Georgia Hardinge’s Collection for River Island Will Make You Look Like a Sexy Alien

Picture borrowed from mammatuppy.com

Back in the 90s in the UK, River Island was a janky, budget alternative to teen retailers like Topshop and Miss Selfridge. The kind of place where you bought floral leggings, wore them once and the next day you noticed white elastic tendrils sprouting around your crotch. Not cool. While Topshop has stepped up its game over the past decade, continuing to broaden its reach from teens to 40-somethings—thanks in part to countless killer collaborations including Kate Moss, Mary Katrantzou, J.W. Anderson—it’s only in the past couple of years that River Island’s attempt to match Topshop’s fashion clout has panned out.

Last year they jumped on the capsule collection bandwagon with William Tempest and Julian J Smith, but the brand scored its biggest coup by securing Rihanna’s design debut this past March. Unsurprisingly RiRi’s collection was 100 percent 90s, featuring simple separates including full length skirts with thigh high slits, ab exposing crop tops and these unfortunate double waistband, drop crotch jeans.

Photos Nabbed from Georgia’s blog

We’re much more excited about London-based Georgia Hardinge’s RI collection. The 28-year-old designer’s graphic mirrored prints have embraced the curves of Beyoncé, Florence and the Machine, Catherine from London duo Alpines (third from left), and Jessie J. She’s quite the hit with the ladies of the music world: Lady Gaga, Kate Nash, Nicole Scherzinger, and Ellie Goulding have also been spotted in Georgia’s creations. As it’s unlikely we’ll ever have enough in the piggy bank to afford anything from her mainline, this 14-piece spin off is a pretty sweet alternative. Nothing is over $140 and each piece was inspired by H.R. Giger—the man responsible for the cold industrial sleekness of the extraterrestrial predators in the Alien movies.

Check out Georgia’s eerie yet ethereal fashion flick which “tells the story of a macabre alien life cycle” as directed by Alex Turvey. It’s like Black Swan meets Prometheus, but without Natalie Portman pulling feathers out of her back or an alien playing a flute (shame).

River Island Style Stage is an ongoing partnership between Noisey & Garnier Fructis celebrating music, hair, and style.