Alex Noble may still be a fledgling British fashion designer, but he has already worked with some of the world’s greatest style icons, including Lady Gaga and Florence Welch. He made his show debut at London Fashion Week A/W ’11 and since then his star has been on the rise. Alex has now partnered with legendary performance company Cirque du Soleil to produce a couture gown for a celebrity to wear to the UK premiere of their latest production, Totem. Up until now, the identity of the fashionable celebrity has been on lockdown, but we can exclusively reveal that Paloma Faith will walk the red carpet in a couture creation designed by Alex.
We spoke to Alex about this exciting project, as well as his collaborative work with Nicolo Formichetti (the man behind Gaga’s style) and he revealed the inspiration for his next collection.
Alex has had a varied creative career to date; after studying fashion, he started work as a window dresser for Selfridges, where, he says he “learnt the art of costume.” He went on to be a working artist and created fashion on a commission basis. So how did a creative chap working in London’s East End get involved with an iconic Canadian circus arts company? ‘I’ve always been a big fan of Cirque du Soleil, and I started off creating costumes for the performers, which requires more technical skill than a normal costume. I’m so excited to be working with Cirque again on the Paloma dress.
’Totem’ is all about evolution, and has two very different aesthetics; there is the organic, natural side and the glitzy side too!”. The dress for Paloma is “not a costume, but is influenced by elements of the show. Paloma is a great lover of dressing up, and she is happy to push an idea to make something really incredible. We worked together, because she knows what she likes and what looks good on her. After the initial stages, I’ve got just over two weeks to complete the dress, ready for the premiere.”
