Catherine Holstein took Khaite through the 1920s and 1940s at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and left the collection’s most meticulous work where the runway light could not reach it
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Khaite showed its spring 2027 collection inside the Brooklyn Storehouse, the long, cavernous hall in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the romance arrived before the leather did.
“Everybody who knows me was saying, ‘This is actually the most you collection,'” Catherine Holstein said backstage, claiming the word romantic for herself without apology.
Recent seasons have carried their share of romance-tinged attire. Spring went full throttle, in pursuit of a softer feminine energy and the designer’s own stated desire to “dive back into the clothes.”
A Labor of Love, Largely Invisible
“I’m very passionate about making beautiful things and making clothing and handwork,” she said. “I’m not sure if anybody noticed, but for instance, Kaia [Gerber]’s skirt, the back of it is all done by hand, all corsetry. I wanted all these special moments that you didn’t even see, but once you open up the clothing, everything is finished by hand, everything. This is a real labor of love. Many hours went into each garment. It was really not about the silhouette; that came later.”
Gerber opened the show in a white bra and an ultra-high-waist, ultra-fitted leather skirt with a back waist split that revealed the handmade corsetry. The look set the tone for a lineup rooted in romantic, lingerie-inspired silhouettes spanning the 1920s to the 1940s, with twists that played up the ceremony of getting dressed, set against Khaite’s stealthy leather signatures, shrunken down in proportion.
Models with teased, exaggerated bedhead emerged in exposed bras and minidresses designed to slip off the shoulders. Roomy nighties-meet-slips looked as though they were being pulled up and over the body on the way to undressing.
Crinoline, another focus, became little belts set atop her floral, hand-embroidered dress variations. The idea fed a throughline of soft peplums and waved crinoline hems that lifted breezy, sheer button-up shirts and flounced skirts.
A Venetian Starting Point
The embroidery on the bibs of her airy, robe de style-esque girly dresses traced back to the collection’s starting point: Venice, and specifically the Gritti Palace, where Holstein said she and her husband spend a lot of time and are continually pulled by its dichotomy of the old with a platform for contemporary art.
Softness met its opposite in shrunken, sharp leather. Little leather jackets with exaggerated, high shoulders carried the anti-oversize look the brand has become known for, and read as coolly commanding and as sexy as her larger proportions.
Shrinking the Silhouette
“I am such a romantic at heart. It’s also the way I dress too,” Holstein said. “I think because I’ve had babies for the last four years, I’ve been grabbing whatever and not thinking about it again. Now that I’m over that period and my body is finally going back, I’m finding I want to shrink silhouettes a lot more. The oversize thing, for me, I’m looking to move away from.”
That proportion play is where the season’s argument sits. Holstein is not choosing between the label’s sharp cut and its new softness. She is putting both on the same body and finishing the seams so the second look pays off.
Spring, she said, was really about building clothes from the inside out. From the front row, the collection read as alluring. Up close, it read as hours of work.
See the complete collection below:
Images Courtesy of Khaite. Catherine Holstein showed Khaite’s spring 2027 ready-to-wear collection at the Brooklyn Storehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
In another NYFW SS27 collection: Ralph Lauren Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection at New York Fashion Week
