DOLCE&GABANNA SS26 – PYJAMAS
Dolce & Gabbana pulls the pyjama out of the bedroom and onto the dinner table, proving…
IN CONVERSATION WITH LUKE RAINEY
FROM TERMINATION LETTER TO BERLIN FASHION WEEK: HOW LUKE RAINEY TOOK THE WORDS ‘ALL THE BEST’ LITERALLY
The Berlin-based label DAGGER was founded in 2020 by Luke Rainey. It is a success story that proves that endings often mark new beginnings. After years of working in retail, Luke lost his job. His termination letter concluded with the words: ‘We wish you all the best.’ Luke took this phrase as inspiration. He began printing T-shirts with that very slogan, laying the foundation for his own vision.
Today, six years after those first printed shirts, his label DAGGER has made the leap onto the official Berlin Fashion Week calendar, where he is presenting his debut runway show. It is a deeply emotional moment for the designer, who has successfully translated his skater roots into the world of high fashion. Shortly after the finale, elated and surrounded by well-wishers, I had the opportunity to speak with Luke about this major milestone.
SOPHIA NOWAK: Luke, your Label DAGGER just had its Debut on the runway. How do you feel after your first official fashion show?
LUKE RAINEY: I feel like I’ve been shot out of a cannon, like literally shot out of a canon. It’s a weird feeling of relief and total joy and also something in between that I can’t describe.
SN: I’m so excited for you! You started your label when you got fired, and they sent you an email wishing you “all the best”. How does it feel to see people wearing your label with the exact phrase that was in your firing email and to see it become so successful?
LR: It feels fucking amazing. You know, shit things happen in life all the time to everyone. I hope when people hear that story and see where I took that statement, that it inspires them to do the same whenever they’re in a shit situation. There’s something to be taken from everything no matter how bad it is and you don’t have to start a fashion brand with it, but if it inspires you to just take one step forward in a in a better direction, great.
SN: What gave you the strength, while being unemployed, to start a fashion brand and has it always been fashion that you wanted to do?
LR: Yeah, it was always fashion. I was a retail girl my whole life, you know I worked the shop floor as a sales assistant for a big majority of my life. So I’ve seen clothes come and go all day long, and I’ve seen brands start from one t-shirt and sort of build up and I guess I kind of picked up the mathematics of it a little bit and I always wanted to do it myself. And when I lost my job I got 300 Euro benefits from the government and I spent that on some t-shirts and I printed them in my little kitchen in Neukölln with that statement on the back of it and literally from that t-shirt we’ve just built it up and built it and built up. It’s crazy. We now have many international retailers for the collection that’s coming out for Spring/Summer. We have 20 international retailers, including Dover Street Market, GR8 and many others and then for winter 26, it’s almost 40 retailers internationally. In only tier one stores. It’s feeling like we’re literally about to break through and after the show I really hope that’s what happens.
SN: I saw so many pieces during the show that I liked. Which garment from your current collection is your absolute personal favorite and why?
LR: Oh god, there’s many. But actually it’s these pink jeans that are rubbered and they have silver studs all down the sides and a silver atb on the ass. And I made those thinking they were just for the show and I took them to my showroom in Paris and they were the best selling item, almost every store bought them. So those pants have inspired me to design even further and not to silence or damn darn myself. Because I think things are changing and people are not willing to pay a lot of money for standard boring items anymore. They want to pay money for something special so that’s going to direct me in the future. So I think that’s my favorite item because it kicked me up the ass a bit, those pants. I should call them that, ass kicking pants.
SN: Maybe that’s the next slogan, for your next collection.
LR: Yes! Yes!
SN: My favorite item from the collection was the headband with the slogan “play hard”.
LR: Yes, that’s the name of the show and of the collection, so we have it on the hairbands and on some hoodies as well. I love the hairband too.
SN: With the show being a success today, where do you see the brand in five years?
LR: I definitely plan on it being a global brand and already have wheels in motion to make sure that that happens. I’m really certain that, that will happen in the next five years, if not sooner, which feels bizarre to say. I never thought I’d be standing here saying that, but like I said, you believe it, you can achieve it and just fucking run at it. We are like a grungy, scaty, queer brand, but we make very high quality clothing. I will say that, dagger pieces, you get them looking a bit pre-loved. We like to make them look like they’ve had a life well lived before you had them. And with the hope that our customers will learn not to just buy clothes over and over and again, but to keep the ones that they buy and wear them for a long time so that they look better the older they get. I think it’s an important thing for sustainability. That is the easiest and most effective and most honest way that you can be sustainable. Buy less clothes, but buy well and wear them for a long time and love them.
SN: True. I have one more question. I’m curious about the angel in your fashion show. What was the idea behind it and what role does it play in the show?
LR: Yeah, the angel, he’s a fallen angel. And originally I imagined the models to be on skateboards. I love the idea of having these skaters appear as these sort of ethereal creatures from the heavens, because whenever I grew up in this little skate town in the north of Ireland, they weren’t, right? Skaters were treated as rats, basically, you know? And so I wanted to elevate them and show them with these wings and as these beautiful creatures that are fluid and are skilled and deserve to be celebrated. So it was really about me spotlighting that.
SN: Very cool. Thank you so much for your time and enjoy the rest of your day! Congratulations!
LR: Thank you! Thank you so much!
