Kamloops designer ready to showcase ‘edgy women’s wear’ at New York Fashion Week

Canadian fashion designer Delayne Dixon is planning to impress runway audiences with her “edgy,” sustainable collection when she returns to New York Fashion Week for the first time since the pandemic began.

Dixon, from Kamloops, B.C., is set to bring eight local models to New York for the Sept. 9-14 event, which is one of the world’s big four fashion weeks.

Over the past decade, Dixon, 30, has been designing clothes for online clients around the world and has showcased her works at fashion shows in Amsterdam, New York and Paris. 

Her career highlights include having Emmy-nominated Hollywood TV host Rasha Goel wearing one of her dresses on the Oscars red carpet in March.

“There was a picture online that … she’s interviewing and then Kevin Costner and his [wife] were right behind her,” Dixon said on CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops. “I’m a big fan of [his TV drama series] Yellowstone.”

‘Spicier stuff’

Originally from Alberta, Dixon says she began studying marketing at university in Vancouver but later switched to fashion design, simply because she’s loved it since high school.

“I didn’t really know how to sew as a kid,” she said. “But I’ve always been interested in fashion, especially toward the end of my high school years — I was really into styling and everything.”

Dixon says she likes to create “edgy women’s wear.”

“I definitely like spicier stuff,” she said. “I use a lot of black and red and faux leather [and] faux fur — it’s definitely cutting-edge stuff.”

She says she’s inclusive in her designs, making every piece up to size 6XL, and she uses sustainable fabrics wherever possible.

Kamloops model Emily Phillips, who will appear at New York Fashion Week, says she contacted Dixon two years ago to collaborate because she loved her “super amazing” sustainable designs.

“We live in a world of … fashion being thrown away all the time with ‘fast-fashion’ companies,” Phillips said.

“[Dixon] uses as much sustainable product as she can, and she sources it from people who are supporting good labour laws.”

This will be Phillips’ first appearance at New York Fashion Week and she says she’s been practising a lot for the Big Apple catwalk.

Dixon says she is super excited about what she describes as an enjoyable “monster event.” 

“I really enjoy the ambience of all the people,” she said.

“The backstage is so exciting. It’s hectic … I’ve been working on this collection for about six months and it just all comes down to this one 15-minute runway show.”