(Story published first in Creative Victoria Fashion News, click here to subscribe for free)
Meet Melbourne’s most elegant young influencer who doesn’t think of herself as an influencer at all. “I really think it’s just a nice way of engaging with people who are curious about my lens on fashion,” says Alexia Petsinis, “But it’s not really a priority for me.”
Nevertheless the arts/culture/fashion journalist’s delightfully nuanced Instagram posts (she captions her quirky poses in chic vintage outfits with witty poetic punchlines) have intrigued more than 17-odd thousand admirers enough to lower their finger onto the “follow” button.
That counts her into fashion’s precious “micro influencer” category, meaning she has a modest but highly engaged fan base and the luxury of cherry-picking her way through the brand collaboration offers that often come her way while balancing writing gigs for publications such as Vogue Australia, Harpers Bazaar and Vault magazine.
“If my profile inspires someone to look up Italian fashion in the 1970s, that’s really great,” she smiles, “Hopefully I can influence some cultural exploration, some discoveries in (fashion) history and art…”
Which brings us neatly around to Alexia’s unique way of pegging out her diary with an inspirational pick of PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s runways, workshops and independent events. We asked for her six unmissable picks.
“I always look forward to the (Independent) programme,” she says, “There’s at least a couple of events to pique my interest, separate from the main runways.”
Alexia covered her first of eight Melbourne Fashion Festival’s as a Voxfrock Rookie journalist. She was midway through her bachelor studies in visual culture and art history at the University of Melbourne and that first-love focus hasn’t shifted.
“This year I’ll definitely go to the immersive exhibition at Mars gallery, “The Mood of Cheong Sam”, she says. “I’d love to meet the artist, Scotty So and chat about his reinterpretation of high fashion through this eastern traditional lens. I’ll probably also do my snapping and Instagram stories on the artworks, the space, the atmosphere of the launch event…”
The Mood of Cheongsam until Saturday March 12, 10 am. to 5 pm. Mars Gallery, 7 James Street, Windsor
Alexia’s next pick, also from the festival’s independent programme, is Thread Count, at the Collingwood Yards arts and fashion precinct. “Another immersive exhibition and a concept by Nina Fitzgerald, an aboriginal Torres Straight Islander maker and creator,” Alexia says, obviously a fan. “I love this focus on materiality and textiles especially when it’s presented in a way people can tune in to how garments are constructed and the cultural meanings that can be woven into them.”
ThreadCount (Free)
Installation curated by Nina Fitzgerald, until Saturday March 12, 8am to 3pm. Collingwood Yards, 35 Johnston St., Collingwood.
She’s picked Runway 5 out of the main programme for similar reasons; “It’s (styled) by First Nations curator Rhys Ripper so should feature really interesting people including Ngali which of worn, and whose designer, Deni Fransisco, I’ve written about in the past.”
Runway Number 5 (Tickets $68.40 to $131.20)
First Nations Runway for Kinaway, presented by Vogue Australia and Samsung Galaxy, Friday March 11, 7 pm. (sold out) and 8.30 pm. ACMI, Federation Square
Finally, Alexia says she’ll round out her diary with a seat at the Fashion Film Awards; “I’m tuned to the emotive side, how (a fashion film) makes me feel when I watch it..”
