"Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly!"

(photograph by tony bonacci)

Alexia dreamed of being many things as a child; she recalls an old school year photo album where she had to write what she wanted to be when she grew up – “I wanted to be the tooth fairy.”

She had a liking and a talent for drawing as a child, and by high school realized her future would have something to do with art.

In high school she helped her mom create the black faux-fur dress she would wear to prom – a prom dress of fake black fur was surely not going to be found in your typical store.
            Alexia Thiele developed a voice and style all her own – one that’s taken her quite far as a clothing designer. 

Thiele owns Autopilot Art, an Omaha clothing company where she creates one-of-a-kind pieces.  She does it all – stitched, dyed, zipped and buttoned jackets, silk-screened T-shirts and lacy, multi-fabric dresses.  She also crafts silk-screened onesies and jackets for babies and children.

Her textile designs began about eight years ago.

After helping create her high school prom dress and realizing for the first time that she could make what she couldn’t find, she started altering clothes for her petite 5-foot-1-inch figure around the age of 20 – by hand.

“I’ll find stuff I did then and I’m like, ‘Holy crap, I was really patient,’” Thiele said.  “I can’t believe I sat there and sewed all that.”

At 22, Thiele progressed from alterations to sewing throw pillows for her apartment; then the scratch construction of clothing began. 

Before fashion was the main focus, Thiele took part in group art shows featuring installations, collages and video pieces.  In August 2005, she switched over to just sewing and had her first actual fashion show, “Fabrication,” at the Bemis Underground with her friend, Omaha artist and designer Peter Frankhauser.

After “Fabrication,” Thiele never stopped making clothes.  People specifically wanted her jackets – so she made jackets.

Thiele had much more on her plate in 2005 than just her first fashion show.  Oct. 8 she married Jacob Thiele, a member of Omaha indie band The Faint.   She had also been studying at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and was supposed to be working on her thesis.  The newlyweds decided to take some time to travel to Europe, which put her thesis off until the spring of 2006.

Thiele graduated from UNO with a bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis in intermedia.  Her thesis was an installation project that featured Thiele and her twin sister Andrea.

“It was kind of like a video project mixed with these puzzles that are collage pieces of my twin sister and I, our faces together, and the room was complimentary colors,” Thiele said.   “The video projection was a video I did of our faces spliced together where it was confusing - where you didn’t know what was off about our faces.”

In December 2006, months after earning her degree, Thiele came to the conclusion that she could make a living doing what she loves by creating a company out of it - thus, the birth of Autopilot Art.

Her fashions are sold online through her Autopilot Art Web site, as well as some shops around town.  Bellwether Boutique in the Old Market and BBB Skateshop in the new Saddle Creek Records Complex both sell some of her clothes.

Thiele also uses her company name to design clothes for Omaha bands and musicians to wear – she mainly works with Tilly and the Wall, but has also created clothes for the Flamboyant Gods and for friends Orenda Fink and Stefanie Drootin.

But she won’t limit herself – Thiele takes up commissioned jobs when she’s asked.  She’s done everything from interior design to dance costumes.  Recently, she worked on the wardrobe for a new Lifetime movie, “Acceptance,” scheduled to premiere this summer.   The flick will star Joan Cusack and Mae Whitman, a big Autopilot Art fan.

Right now, Thiele is designing a curtain to be used as a bathroom door at Brothers Lounge at 38^th and Farnam Streets.  She is also preparing for her solo fashion show, "Departure," March 28 at Bancroft Street Market at 2702 S. 10^th St.  

Taking on so many projects is made easy, thanks to her in-home studio. She fancies the ability to work at any time, in any condition - waking up and deciding to work on a project while still in her pajamas is a common one. 

Although she tries hard to keep her studio tidy, there comes a time where her workspace inevitably gets muddled.

“During a show it’s crazy,” Thiele said.  “It can get really hellish in there.”

With Thiele’s solo show coming up, she’s spending most of her days in the studio.  But for her, hours spent working in her studio feel like minutes.

“It’s a big time warp room when I go in there – sometimes I measure how long I’ve been in there by how many times I’ve listened to the same record,” Thiele said.

Having three interns to help out also makes the time fly – they work on projects that Thiele sometimes finds “monotonous,” like detail stitching on collars or pockets.  With her interns taking care of those details, she has more time to create new pieces.

“I might take for granted that that part’s important still, and I might half-ass it, so it’s good to have somebody actually care to take the time to do that part of it,” Thiele said.

Thiele has immersed herself in her own designs and doesn’t care about what other designers are doing.  Inspired by music and driven by art, she has a unique outlook on her work – if she doesn’t know or care about what others are doing, she finds it much easier to make what she likes.

“I realized that when I painted when I had all this art history training, the more I knew about art the less I could paint – it got to be overwhelming,” Thiele said.  “I lost my voice in knowing too much.”

For Thiele, ignorance is bliss.  She just wants to focus on her voice and the art it makes – she’ll continue to look past the poor economy and big business competition to do what she loves. 

“You just fight your way through it,” Thiele said.  “I’ll get in more stores, do more things.”