Back in February, Cate Holstein hosted one of New York Fashion Week’s only in-person events, a drive-in movie screening in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Beamed onto a graffitied building, the Sean Baker–lensed film was a provocative glimpse of Khaite’s new direction, grittier and tougher than how the brand had often been perceived. Models in oversized leather jackets and thigh-high boots smashed car windows, ran from baton-wielding cops, and tormented unsuspecting men, all to the beat of Ace Frehley’s “Back in the New York Groove.” It was violent—you definitely weren’t expecting Soo Joo Park to break a bottle over a girl’s head—and evocative of an earlier New York, when Holstein recalls the “menacing quality” of downtown. That feeling returned during the pandemic, for better or worse, and has influenced a sharper, less decorative, “more deliberate” aesthetic at Khaite.
Resort had some of that grit and a similar pared-back essence, but where Baker’s film lent a dark, frenetic energy to the clothes, this sepia-toned look book and video are quiet, almost mundane. In the film, models laze around a tiny apartment, take naps on a rumpled bed, and wander through damp, empty New York streets. They’re armed with clothes both comforting and familiar: Last season’s buttery-soft jersey dresses come in new Grecian silhouettes; double-face cashmere coats are cut like robes; puffers extend past the ankle; and Holstein is debuting a new line of T-shirts, some with cutouts and hand-tied knots. Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation got a mention in the press release; its narrator’s journey toward calm and renewal became more poignant during lockdown. Holstein compared it with our own year of solitude and how our relationships with fashion grew gentler and more intentional. As we reemerge, she’s happy to see a new focus on “keep forever,” can’t-live-without-it pieces, not flimsy seasonal trends.
In an email, Holstein described her favorite shrunken olive green bomber as both “classic and forward.” It’s a good way to sum up Khaite’s sweet spot: familiar, wearable items made desirable by luxe materials and tweaked silhouettes. Even the most forward pieces—resort’s being a bell-shaped articulated shearling and a leather jacket with XXL studs—are still undeniably functional.
On that note, much of the collection—suede flares, ivory jeans, even the Grecian dresses—was styled with rubber-soled boots or Khaite’s new hero shoe, a black sneaker with stacked platforms. “People are surprised by how light they are,” Holstein says. No matter what we’re wearing up top, our sneaker habit isn’t going anywhere; expect more kicks to come in the spring.
