Designer Spotlight: Joshua Droogh
Written by Leila Ivanovici
Prior to designing for DEFINITIVE - Act III ; GLORY AND GORE, Joshua Droogh only worked on small-scale projects.
“This is my biggest project,” Droogh said. “I've done a runway show over at Madison College for a class but having it run by a teacher is a different type of energy. DEFINITIVE has been completely different. It's really exciting.”
Droogh transferred to UW-Madison this past semester. After researching a plethora of clubs and organizations that aligned with his interests, there emerged a clear winner. “I noticed that The Vault was very active,” he said. “And I felt like it would help break that barrier that I think a lot of young designers struggle with, which is the marketing and business side.”
After attending the DEFINITIVE fashion show meeting on Sept. 24, Droogh knew the show was something he had to do. “I went to the initial DEFINITIVE meeting and heard G and Ava speak and was immediately drawn to the show,” he said. “It's great to be around people with that much charisma and energy.”
To apply to be a show designer, those interested submitted portfolios for consideration. Droogh’s application was met with success a few days later. Once the design team was assembled, the next step was to finalize both of the looks.
“We went through everyone’s looks to figure out what was going to work with the show,” he said. “G and Ava were really open to everyone having their individual visions come to life. We could either take the visions that leadership had and make them our own, or we could bring something new to the table.”
It was through this collaborative process that Droogh’s own designs came to life. “I wanted to bring something new inspired by Ava’s moodboards, and that’s how my designs developed,” Droogh said.
In the months leading up to the show, Droogh worked on designs for two groups of looks: a skirt for one of the "Four Boys" and his main look, "Knight and His Muse." The ethos behind “Knight and His Muse” was rooted in something greater than fabric; Droogh intended to deliver a statement on the social and political condition of the modern world through his designs.
His “Knight” speaks to the dichotomy of masculinity, fueled by the recent rise of “trad culture,” a movement that emphasizes traditional values and aesthetics. “Right now we have this division of manhood with the surge of hypermasculinity. And a lot of that, I interpret, is almost armor-like. These men feel like they have to put this protection on because deep down inside, they're really afraid of being vulnerable,” Droogh said.
To emulate this rigid perception of masculinity, he designed a skirt of scales, reminiscent of armor. But his piece didn’t end there. Droogh wanted to create a complete picture of masculinity, one that also saw beneath the exoskeleton of men, where softness is intrinsic. “His shirt is very soft and almost feminine to resemble that, underneath all that armor, there is still someone who's really gentle,” he said. “It’s so important that men learn to take their armor off and be vulnerable with people.”
Droogh’s inspiration for the “Muse” look came from elsewhere. “I remember watching this video about John Galliano and he talked about having people that he called his muse. I've heard the word muse before, but to see someone actually still look to another person to spark creativity was really interesting,” he said. “I wanted to connect that idea to ‘Knight.’”
Droogh saw potential in making “Muse” accessible to all people. His character became a universal one– an inclusive source of inspiration. “I think that any one of us is in some way a muse to someone else. And so I wanted ‘Muse’ to be a nonbinary character, because they can apply to anyone,” he said.
Translating his visions into tangible designs for the DEFINITIVE fashion show on Dec. 7, however, took more than inspiration. It required dozens of late nights, hours of stitching and detailing, and consistency and repetition. “It's very complex to take an illustration and make it into something that’s presentable for a show,” Droogh said. “This last month has been a lot of focus and determination to make these looks. We’ve all spent hours and hours on these fine details to make them show-ready.”
Despite the rigors and trials faced in production, Droogh remained positive and kept his guiding light through the day of the show. “It has been a roller coaster of emotions. It has been stressful, absolutely. But I remind myself that consistency and repetition is the overall goal to mastering this craft,” he said. “And seeing our work on display with everyone appreciating it makes it all worth it.”
