Delayne Dixon photographs her designs on model Hailey McCarthy for British Vogue (Image Credit: Cassidy Watt)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

KAMLOOPS DESIGNER

All-Kamloops design team featured in British Vogue

Jan 24, 2020 | 4:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — Members of a Kamloops-based design team are keeping a watchful eye on magazine stands this month, with their latest work published in British Vogue.

The photos are part of a feature that British Vogue approached Kamloops-based designer Delayne Dixon for. Inside the February, March and April editions of British Vogue, a section of the magazines will include a write up about Dixon, and a photo of her designs.

Shot out of the Black Box Container Home in Kamloops, Dixon teamed up with locally-based makeup artist Cassidy Watt, hairstylist Lora Minaker, and models Hailey McCarthy and Rebecca Glover.

Hailey McCarthy models one of Delayne Dixon’s pieces featured in British Vogue (Image Credit: Delayne Dixon)

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With the feature being a bit of a surprise, Dixon says she had to work quickly to make sure the project was finished in time.

“What happened was they (British Vogue) emailed me and the deadline for the imagery was like two days later,” she explains, “So I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, how do I get this together so quickly?’ Thankfully everyone involved was able to just drop what they were doing for this, because it’s a big opportunity for them, too. So I just wanted to make sure that people from Kamloops are recognized as well.”

Working out of Kamloops and Vancouver, Dixon started her business in 2012. Many of Dixon’s unique clothing designs feature bold fabrics, with metallic, edgier tones.

“I tend to design with the punk rock scene in mind. So I’m a luxe designer, higher-end fashion, but I kind of like to make it a little bit more edgy for people,” the designer explains. “That’s what I try to execute with our shoots as well, so people can see that we are a luxe brand, but also that we’re trying to put a little rock-and-roll into it.”

Dixon is currently in New York for this year’s Fashion Week, preparing her work to be shown. She says to this day, she still makes the pieces herself, though the hands-on designer does plan to eventually hire a manufacturer.

Dixon working in New York ahead of Fashion Week (Image Credit: Delayne Dixon)

“It doesn’t feel like work for me honestly,” she admits. “In some ways I feel like I haven’t earned where I am, which is ridiculous because I know that I have earned it. But if you’re going to pursue something in this magnitude I feel like you have to be kind of passionate about it.”

The photo shoot will be part of a three-month publication campaign in the U.K, and for makeup artist Cassidy Watt, Vogue is a giant leap from her childhood days practicing make up in her bedroom.

“Whenever I would say even when I was younger that I was a make up artist, or that’s what I wanted to do, people would say, ‘Okay, but when are you going to go to university, or when are you going to get a real job?’ And so now I feel like being in such a big publication and having that on my resume, I would have never, ever in a million years thought (it would happen). Like, we live in Kamloops, that doesn’t happen here.”

On top of the shoot being for a fashion magazine, Watt says the bold look she created was a different style than her company’s usual work with weddings and events in the Okanagan and Interior.

Cassidy Watt works on a client for another styled shoot. (Image courtesy of Cassidy Watt Artistry Collective)

“I actually got to be there for the shoot, which was really cool,” she says. “They were there for maybe three hours, and Delayne actually took the photos herself. So she designed the clothes and took the photos — which was kind of cool that she got to be involved in her creative direction that way.”

The team had to be quiet about their involvement until the issue was put together, and now that they’re no longer sworn to secrecy, Watt says they can celebrate what was published.

“Sometimes I think about the fact that I’ve never been to London, or the UK at all. And people are going there and buying that magazine and seeing her work in there, my make-up in there, the model’s face in there,” she explains. “So I’m confident that it will open a lot of doors in terms of bigger, exciting projects.”

Similar to the dreams of most designers, Dixon says the best feeling is getting to see her vision come alive when people wear the clothes she made.

“There’s been a couple of times where I’ll see a stranger on the street and be like, ‘Hey you’re wearing my design,’ and that kind of thing. So something like that is really surreal and it’s just crazy to me that people are recognizing our brand now, so I’m really, really thankful.”

While Dixon’s work is getting prepped for the runway in New York, she hints that there are plans in the works for future shoots with international publications.

Beck Glover models a look designed by Delayne Dixon (Image Credit: Delayne Dixon)