Remembering Richard Nicoll with Affection and Admiration


by Thea Basiliou October 24, 2016

 Hi Everyone,

Such sad news to hear that Richard Nicoll passed away last week.

Such very unexpected news as he was only 39.

Sadder because apart from his incredible talent he was a real sweet guy.

The best we can do is remember him with affection and remember him with admiration.

Be inspired by him and don't hold back. Set yourself some goals.

Remember all of the amazing work that he did and he did a lot in his time here.

 

Richard graduated from Central Saint Martins in London with an MA in Womenswear.

He worked for Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton before launching his own label.

Besides his own collections Richard Nicoll with women's and men's

lines plus Richard Nicoll Shirt he was the Creative Director for Cerruti, he

freelance designed for Marc Jacobs,  designed the Richard Nicoll for

Topshop capsule collections, designed Richard Nicoll for Fred Perry under their

Laurel boutique collections. He also designed Richard Nicoll for Sportsgirl in

 Australia and most recently was the Creative Director of English brand Jack Wills.

kylie minogue richard nicoll

Kylie Minogue in a Ricard Nicoll dress featuring a Linder Sterling print

florence welch richard nicoll

Florence Welch from Florence & The Machine wearing Richard Nicoll 
Pleated Cape Dress in Peach Silk and Leather

 

He wrote a blog for Vogue and dressed fans including Tracey Emin,  Bjork, Kylie

Minogue, Julianne Moore, Diane Kruger, Sienna Miller, Florence Welch and Kiera

Knightley. 

He returned to Australia recently to consult on other brands and apparently had

accepted a role as Creative Director of Adidas in Berlin which was to begin early next

year.

 

As Blonde Venus, we were the first Australian boutique to stock his collection

back in 2006 and then stocked his label including Resort, Pre-Collections and his

popular Richard Nicoll Shirt line until 2012. 

 

richard nicoll thea basiliou

This photo was taken on October the 5th 2007 inside Maria Luisa in Paris.

Richard had won the prestigious Association Nationale pour le Developement des Arts

de la Mode / ANDAM award and had an exhibition

of photographs of his work taken by Jason Evans

He actually won this award three times!

The invitation from that night...

richard nicoll andam

Here is a bit of a diary of the collections that we carried.

Many of you will recognise these and hopefully will still have them in your

wardrobes?!

When I left Brisbane, I had a massive clean-out but kept

many of Richard's pieces as I love them so much and still wear them.

The true test of buying good pieces. You always hold them in high esteem.

richard nicoll aw06

Autumn Winter 2006

I was lucky enough to see this show in person at London Fashion Week.

An exhilarating experience! I was blown away by the collection and it was 

the buy that I was most excited about for that season.

I met Richard and his business partner Jo Knight at LFW who took me through

the collection. I remember being concerned about the fabric weights and aesthetic

as it would deliver for our summer but I loved it too much.

We stocked a lot of the shirting which would become a strong basis of his

collections and also his career and I recall that his cotton smock tunics were 

particularly popular from this collection.

Corsetry and mannish trousers were another theme that strongly featured in 

Richard's collections.

 

richard nicoll spring summer 2007

Spring Summer 2007

So much fun!

This season Richard collaborated with London milliners Bernstock Spiers to make 

hats for this collection.

kylie minogue

They had famously made Kylie Minogue's 'open top' hat from 

her 1988 album cover and the aesthetic perfectly suited this 1980's inspired collection.

Again the corsetry, shirting and trousers featured strongly.

 

richard nicoll spring summer 2008

Spring Summer 2008

Va Va Voom! Richard's finishing had already been magnificent but he

pushed his work to another level with this collection. The same ideas

were there but the girl had grown up in to a lady. A hot lady! The beautiful

pleated organzas, the incredible seaming details and layering of sheers

to create lines and shadows. 

richard nicoll autumn winter 2008

Autumn Winter 2008

Richard described this collection as 'restrained romance' and 'eccentric

professionalism' again, using his shirting as a base and building into

sophisticated evening wear. He continued the idea of sheer layering, kind of

hide and seek with such a sophisticated outcome.

This was the first season that featured his incredibly popular Stella Dress (seen here

second last) which was a flowing shape based on a square. 

 

richard nicoll spring summer 2009

Spring Summer 2009

I remember seeing this collection for the first time - moving through the images

feverishly, so excited and eager to see the next. That is what it's about right?

He borrowed colours and lines from the 50's and the 80's and made it right

for the time.

