Catherine Holstein

Catherine Holstein is an American fashion designer and the founder and creative director of Khaite. Raised across Southern California and London, she moved to New York to study at Parsons School of Design. Her junior thesis drew the attention of Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart, whose order helped turn student work into a commercial label while Holstein was still in her early twenties.

Holstein established her first eponymous womenswear label in 2006. The business reached roughly forty international retailers, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Kirna Zabête, Louis Boston, Lane Crawford and Isetan, and culminated in a Spring 2009 runway presentation in New York. She closed the label in 2009 as the financial crisis exposed the fragility of its wholesale model. The experience became a formative lesson in production, cash flow and the limits of a young independent company built without substantial operational support.

From 2009 to 2014, Holstein worked as a design director and consultant across Gap, Vera Wang, Maiyet and The Elder Statesman, with additional consultancy connected to denim and American sportswear. Her two-year tenure in Gap knitwear introduced her to large-scale fit, grading and repeatable wardrobe categories. Vera Wang supplied a luxury context, while work around cashmere and denim deepened the material knowledge that later became central to Khaite.

Holstein developed the proposal for Khaite during 2015 and launched the New York label in 2016 with backing from Assembled Brands. Denim and cashmere gave the first collections a concentrated commercial base, followed by broader ready-to-wear, a physical runway from Fall 2019, and in-house bags and footwear. Khaite subsequently expanded its runway language, image-making and retail presence while Holstein retained authorship of the clothing and product direction. She received the CFDA American Womenswear Designer of the Year award in 2022 and again in 2023.

Her career now spans two independent labels, corporate design positions, specialist consultancy and the growth of Khaite into an international luxury business. The continuity lies in a sustained interest in American wardrobe categories and in the practical conditions that allow them to become lasting products. Khaite remains her central body of work, with Holstein continuing as its founder and creative director through the latest completed collections in 2026.

Holstein builds clothes from familiar wardrobe categories and places unusual pressure on proportion, fabric and use. Denim, cashmere, shirting, tailoring, dresses and outerwear recur because they can be refined over long periods. She treats material quality as an active design decision, paying close attention to weight, density, handle and the way a garment changes once worn. The result is a wardrobe whose recognisable forms can carry increasingly elaborate construction without losing everyday utility.

Her silhouettes rely on controlled friction. A strict coat can sit beside translucent evening fabric, dense knitwear can expose the body, and denim can support highly polished accessories or formal tailoring. Masculine and feminine codes appear as working materials, with shoulder, waist, length and surface adjusted until the garment carries several attitudes at once. This tension has remained visible from the first Khaite collections through the later runway period.

Commercial product development is integral to Holstein’s authorship. Early experience at Gap sharpened her attention to fit and repeatable categories, while specialist work in cashmere and denim informed Khaite’s founding offer. Bags and footwear entered only after the clothing business had established a stable identity. Subsequent product families have been developed through recurring forms, material variation and careful editing, giving the brand continuity without requiring every season to replace its core vocabulary.

Holstein also directs clothing within a wider visual and spatial field while maintaining clear boundaries around specialist collaborators. Vanessa Traina has shaped styling, Hanna Tveite has been a recurring image-maker, Piergiorgio Del Moro has cast major shows, and Griffin Frazen has authored named retail and runway environments. These relationships extend the atmosphere around the clothes while leaving collection design with Holstein. Her practice is therefore both concentrated and collaborative, with the garment remaining the point from which image, movement and space are developed.