Corridor40

For nearly three years, I’ve been waiting for this day: the debut of Wrath Arcane’s women’s line, Proof. Recently, I was able to talk with Proof’s head designer, Dana Hardy, about the development and direction of the line, which is launching with a FW10 collection.

Below my interview is a video of Sean Bilovecky and Dana Hardy speaking about Wrath Arcane at TEDxCLE last month.

C40. Where has this been all my life? How did Proof develop?

DH. Sean [Bilovecky] and I have been talking about a women’s line since I joined the team over three years ago; we felt that it was definitely a goal, but that it needed to be an organic procession. However, I’ve always had the women’s line in the back of my mind, trying to imagine a feminine reincarnation that would complement where the line is going. We are constantly told that female customers regularly purchase Wrath [Arcane] pieces, so—as a result—have offered the line in x-small and xx-small. But, in terms of fit, it’s always been a masculine silhouette. So, we felt that there was a palpable need for Proof, and—this past summer—decided to give it a go.

C40: What is your background?

DH. Well, I actually decided to forgo fashion school in favor of art school, which I’m mildly conflicted about; my interest in fine art has always been equal to that of fashion and design, and—while I feel that the art school mentality and way of approaching one’s work is invaluable—I’m sure Sean can attest to the fact that I was lacking in some fundamental areas of patternmaking, etc. when I first started.

C40: What is your design process?

DH. I find my process to be pretty malleable and unaffected. I’ll start with a good amount of research and such, but—because we make all of the patterns and prototypes by hand—we have the whole process to continuously critique and work through ideas. So, sometimes the design is a very direct translation from the drawing, but—most of the time—the piece sort of takes on a life of its own, and transforms into something else entirely.

C40: What inspires your designs?

DH. I would be hard pressed to find a concise answer to that. For the season that I’m working on, I’ve been inspired by things as esoteric as origami and the dichotomy of how plant life looks next to rock formations—but, usually, the process and materials are what inspire me the most.

C40: Why the name Proof?

DH. Wow, you thought I sounded nerdy before… Proof is such a loaded word. In part, it’s inspired by our objective to support American factories; for example, this is proof that fashion can still be created from start to finish in the US. It’s also a play on the idea that our approach to design is trend-proof and authentic.

C40: If you could say that Proof has one signature piece, what would it be?

DH. There isn’t one signature piece yet; this first collection was a small capsule collection to sort of introduce our direction, but I think you will find that the same feel will remain through the spring collection.

C40: Who do you design for? Who is the Proof girl?

DH. There isn’t really one woman that I envision wearing Proof because the clothes are both practical and edgy.

C40: What is the name of Proof’s first collection, and what inspired its name/look?

DH. “Made of Sound” embodies everything that I was thinking about in terms of the first collection. It is a mildly-romantic play on words; this is a collection created from something intangible, as well as something strong and persevering.

C40: I assume that Proof follows the same eco-/USA-friendly mantra Wrath does. Why is that so important to you?

DH. It’s important for a lot of reasons. We feel that it is important to support local industry, and to know that we can trust that the people providing us with such an important service are being treated well within their workplaces. Also, by keeping all of our manufacturing in the States, we are reducing the carbon footprint of our goods. Most companies have to ship samples back and forth to Asia and Europe multiple times a season, not to mention all of the flights to factories; keeping things more local greatly diminishes the amount of resources used in the process.

View the collection: Made of Sound

Video + images via wratharcane