FACES 2 WATCH: Aly Dayton

Featuring Aly Dayton, Interview by Maya Davila, Shot by Arleth Pando, BTS Assist by Christian Harper, Graphics by Emilia Silva

Maya Davila: Tell us a little bit more about you and your fashion design journey…was this something you always knew you wanted to pursue?

Alexandra Dayton: I always wanted to do fine art. It wasn’t until I did the summer classes at FIT that I realized I definitely wanted to go into fashion. It was a really cool experience.

MD: Was that the first time you started making clothes?

AD: Yes, I learned how to sew everything in that course, and then I decided, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it [fashion design].’

MD: Would you say anything else led to your decision to pursue fashion design as your career?

AD: Both of my parents have done art their whole lives, and now as their career, so I’ve always wanted to do art, too. For me, what started off as just drawing slowly became drawing clothes, and then I learned how to sew.

MD: I think just being an artist in general—like the trajectory of what inspires you and where that takes you—is super exciting. I’d love to hear more about your time at FIT and how it’s impacted your life. 

AD: I actually took a year off because of COVID; we would have been in the same graduation year otherwise. I didn’t want to keep learning how to sew while online. I’d learned a little, but I didn’t feel confident translating what I saw on my screen into my work; I learn best in person. It sucked watching all of my friends go to college, but when I started the following year, I met my best friends, so I’m glad I had that year off.

MD: Sometimes I wish I had also taken our freshman year as a gap. Doing fashion design remotely was not for the weak [laughs].

AD: I heard that it was really hard and that your grade got screwed.

MD: Even in my second year, as a ‘COVID student’, I had no idea what was going on. Our exhibition theme also sucked.

AD: Same. We got stuck with muslin, just muslin. We couldn’t use any color or dye, it’s just a ball in my basement.  

MD: Bye, that’s awful. [Laughs]

AD: My friends and I still bring it up to this day. I think it was a cool idea to have everyone use the same materials, because now you can’t compete on how expensive the stuff you bought is. But it just has a messiness to it that’s hard to overcome. And it was like, ‘Oh great, another muslin piece for my portfolio.  Perfect.’ [Laughs]

MD: What would you say was one of your highest moments at FIT?

AD: Well, I got the Critic Award for my senior thesis—

MD: Period.

AD: —I have a little trophy in my room. This was definitely my favorite thing to have happened in my school career. It felt sovalidating.

MD: As a born-and-raised New Yorker, do you see yourself staying here for the long run? Or do you want to travel the world? Did your time in Italy during your study abroad program change your perspective at all?

AD: Technically, I’m from Long Island, out on the east end, so about 3 hours away from the city. I love it and would live there, but for fashion, I’d need to be in the city. Which I like [laughs], but my dream would be London. Milan was great, and I’d go back for something like Prada, but otherwise, I would want to try London next.

MD: I can’t wait for you to be a Milan queen and take over Prada. I can totally see that happening for you.

AD: That’s one of my dreams.

MD: Specific to your work, do you have a favorite collection or look that holds special meaning for you?


AD: Definitely my thesis look that got to be in the fashion show. I worked on it sohard, and it also got to be on display a few times, so I got to really stare at it, and I never got sick of it, which I think is a good sign because sometimes you make something, and then the more you see it, the more you hate it [laughs]. This look went on a journey with me. The day I got my Critic Award, I was crying because I wasn’t done, and I was the last person to leave the room, like I was not finished in comparison to some of my friends’ looks. But, they still picked me! Which felt great.

MD: I remember watching the livestream for the show, and your work blew me away.

AD: Thank you. So many of my classmates are insanely talented, so it was really crazy to have received that award because all of them deserved it. 

MD: What would you say is one of the craziest designs that you’ve created?

