By: Emerald Naumann

Inspired by the local concert and festival scene, Hayley Bohan is currently in the process of developing her thesis collection Bad Dog. Created for young women wanting creative ravewear and festival apparel, Bad Dog is a line of eccentric and fun apparel that is sure to stand out in a crowd.

Bad Dog will be unveiled at the 2019 The Show on April 18 at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) newly opened Wilson School of Design building in Richmond. The beautiful and innovative $36-million building houses a range of design programs including the fashion-design-and-technology program.

Event details and tickets can be found online.

Emerald Naumann: Describe your education journey.

Hayley Bohan: I always had an interest in fashion as a kid, but I was pretty bookish and didn’t see fashion as a career that I would fit into. Then in high school, I was floating around in fine art and band and realized that I wasn’t good at playing the trumpet. I enjoyed anything in art that was 3D, so I switched to textiles for my elective.

I found that sewing clothes brought together my love of creating and working with my hands. In grade 12, I ran my high school’s grad fashion show. Playing a role in a large creative event like that gave me the confidence to go ahead and pursue a further education in fashion. I knew I wanted to go to university, and it was exciting to learn that I could have that experience in a fashion design program at KPU.

EN: What word best encapsulates you as a designer?

HB:  I would say eclectic. The kind of design that excites me tends to pull together a lot of different elements in unexpected ways. For example, my collection Bad Dog, has allowed me to play with a variety of textile elements to create effects that I hope will stand out in a crowd. I bring together sequins, sheers, and vibrant prints, playing with how light would reflect off each fabric.

EN: Who or what was the inspiration behind your line?

HB: I love attending concerts and have been really inspired by the people I see at these events. I have always found in these environments people are willing to wear whatever they feel best in and express themselves more freely. I’ve also found that the ravewear on the market today doesn’t consider the activity the wearer is really doing at events. Bad Dog is a line combining my love of eccentric and fun design, while incorporating the functionality that KPU has taught me in apparel design.

EN: What inspired this season’s collection?

HB: Vintage clothes and imagery have been inspiring to me since my early interest in fashion. For this specific collection I went back to my roots of vintage inspiration, incorporating vintage circus imagery and print elements from the psychedelic era of the 60’s. I wanted to be able to pull eccentric elements from variety of colorful, dynamic images.