KHAITE the GREAT

Catherine Holstein's cool-girl alchemy has made her seven-year-old brand a juggernaut.

- VÉRONIQUE HYLAND

For starters, I didn't think I was going to win," Catherine Holstein says of being up for the CFDA American Womenswear Designer of the Year award this past November. "On top of that, I don't like attention." So when presenter Christina Ricci called her name, she found herself onstage "looking at all these designers I have admired and respected for so long and thinking, 'Are you serious?"" At the podium, the soft-spoken designer cradled the silver trophy in her hands, saying, "I've had many failures, so I guess this is failing up."

In a world of social media braying and relentless self-promotion, Holstein's modesty is refreshing. She lets her clothes speak for themselves, and like her, they're understated, but come with some intriguing undertones. In mad-scientist fashion, she's constantly tweaking the formula, splicing together combinations that shouldn't work, but do: cashmere bralettes, sheer stirrup leggings, or partially unzipped leather skirts that look like slick wet suits. Often, there's a union of primness and daring, as in a sheer bodysuit worn under a flower-print skirt, or a black bra layered over a cream sack dress. Even her touchstones, as cited in her show notes, are unexpected-they range from Isaac Bashevis Singer to David Lynch to the darker, pre-Disney-fied New York depicted in Martin Scorsese's After Hours. Even the name on the label is deceptively complex. In addition to being a stylized version of her nickname, it's modeled on the Greek word xaítn, which translates to "long, flowing hair" (something both Holstein and many of her muses possess).