Sails of Growth

During the fitting, Joe LeDoux's model nearly sliced my eye open with a sail pole as she

soared down the makeshift runway. He told me to back up; I didn't listen. His once still piece of fabric billowed out into a parachute-like figure, once movement was introduced. It was hair-raising in the best ways possible.

The first thing BFA design graduate LeDoux told me was that his Spring 2023 collection was an ode to his father and grandfather. He then followed up with, "It's growing up with misogynistic men." To hear both things in the same sentence will throw anyone off, certainly me. His childhood was not cute, fun, or friendly, twenty-four/seven; there was a clash between the man and the boy for most of his adolescence. "He's short with you, he gives a lot of attitude, and he's aggressive. He'll tell you like it is. He won't butter anything up; our generation is very buttered. So, when I was younger, I wasn't used to it." Vancouver-native, LeDoux told me the story of a summer sailing trip he dreaded with just him and his grandfather, whom he had non-specific differences with at the time. During this two-week journey, his grandfather instilled significant trust in him to handle the vehicle as a thirteen-year-old kid. It took him a long time to realize what this excursion did for him: "I started to learn how to deal with difficult people. It was less about me needing not to be around difficult people and more about how to deal with them. That was the biggest emotional turning point in my life where I realized people were not out to get me." Today, he and his grandad are inseparable. He speaks of him with admiration in his eyes.

Le Doux comes from a family of builders and engineers with military backgrounds. It is vital that he finds a way to incorporate it into his work. "The military influence that created him also created me but in a very different way...My grandfather used to sew all of his sails; ironically, now, I'm building them." The sails and parachutes in his collection were the main focals used to stand out, despite his having no experience building them. He found local stores to source his fabric and used the creative concept skills learned from his director to hand-quilt various materials. He even utilized hues such as biscotti tan, khaki green, cremes, and coppers. LeDoux stressed that repurposing is essential for him, but bringing in new textiles is also critical for a collection to be high-end in his eyes. "It's all about showing how much I can do and how many materials I can work with. I used foam life-jacket insert pieces that I had to upholster to make it work for a garment. I'm using cut-and-sew knits, wools, all quilting by hand. I'm using ribstock in itself as fabric..." He notes that Maison Margiela is one of his biggest inspirations and references him on how to develop a dynamic collection: "When you use old and new beauty, you're taking history and bringing it to today," LeDoux explains.

He hopes his history takes him to a future involving the technical runway and uses Moncler and Arc’teryx as examples. He wishes to bring tech and fashion together in Vancouver, Canada, but still keeps his options open for an engineering or welding degree to advance his mechanical knowledge. The greatest thing LeDoux said he has learned at the Academy is the ability to self-critique and develop a personal brand to stay true to. One thing is sure, he will remain faithful to his values: "Growth. I never want to feel stagnant or run out of places to go. If I'm not doing too much, then I will have a hard time doing enough. If I'm not constantly going, I struggle to get started. If I give myself too much of a moment, I'm not growing." LeDoux’s grandfather helped in the department of growth; for a man described as ‘set in his ways’, his

grandson can now adapt to change and even embrace it in his career and everyday life: “So, this is my ode to him; showing him that I listened. I took in everything that he taught me, but I'm going to do something different with it, a bit more of me.”