DESIGNER JOHNATHAN HAYDEN RISING THROUGH THE RANKS IN FASHION

Fashion designer, Johnathan Hayden, The Art Institute of Dallas 2012 Alumnus, is being recognized for his work - a new face for the fashion industry as it confronts diversity and inclusion to promote genuine talent.

As the fashion and retail landscape dramatically shifts across America, the opportunity for emerging brands has attracted attention to his eponymous womenswear brand. Despite Covid-19, he has quickly shifted to producing masks for the NYC community in partnerships with local nonprofits. His “Made in America” approach to ethical manufacturing was awarded a small grant from NYC non-profit, Harlem’s Fashion Row’s ICON 360 initiative (a recipient of $1 million from The Council of Fashion Designers of America x VOGUE’s “Common Thread” $5 million fund), 1 of 27 designers of color allocated funding. He credits The Art Institute for his equipping him with a strong technical design and production background developing quality design as the industry confronts demands for social consciousness amongst global environmental and racial equity concerns. Featured this month in Vogue Mexico’s editorial on young design talent, he speaks to the rigor and patience it has taken to make is stake in the international fashion industry:

"I may have been naïve to leap into the title of Fashion Designer, but like I said earlier, I was raised with a strict sense of duty to a greater whole—building community. So when I ‘found’ my brand, that sounds like it was an accident, something to happen by chance. But the truth is I have forged this brand. When asked, I point to everything around me in my studio and say, “This wasn’t built because of a ‘yes’. Everything you see exists despite every exclusionary ‘no’,” for whatever reason. I don’t know what the future looks like, but I know what I am trying to work towards. I’d like to see fashion truly exercise inclusion to reimagine what that means. To me, that’s listening to more voices and then, as a fashion designer, using my brand as a lens for that idealism to aspire towards."

Johnathan Hayden is a luxury designer label founded in 2016 having debuted its first collection at Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO in October 2019. The New-York based hybrid-designer unites his interest in technology and fashion to create luxury clothing with adaptive details. Hayden has worked with nonprofit organizations like non-profit Open Style Lab at Parsons specializing in inclusive clothing for people with disabilities and continues to explore meaningful applications of technology in design showcased at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

AiLive host, E. Vincent Martinez, speaks with Johnathan Hayden, a NYC fashion designer, creative consultant, textbook illustrator and Art Institute of Dallas graduate.

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