AD: This was crazy because it was kinda stupid [laughs]—but when I was in Italy, we had to do a project that wasn’t offered in this semester at FIT. We had to do a brand collab. So I had to sew a full Adidas tracksuit, like I had to get the logo printed. It’s the randomest thing ever. We had to pick a designer, so my team picked Margiela and Adidas. It was really meticulous; we had to measure actual Adidas items and see the distance between the stripes and essentially make the same thing. So now I have a fake Adidas tracksuit that I made [laughs].

MD: What’s been the biggest lesson that you’ve learned on your design journey?

AD: I feel like FIT had a competitive vibe, but I also learned so much from my friends and my classmates. It was great to get genuine feedback on what they thought about my work and vice-versa. It’s not easy to design something by yourself. Getting feedback is what makes something a real garment. Sometimes your own judgement gets clouded with what you’re making since it can be so personal, so when you hear other perspectives, it teaches you a lot. 

MD: Nothing in fashion can exist in a vacuum. 

AD: Even if we didn’t have a similar aesthetic to what we were making, getting advice from others who see outside of your own eyes is so helpful. I think the sense of community at FIT is what I miss the most.

MD: How does collaboration make its way into your designs?

AD: Even if it’s just asking my friends for their opinion on what they think about what I’m making, like do you like this color? Is this idea stupid? [Laughs] It’s really nice to get a wide array of opinions. My roommates all do fashion or film, so it’s great to collab with them or even just be inspired by what they’re working on. Up until the last hour when I was working on my senior thesis, one of my roommates was helping me sew buttons on while I finished my trims; it’s really a labor of love.

MD: Is there anything else that strikes your inspiration when designing?

AD: I love animation. That’s always inspired me. One of the first collections I drew was inspired by Howl’s Moving Castle, color and fantasy-wise…it’s just so beautiful. I’ve always been drawn to cartoons.

MD: Who are some of your favorite designers?

AD: Miuccia Prada, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Rei Kawakubo, and Martin Margiela.

MD: If you could teleport to any fashion show at any point in time, where would you want to be?

AD: I think a 90s McQueen show would be crazy. He was just so cool in everything he did. He means so much to me, and everything he designed felt so intentional. Or—also rest in peace—a Vivienne Westwood show. 

MD: So good.

AD: They were seriously geniuses.

MD: What would you say is your least favorite part about working in the fashion industry?

AD: Probably that no one gets paid. I get interning, and at this point, I am still looking for a job, but it’s hard to find one that can really pay and support you. I also hate how much pollution is involved in our industry. In the Entomode collection I just did, it was about bugs and how they face extinction from this pollution and deforestation as well, and how no one talks about it because they are bugs. 

MD: I found it super ironic when fashion was going through a big greenwashing phase, and ‘promoting’ sustainability. I feel like our industry feels very two-faced at times; people will preach and say one thing, but then practice something completely different. 

AD: I think it’s a lot easier for bigger companies to accomplish sustainability, but I feel like young creatives are often tasked with finding that solution. And it’s so much harder for us, because you need to have the financial backing to produce with that in mind…it’s almost impossible to achieve.

MD: Where do you hope to see yourself and your brand a year from now?

AD: I want to make mini-collections every season so I can put myself out there more. I am looking for an industry job, but I’d also never want to stop doing my own thing. I feel like it can be easy to lose a skill or your sense of imagination if you stop pursuing your own thing…so I just want to keep going. Five years from now…

MD: Head of Prada!

AD: [Laughs] Move over, guys, it’s my time. I would love to have my own, proper brand. I am trying to get more into making customs and selling 1-of-1s. So I’d really want to figure out how to expand my sizing, get my patterns graded, and see how I can bring my designs to more people. It’s hard to produce at a larger scale because I just have my one dress form, but I really want to build the accessibility of what I make.

MD: Are there any exciting projects that you can tell us more about?

AD: Well, I’m working on some pieces now that I will be debuting in March. I’m also working on my website, so I can get my 1-of-1 pieces uploaded on there. I would also love to do an exhibition this year, some sort of art collective.

MD: Thank you so much for today, it was such an honor!

AD: Thank you for having me. This was so fun!

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