Schoolboy takes fashion world by storm

While most children his age are thinking about playground games and homework, 10-year-old Max Alexander is preparing fashion collections for international runways and attending film festival premieres.

Alexander, recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's youngest fashion runway designer, has emerged as one of the industry's most unusual young talents. After creating garments for Denver Fashion Week at the age of seven, he presented a 15-look women's collection at Paris Fashion Week in March, showcasing his designs at the historic Palais Garnier.

This weekend, the young designer will attend the premiere of a documentary about his life at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, adding another milestone to a career that began remarkably early.

Alexander said he first told his parents he wanted to be a dressmaker when he was four years old. Although he cannot identify exactly what sparked his interest in fashion, he said the field offers endless opportunities for creativity.

"You can use any fabric, any material," Alexander said during an interview at his studio in the family home in Los Angeles. "You can make a dress out of pickles. You can make a dress out of spoons. You can make a dress out of hangers. It's crazy."

Sustainability is a key part of his approach to design. Alexander often looks for unconventional materials and sources inspiration from everyday surroundings. One of his creations was made from coffee bean sacks, inspired by his mother's love of coffee.

"After 10 years, you can put them in the ground and they biodegrade," he said. "It helps our planet too."

Alexander described his Paris Fashion Week experience as exciting rather than intimidating. Walking down the runway to applause, he said, was "very fun". "It wasn't scary for me," he said. "I thought all these people appreciate me and I should be happy."

His collections, which include dresses, pyjamas, T-shirts and hoodies for men, women and children, are sold through his online store. At the time of the interview, he was working on an outfit to wear while attending the Broadway musical 'Hamilton' in New York. Alexander sums up his creative process in what he calls "the dress cycle": "Think. Drape. Sew. Done. Voila!"

Despite his growing international profile, he still faces the everyday concerns of a child who has just completed fourth grade. Among them is the prospect of shorter recess breaks when he starts fifth grade. "It sounds harder," he said. "I think it's worse because we only have 10-minute recesses, but we used to have 25, which is kind of sad."