“Everybody who knows me was saying, ‘This is actually the most you collection,’” Catherine Holstein, a self-proclaimed romantic, said backstage following Khaite’s stellar spring runway show, held at the cavernous, lengthy Brooklyn Storehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Over the last few seasons, Holstein has peppered in a fair amount of romance-tinged attire but for spring, she went full throttle with not only a softer feminine energy, but also through her desire to “dive back into the clothes.”

“I’m very passionate about making beautiful things and making clothing and handwork. 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,” she explained.

Gerber opened the show in a white bra and ultra high-waist, ultra fitted leather skirt with a back waist split that revealed the handmade corsetry.

It set the tone for the lineup, which was rooted in mostly romantic and lingerie-inspired silhouettes spanning the 1920s to 1940s with twists that played to the ceremony of getting dressed, contrasted with Khaite’s signature stealthy leather styles, shrunken down in proportion. 

Models with exaggerated, teased bedhead hair emerged in exposed bras, minidresses purposefully falling off the shoulders and roomy nighties-meet-slips that looked as if they were being pulled up and over the body for undressing.

Crinoline, another focus, was turned into little belts atop her variations of floral hand-embroidered dresses, which played into her throughline of soft peplums and waved crinoline hems uplifting breezy, sheer button-up shirts and flounced skits.

The embroideries displayed on the bibs of her airy robe de style-esque girly dresses actually stemmed from her collection’s initial starting point: Venice, 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.

The softness was contrasted by shrunken, sharp leather layers. Those styles, including little leather jackets with exaggerated, high shoulders, displayed the anti-oversize look the brand has become known for, and felt just as coolly commanding and sexy as her larger proportions.

“I am such a romantic at heart. It’s also the way I dress too. 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 was finding I wanted to shrink silhouettes a lot more. The oversize thing, for me, I’m looking to move away from,” Holstein explained.

Spring was really about building clothes from the inside-out and the result was a collection that while alluring from afar, requires a closer look for the beauty in the details.