“What if David Lynch remade a Merchant Ivory movie?” Khaite’s Catherine Holstein doesn’t typically design to a theme. She’s built her brand into the success it is because she’s so good with product. Look around at the front rows during fashion month and a good percentage of women will be wearing her Nevada boots; others are carrying her Simona shoulder bag, or wearing her jeans. But this season she had a concept, and it was a catchy one.
Holstein is a David Lynch fan, not just for his oeuvre, she explained at a preview in her impressive new SoHo showroom, but for his resistance to those who wanted him to do things differently. This seemed like a not-so-veiled reference to the critiques Holstein has faced for the grandness of her sets and her designs, but she’s forging ahead. The Khaite show was back at the Park Avenue Armory last night. The elevated circular runway erected in the middle of the vast space served as a symbol of both the brand’s success and Holstein’s ambitions. Though it might’ve been lost on the crowd, the runway’s golden color was an allusion to the Yellow Brick Road, The Wizard of Oz being Lynch’s favorite movie.
Hearing Holstein’s explanation, it was easy enough to see the streetwise flash of a Wild at Heart, say, in her emphasis on leather and in the leopard spot pony skin separates. The period drama of the lightly bustled, voluminous dresses and undone corset tops came across too. The hitch for Holstein is making her ready-to-wear as everyday wearable and wantable as her accessories already are. Arguably her vision for the runway has leaned too cinematic in the past, and not reflective enough of our lived realities.
This is maybe an unfair burden that critics put on women designers. In all honesty, we rarely require the same of the men who lead the big European houses in whose image Holstein is modeling Khaite. But as much as she identifies with Lynch’s independent streak, she did find ways to bring New York City realness to this collection, first and foremost via the loose-fit dark rinse jeans she sprinkled throughout the lineup, with the show-opening deconstructed corset worn over a boxy tee, or with a chunky knit cut away in back to expose a flash of bare skin. Smart trousers paired with fine gauge knits and leather jackets of different shapes also looked believable.
On the subject of realness, the season’s most interesting developments were the DIY touches Holstein brought to the collection, like the mismatched tacks at the back of a distressed leather jacket, or the unraveling silk of the corset tops that are a cool option for evening. If Holstein can find more ways to inject the human element—the heart—into what she does she’ll have found her advantage over her much bigger and more corporate European counterparts.
