Luke Rainey: Die Vision hinter DAGGER

Mit seiner Debüt-Show „Play Hard“ setzt DAGGER ein klares Zeichen und zeigt zugleich eine persönliche Rückschau. Verwurzelt in den eigenen Erfahrungen im Norden Irlands erzählt die Kollektion von Entbehrung, vor allem aber von Hoffnung – und davon, wie Subkultur, insbesondere Skateboarding, zum Ausweg werden und Perspektiven schaffen kann.

BLONDE Interview

BLONDE: How did the idea for the show and the inspiration for the new collection come together?

Luke: DAGGER is all about story telling and I knew that I wanted the debute show to tell my personal story at the beginning. The show is title „Play hard“ and is inspired by my teenage years growing up in a very underprivelleged environment in the North of Ireland. We had nothing, but we had skate. Skate was seen as a way out. If you got good enough, you could escape for a better life. This message of optimism and hope, no matter where or what you come from is what the show and ultimately DAGGER is about.

BLONDE: What matters most to you during your creative process?

Luke: Im going to use a word that gets absolutely beat to death these days, but „authenticity“ matters the most. I think about real people, places, moments and design to those. Authenticity is not something that can be re created unless it is lived.

BLONDE: Are there any materials or details you return to again and again?

Luke: Of course we work a lot with Jersey and cotton but Denim is something that really excites me right now. We did our first pair of jeans the „Johnny jeans“ for AW25 that sold out in Japan in the the first week. I immediately imagened „DAGGER DENIM“ as something specialist. I flew out and met with some denim specialists who showed me through their achieves which went right back to the 50s. We started creating the show jeans together and debued the new sillohete named „Sid“

BLONDE: How did this collection start for you – was there a specific moment that sparked it?

Luke: Things had started to pick up with the brand and a selection of tier 1 stores started carrying us internationally which allowed me to quit my other job. I knew then that to take the brand to the next level, I needed to do something big to show DAGGER as what I know it can be. I started designing toward a show before there was any mention it was even on the cards. If you believe it you can achieve it I guess!

BLONDE: When do you know a look is finished?

Luke: That is literally the most difficult part of this. I don’t know if you ever really know its finished. I guess there is a natural feeling at some point, or a connecting story or character appears in my head which allows me to understand that look better and I move on.

BLONDE: What do you hope people take away from the show?

Luke: I mentioned it earlier but I really pray that it is hope. The world is fucked. We know this. But if the show inspires someone in any form of shit situation to take one step forward in a direction that is better for them, then I would be happy.