Daniella Kallmeyer’s Spring 2013 collection, ‘Speed and Stillness,’ offered a sporty-spin to her expertly tailored styles. Citing nineties minimalism and cycle shirts spotted while riding her bike down the West Side highway as inspiration, Kallmeyer added edge to the sports-themed collection through forward pairings such as pony-hair and nylon and offering activewear styles in leather—a stretch leather sports bra, perforated leather tanks, perforated leather running shorts, leather bike shorts. She also energized her usual strong and androgynous lines and silhouettes (and typically all-black color palette) this season with pops of pastels—peach, sky blue—and orange that surfaced via solid suiting separates and digital prints. Models sporting slicked-back, braided manes paraded down the AstroTurf runway to No Doubt’s latest single, ‘Settle Down,’ donning reflective sunglasses and KT tape to further her sports-chic vision.
We had the opportunity to briefly chat with Daniella about her 2013 collection and her music of choice. Here’s what she had to say:
Courtney Porkolab - I loved your collection and how you managed to turn out sporty separates with downtown-appeal…I loved all the leather! I couldn’t help but notice the abundance of KT Tape on the models. I thought this was a brilliant styling move. Was this inspired by the KT Tape rage at the Olympics?
Daniella Kallmeyer - For the tape definitely, we thought it was really cool to mix the pops of colors with the KT Tape. My inspiration for the sportswear started long before the buzz of the Olympics. It just happened coincidentally to be really good timing. But it was really this thing I felt—girls wearing sneakers that were more fashionable than their heels, more fashionable than their wedges. The whole leggings culture, the whole gym / yoga culture is really cool to me. I live on the Upper West Side, I have a single speed bike and ride down the Westside highway with a beautiful view of the Hudson. I was really intrigued by cycle shirts—cycle T-shirts and tanks—and the beautiful lines in them and the pockets in the back. I’d ride behind these people that look so serious and think ‘that’s very chic,’ which I know that’s not what they were thinking when they put it on! From the beginning I had envisioned this sort of 90’s minimalism, era of the Supermodel vein throughout the collection. And so, this fanny pack that took form somehow by mixing 90’s and the pouches on the biker outfits really was the seed and the collection grew from there.
CP - What do you feel you improved on this season?
DK - Color. Color. My mom was really happy about that! I was really intrigued with pastels at the beginning of starting the collection. I wanted to find a way— how can I make peach quite strong and almost androgynous, how can I make baby blue feel feminine? It was that sort of dichotomy—how do I use pastels in very strong ways so it doesn’t feel like pastels in a soft, airy way but rather in a strong and structured way. So I maintained that same line, same silhouette that I have season after season. The pieces that had certain colors had those colors for reasons.
CP - I loved the runway music. Do you listen to anything particular throughout your design process?
DK - No, not at all. One day I could be listening to A$AP Rocky and the next day I could be listening to Madame Butterfly—both on full blast and it doesn’t really matter. We were really into this new No Doubt Track. The original thought for the track was going to be, ‘I’m Just a Girl,’ and then we felt like this was the fresh new twist on it [New Doubt’s latest single, ‘Settle Down’]. I liked that it sort of felt like you were at a soccer game; it felt very International, very Olympian. We love the track. My friend, DJ Julia Jacobson helped me mixed it. It was very collaborative effort.