ant from of Taylor's board

Ziggy Stardust from Lucy Zelazowski's board

A young Queen Elizabeth II

Nixie's Jubilee Dress,  Claire Toplis' board

From Lucy Zelazowski's board

Vivienne Westwood from Bridget Anderson's board

We absolutely loved seeing all your boards and have had so much fun with this competition that we will have to run it again (we're already dreaming up new themes...). 

Last of all we'd like to thank everyone who took the time to get involved and celebrate the Diamond Jubilee and 60 years of British fashion with us...X!

Organic Clothes

Organic, sustainable, eco-friendly, eco-fashion, ethical: I think we can all agree it’s easy to get lost among these myriad terms!

They are all related, and only few details make them distinct. Clothes are labeled organic when they are made without any chemical products or materials or if the raw materials are grown organically.

You can be assured that all Nixie’s garments will treat both the environment and your little ones skin with kindness; we use only organic cottons and heritage wools or silks in our garments.

Some colourful organic wool

Sustainability concerns conserving resources by re-using fabrics and clothes. The use of vintage fabrics is at the core of our design process; we match together the distinct patterns, colour ways and textures to create our unique garments.

All Nixie clothes offer you a range of green and eco-friendly clothes, with fabrics coming from reliable sources. We are not perfect but we endeavor to make responsible choices in all aspects of our business, we run a virtually paperless office and choose to stick with small and highly skilled producers here in Hackney.

Fashion cannot be luxurious if it is not sustainable, Nixie is proud to support that change!

Happy birthday Prince Rogers Nelson...

We are part of the purple underground here at Nixie and we would just like to take this opportunity to say a big thank-you to his Purpleness for all the multi-faceted inspiration he has gifted us with over the last 30 odd years...

For you/Prince Era - 1978 - '79

Dirty mind Era - 1980

Controversy Era - 1981

Purple Rain Era - 1984

Around The World In A Day Era - 1985

Under The Cherry Moon/Parade Era - 1986

Sign 'O' The Times Era with dancer Cat Glover - 1988

Cover of the (one of many unreleased projects) 'Camille' album - cut in mid to late 1986

Original advertisement for 'Controversy' - 1981 

Lovesexy Era - 1988

We could go on and on...but we'll stop right here, and let Miles Davis break down for us all just what is so special about the biggest little person ever...

Spring Summer 2013 Teaser

Catching your eyes..

We're very excited about our collection for SS13!

We have been working hard on our campaign and we can’t wait to show you our new designs! 

We give many thanks to Sonya Hurtado, our photographer, Sebastien Sharples, the 'Behind the scenes'  film creator and of course Michael Valentine West who produced a track especially for the collection.

We can’t tell you too much but we can tell you it’s going to be cool…