Khaite Fall 2025: Beyond the New York Woman
Cate Holstein was back at the Park Avenue Armory in cinematic form Saturday night, presenting her fall 2025 Khaite collection on a raised circular runway glowing with yellow-orange light around a deep dark abyss, to the pulsing sound of Massive Attack.
It meant to be a yellow brick road, she explained during a preview, a memoriam to her late hero, filmmaker David Lynch, who once said when asked about his work, “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about ‘The Wizard of Oz.'”
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One would imagine not a day goes by that Holstein doesn’t think about Lynch, who died last month. Her dark aesthetic is very him, and she once based a whole collection around his 1990 film “Wild at Heart.” But this season, her curiosity — and TV remote — led her to another film noir, the 1947 Humphrey Bogart/Barbara Stanwyck film, “The Two Mrs. Carolls,” with costumes by the great Edith Head. The movie got her thinking about historical clothing shifts, the S-curve, the corset, wartime utility and evolving past the minimalism moment fashion has been in for a while now.
The film’s 1940s glam slimline styling, power shoulders and pops of leopard wound their way into the collection, manifesting sultry open-back, draped dresses worn over bra tops; covetable structured shrugs over slick pencil skirts or pleated pants, and a sleek leopard pony diva coat, cigarette pants and tunic.
But so, too, did a curiosity about how a femme fatale might dress and carry herself in a jeans-and-T-shirt world.
One answer? The corset, which has been very much in the fashion ether, from John Galliano’s spring 2024 Margiela Artisanal collection, to Daniel Roseberry’s spring 2025 Schiaparelli couture.
In Holstein’s hands, however, the corset was more soft sculpture. The collection’s hero pieces wrapped rather than cinched, with stretch mesh and gentle boning inside. They came in black shiny leather, leopard pony and spidery silk jacquard, and were layered over cashmere T-shirts and opera gloves, worn with low slung dark denim or pleated trousers for a killer look.
Khaite recently opened stores in Dallas, in South Coast Plaza in California and on Madison Avenue, and L.A. is on the way. The rapidly expanding world was reflected in the collection, which opened up more sartorial storylines beyond the persona of the New York woman.
Holstein veered into avant-garde territory with gorgeous sculpted spidery puff-sleeve tops, seamed dresses and a black column with a shadowy panel mid cutout, and into extreme craft with looped and fringed salt ‘n’ pepper sweater dresses and creature cardigans. She pushed deeper into everyday comfy casual with cashmere camp shirt and jeans sets, and leather minis with over-knee boots and blanket coats, and dabbled in punk-prep with argyle sweaters, red leather blazers and pants, and more iterations of the biker jacket.
For Holstein, it was another confident stride forward on that yellow brick road.
Launch Gallery: Khaite Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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