Richard had not used a lot of bold colour previous to this so it was quite a 

surprise but so well executed. I remember that he was one of the first designers

to do a modern take on crepe de chine, a fabric that probably had not been popular

since the 70's and early 80's. He dyed it, draped it, panelled it and we loved it.

I not only loved the colour and the silhouettes of this collection but the

gorgeous pearl accessories which were done in collaboration with Erickson Beamon

and the unique modernist head pieces. 

 

richard nicoll spring summer resort 2009

Spring Summer 2009 Resort

A reprise of looks from his lauded Spring Summer collection and perfect

shapes and colours for the party season.

 

richard nicoll aw09 prefall

Autumn Winter 09 Pre Fall

All in luxurious 100% Italian Cotton these pieces came in White, Black

and a White / Black Pinstripe. It's hard to see the details from these photos

but each style had bodyline panels pin stitched over the front panels. 

I have the white cotton Stella dress in the centre and have worn it every

summer since then!

 

richard nicoll autumn winter 2009

Autumn Winter 2009

This was the first season that Richard teamed up with British artist Linder Sterling

They became great friends and her work then featured in many of his collections.

The collection comprised filmy silks, cashmere wool suiting, patent leather and

 transparent plastic transformed with incredible tailoring, boning and corsetry.

Add to this Linder Sterling’s incredible collages printed on to silk the collection

transpires mostly into what I would call couture rather than ready to wear. It was

impeccable.

 

Linder, a radical feminist, visual artist and performance artist is most well known for the

cover that she designed for Orgasm Addict by The Buzzcocks in 1977.

orgasm addict buzzcocks

 

A well known figure in the Manchester Punk and Post Punk scene she is also

famously known for her performance art piece in 1982 when she wore a

‘meat dress’ way, way before Lady Gaga.

Her most continuous work has been her collages where she mixes images of

pornography with women’s fashion images from magazines.

richard nicoll stella dress

The Stella Dress in crepe de chine featuring prints by Linder Sterling

 

eyris print linder sterling richard nicoll

The Eyris Print by Linder Sterling for Richard Nicoll

 

 

 

richard nicoll spring summer 2010

Spring Summer 2010

Richard was inspired by a book of late 19th century Tahitian photography for this

collection which formed the ideas for the prints and also the mood.

It had all the elements of chic city dressing but with the playfulness of

a summer escape, hence the fringing and scarves, the softer silks and linens and the

gorgeous accessories featuring raffia and jewels.

 

richard nicoll autumn winter 2010

Autumn Winter 2010

Again, such a sophisticated colour palette. This collection played on the traditions

of office wear for the working woman with transformed suiting and he even finished

off looks with 'dog clip broaches' covered in Swarovski crystals. 

His clever use of layering featured again strongly, using knits and solids under

and over each other, taking evening wear signatures and dressing them down

with a sporty attitude. 

 

richard nicoll spring summer 2011

Spring Summer 2011

Richard presented this collection on the old Eurostar platform at Waterloo Station

and it's soundtrack was David Bowie's Station to Station album. Brilliant.

The album provided him inspiration as well as  the 1970's when Glam Rock ended and

Punk Rock began. 

He found his muse in an image of Tina Chow from that era in a fortuny gown

which led his way back to the stunning pleating. There is a gritty 1970's feeling

underlying the 1940's glamour. The sexy bralettes and erotic details muted with sheer

layers. The zipped bomber jackets over silks. The leather and patent leather trims.

It's hard with soft and again a sumptuous colour palette.

 

 

 

richard nicoll autumn winter 2011

Autumn Winter 2011

This season, I chose a group of dresses from the collection that

I felt would translate well from a northern hemisphere winter to

an Australian summer. They took the form of this dramatic

shape based on his Stella dress with tails in drapey silk,

in colours of black, navy, grey and taupe.

 

 

richard nicoll spring summer 2012 resort

Spring Summer 2012 Resort

The last collection that we had in store was this very memorable Resort

Collection, again featuring the collage based prints of Linder Sterling.

We also stocked these images in casual tees, tanks and tank dresses.

 

 

give us a tickle richard nicoll

Agyness Deyn modelling the House of Holland Richard Nicoll

rhyming slang tribute t-shirt in 2007.

richard nicoll by jason evans

This photo of Richard by Jason Evans

A gorgeous, creative man who moved mountains in his time.

Thea X

 

 

 

 

 

 




Thea Basiliou
Thea Basiliou

Author