Khaite, femme fatales on a mission

Easily New York Fashion Week’s best staged show so far has been Khaite, with a powerful and theatrical collection whose two leit motifs were Dorothy and David.

Presented inside the giant Uptown Armory, guests arrived to discover a huge circular runway with a 25-meter radius. Painted yellow to suggest the Yellow Brick Road, Khaite’s designer Cate Holstein explained. Though the far bigger inspiration was the late David Lynch, leading to a catwalk crammed with femme fatales on a mission.
 
Attired in a dark and dramatic wardrobe for the urban jungle, Khaite’s women are a hyper self-confident crew this season. Marching in a collection whose every single look had a twist or bash or dimple; their very polished imperfections the heart of the matter.

The key element was the scrunched-up leather jacket, as if the designer had squeezed each look into shape with her own hands.

See catwalk

Calfskin or rawhide jackets came in a multiplicity of modes and forms – worker or donkey, motorbike, bomber or flight. She even sculpted a truck driver’s leather blouson into an outstanding mini cocktail dress in one great visual sleight of hand. If they ever remake Lynch’s classic “Wild At Heart,” this is the collection the cast must wear.

Every single leather idea looked great. Each a reminder that the most contemporary New Yorker designer today is Cate Holstein. She is also no slouch when it comes to contemporary draping with billowing cocktails in slate silk or leopard print pony skin coat-dresses.
 

See catwalk

And just when it seemed a tad too commercial, Cate wowed with several avant-garde robes in massive cable wool coils. 
 
Backed up by a roaring soundtrack that mashed up “I Put a Spell On You” by Marilyn Manson and “Luna” by the Smashing Pumpkins, this was a smash hit show. 
 
With new stores opening in Texas, California and Madison Avenue, this stellar show was a timely reminder why Khaite is the hottest label in American fashion today.