Photos by Christian Parroco
Some people write love letters. Some just hold hands and let the silence do the talking. But for Seattle fashion designer Dan McLean, her connection with hairstylist Robert “Robere” Shaw is the kind that hoists a boom box over its head and hits play.
This bond between them will echo loud and clear on the runway with McLean’s next annual birthday fashion show. On July 20, 7:20:Hair by Robere will showcase years of friendship, memory, and hair on the catwalk.
Like with many modern love stories, their stars crossed through Instagram DMs.
After seeing a friend wearing one of McLean’s creations, Shaw fell in love. He followed her on Instagram and commissioned a rainbow Louis Vuitton bralette for Pride. It was his first custom piece from her.
Still, the two didn’t officially meet until McLean took on another commission for Shaw four years ago, when he asked her to make a pair of custom pants for a wedding. The initial design didn’t go as planned, but she managed to make last-minute changes. In return, he offered to do hair for McLean’s first runway show. He’s done every show since.
Just like that, Shaw turned from client to muse.
Stacked on a corner shelf, white boxes containing bits and pieces of McLean’s past designs—each marked with a collection theme and year—show just how much she has explored her craft, from bridal couture to extraterrestrial-futuristic fashion.
But with Hair by Robere, she wanted to do something new: bring her friendship with Shaw and the salon aesthetic into the world of fashion.
Their connection is rooted in a shared nostalgia for the early 2000s. Both McLean and Shaw came of age on a diet of mall-punk fashion in the Y2K, MySpace era—think Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton’s “Stars Are Blind.” They both had flip phones, shopped at Hot Topic, and found creative refuge in the alt-pop culture of their youth. “We’re both weird,” Shaw says. “The show is an homage to our younger selves, and the music and the clothes that we grew up loving.”
Although Shaw isn’t involved in the design process, McLean consistently checks in with him to ensure she’s capturing the essence of their friendship—channeling that mutual adolescence into a fashion collection that feels equal parts homage and experimentation. Hair by Robere is not just a show; it’s a time capsule reimagined for the present, infused with both punk attitude and personal tenderness.
Diversity Is Common Sense
When walking into McLean’s SoDo studio, I’m greeted by a sea of black and dark tones. One wall is lined with assorted metal hoops, the other scattered with power tools. For someone unfamiliar with that kind of edge, the space can feel intimidating at first. But behind the moody aesthetic lies something entirely different, and what happens behind the runway is anything but cold.
At the heart of McLean’s creative ethos is care. Her approach to designing is deeply collaborative and intentionally people-centered. She does not simply cast models and then fit them into pre-made garments. She builds the garments around each individual. She listens. She adapts. She makes space.
“If they want their hair cut, then we will, but I’m not going to request anyone cut their hair,” McLean says. “I have never expected people to change anything about themselves for the show.”
McLean is also reshaping the experience of a fashion show. Her casting process is collective, with a panel of past collaborators, friends of friends, and family members helping choose models. She doesn’t rely on industry archetypes. Instead, her runway features bodies of all sizes, genders, and backgrounds. It’s her way of rejecting the unrealistic beauty standards of the modeling industry, which has long demanded a specific body type and a Eurocentric ideal of beauty.
“Dan cares,” Shaw says. “She asks what [models] are comfortable with. She wants to know who she’s dressing and how they like to be dressed.”
McLean makes it clear that her models are her muses, too. She doesn’t sketch her designs; instead, she writes down ideas, talks them out, and then builds directly onto the body, draping fabric while music plays in the background—a creative exchange that feels more like hanging out than work. The result is fashion that breathes with memory and connection.
She calls her team the Danfam. Sounds exclusive, right? But McLean said that the only requirement is good vibes. According to McLean, past shows have drawn solo attendees who leave with new friends. It’s that kind of joyful, inclusive energy she aims to bring to all future runway shows.
A Runway Beyond Hot Topic
This year, with 7:20:Hair by Robere, McLean is creating a collection made mostly of black, bleach-resistant thrifted and repurposed fabrics, practical for salon professionals but still edgy and elevated. Inspired by the reality of hairstylists wearing black to work, McLean is building pieces that are functional yet avant-garde, crafting garments that can withstand the chaos of chemical spills without sacrificing style.
Expect sculptural silhouettes, rich textures, and unexpected materiality. Hair itself will be woven into the collection: synthetic strands molded into boots, bags, and corsets. There may be flowing human hair for movement and structure, or stylized wigs reimagined into wearable art. Nothing is off-limits.
“Trying to explain me and Robert’s relationship is kind of how I’m going to try to explain it on a runway,” McLean says. “We’re just like, it kind of doesn’t make sense, but it does make sense.
This is also McLean’s first sober runway show. The studio, once a place of party-
fueled fittings and late-night sewing, is now a different kind of creative space: clear, focused, and just as celebratory. Shaw is joining her in solidarity, staying sober throughout the process, too.
For McLean, Hair by Robere is more than a collection; it’s a celebration of where she’s been and where she’s going. As the queen of bootleg fashion in Seattle, where she transforms thrifted outfits into avant-garde wearable pieces, she wants the show to signal a pivot from mass production to a slower, more intentional way of creating. “Instead of me pumping out a bunch of things to make, I want to really hone in on focusing on customers and building out their closet and making them feel sexy in their clothes,” McLean says.
What audiences can expect on July 20 is a show that feels like a mixtape, a time machine, a love letter to a friendship. It will feature references to emo culture, punk rebellion, and nostalgic glam. There may be liberty spikes. There will definitely be big feelings. And at the center of it all will be McLean and Shaw, two weird kids who found each other and built a fashion family.
McLean hopes that everyday people feel they deserve garments that are both functional and expressive. Most of all, she wants fashion to feel accessible—and not something behind a velvet rope, but something you can step into, collaborate on, and truly call your own. Because in McLean’s world, fashion is a form of care, and everyone deserves to feel good in what they wear.
7:20:Hair by Robere is July 20, 7 p.m.–10 p.m. Location disclosed with ticket purchase. Tickets available at danmclean.org.
