In this edition of Women Who Launch, we speak to Delia Wade about her experience of launching a fashion brand and the lessons she's learned from trusted mentors.
"People always seem to find my upbringing in Arkansas extremely curious, but it felt very normal to me," says fashion designer Delia Wade.
Wade is now based in Paris, an ocean away from where she grew up in Little Rock in the American South, but says her idyllic childhood growing up surrounded by family in a traditional community where cotillions, debutantes, and etiquette reigned supreme had a large influence on her early design philosophy. "I was always fascinated by the theatricality of manners—just as much as the theatricality of rebellion—which became a recurring theme in many of my projects in fashion school," she shares.
Wade's aesthetic draws on feminine cuts that reflect her ethos of versatility and longevity—creating pieces that not only go from day-to-night but can also be worn year after year is something that she is fiercely passionate about. She doesn't shy away from working with notoriously challenging fabrics, like her beloved tweed, resulting in beautifully wearable pieces like the Jane dress in a gorgeous Rouge Bateau tweed and the Leandra jacket in Ciel tweed.
Stints across continents and at maisons such as Chanel and Lanvin exposed her to different styles and ways of working, all of which have had an impact on her approach. "The US is very technical and commercially-motivated. In design school, I studied not just pattern making, draping, flat sketching, computer design, but also entrepreneurship, business, and economics. Hong Kong was interesting from a production standpoint. I toured factories and went to many specialty stores that made a huge impression on me," she explains.
These learnings came in handy when she moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins where there was a strong focus on creativity and originality. "It was all about the concept, idea, and persona. I found it incredibly freeing not to get caught up in the minutia." Paris provided the finishing touch in developing her vision. "The French quality of life has added a more relaxed approach to my work," she explains. "You can be a little late. C'est pas grave."
