Cargo trousers, navel-grazing T-shirts and claw clasps: the Noughties revival has dominated fashion in recent years. But for the quieter, more modest dresser – whose preferred alternative to a Juicy Couture tracksuit is a ribbed Totême dress or Mary Jane flats from The Row – a new, trailblazing label has arrived. With clean lines, high-waisted tailoring and elevated basics, Sydney-based brand ESSE Studios (pronounced ‘es-ay’) is making waves for its easy, confident and ethical womenswear.
Designer Charlotte Hicks tried something new this season. Or, in fact, something old. She made use of the brand’s dead-stock fabrics and breathed new life into old garments. There were sheer, asymmetric blouses, sleek double-breasted coats, polished suiting and capacious leather bags – all at accessible, sweet-spot prices. ‘I love that there were skirts that are now tops,’ she explains. She plots out each collection with a time-less approach – rather than autumn/winter, this is Edition 8 (Charlotte founded the label in 2019). ‘The idea is that all the editions work together, so it’s not about new seasons. It’s about versatility, functionality and waste reduction.’
Long before terms such as sustainability and upcycling became industry buzzwords, Hicks wanted to make planet-friendly choices. ‘It’s one of the reasons I continued making clothing,’ she explains. After 15 years in the fashion industry, working in the design studio of Australian labels such as Zimmerman and Sass & Bide, she was experiencing signs of burnout and decided to reassess her career. ‘I loved so much about the fashion industry, but I realised there’s so much that’s broken as well. I needed to take a mental step back,’ she says on a Zoom call from her Sydney studio.
The break inspired her to found her own ready-to-wear line, which now has a loyal fanbase that includes the actor Phoebe Tonkin and influencer TyLynn Nguyen – as well as buyers at Ssense, Net-A-Porter and Moda Operandi. ‘I had to think about what I wanted ESSE Studios to say. I want to challenge systems in fashion when it comes to waste,’ she says.
ESSE’s elegant blouses, free-flowing dresses and oversized suits stand out for their simplicity, functionality, colour and ease. As Hicks concludes, ‘The ESSE woman may not be the loudest, but she’s the most intriguing.’
