Meet the designer: Katie Gallagher
victoria brandt
Interview & Photography by Victoria Brandt, Model Kai Cameron
How did you first get into designing clothing?
It happened very organically (for lack of a better word), really. I loved thrifting and antique shopping as a teenager. I would spend all my time either drawing (not clothes though) or altering the vintage pieces I would buy. Once, I started school at RISD--with the intentions of studying painting--I decided to study apparel design instead. I didn't believe I would ever be able to live as a "painter" or "artist" and I still think I may have been pretty on point with that logic.
“Black looks good on everyone.”
I'm still painting and drawing and if I wasn't designing clothes and creating collections, I'd probably be making clothes and painting and drawing:)
Where do you get your inspiration from?
It varies from season to season. I'm a color synesthete and begin every season with paintings and drawings, mostly to better understand the colors and overall feeling I'm imagining for the season. With this in mind, I decided to make it all about just that. The color and/ or lack there of...the idea of seeing something and it's color just before it fades away. Something like dew, or smoke, or a memory. To disappear.
Why all black, do you think black suits your designs best, or?
Every collection has a different color scheme, but we always use black as an accent color. Black looks good on everyone.
Do you think you will ever do a color collection?
I've done several. My most colorful collection to date was Arena, SS11. Red, Red Blood, SS12 was also very...red.
Where do you want the brand to go?
I would love to create more of home for my collections in the US, sales wise. After all, it is a New York brand in full. I design and produce in NYC. I also still make most of the samples myself in my Chinatown apartment.