KATIE GALLAGHER: WHITE HOT

You’d have to be living under a fashion rock not to have heard of superhot new designer Katie Gallagher.  Her witchy/rock star spring line was all black, and a massive success.  Short skirts, tight leggings, and phenomenal jackets with bold shoulders are sexy and aggressive- but wearable. Her latest collection for Fall 2010 shifted to winter whites and grays, inspired by her own landscape paintings.  A strong sense of direction paired with enviable design skills picked up while working for Anna Sui and ThreeAsFour has Katie Gallagher riding a wave of internet and print press that any designer would kill for.  She took a few minutes to answer questions for this tFS exclusive interview.

 
 

tFS: Did you study fashion design formally?

KG: Yes, my major at Rhode Island School of Design was Apparel Design. 

tFS:  What were you thinking when you designed the F/W 2010 line? Everyone is saying ‘science fiction’ and ‘Avatar. Was that really your inspiration?
 
KG: Nope, not at all. My original inspiration for the season began with a landscape painting I painted to develop a color story for the collection.
 
 
tFS: I had thought that you were an English designer, because your work has such a dark punk/goth feel. But your bio says that you were born in the States! Where exactly are you from?
 
KG: I was born tiny rural town in Western PA. I spent my teenage years in another rural town in Central PA.
 
 
tFS: With Fashion Week recently over, what do you do when the crowds are gone? Did everything go the way that you had envisioned?
 
KG: It did, the collection turned out well. What I’m doing now is dealing with buyer appointments, making sure the orders from last season are on their way to getting delivered for the S/S season, and of course beginning to think about the S/S11 line.
 
 
tFS:  I saw one other thing in your bio that really interested me… Did you really wear your cat on your head as a child, and do you still do it?

KG: I did do it, all the time. Her name was Thomas. She even gave me fleas once or twice. I don’t actually wear a cat on my head now – Sveater is far too big. He has a bigger waist measurement than me! 

 

 


X