Timed with the sunset, high above the city, Daniella Kallmeyer made her biggest statement yet — an intentional choice, the sun acting as both a backdrop and thesis. “Mother Nature waits for no one,” she said just before the show. “We can all use a bit of sun right now.”
In an age of disposability, this season she asked what remains. “A collection of memories is a collection of objects and things that have meaning to you. That’s how you build your personal style,” she explained.
One piece that has stayed with her is a dress her grandmother made by hand decades ago. The memory inspired embellishments, hand-dyed bugle beads creating a lattice formation down a black dress and pant. A pale fluid dress in luminous cream satin, cut with a high neckline and gentle drape through the bodice, before releasing into an easy skirt, also read as a nod to the past.
Textures became her emotional language — felted denim, argyle sweaters with sensual holes a bit tattered, faux shearling made from merino wool on a jacket as a soft armor, hammered gold jacquard on pencil skirts. Her surfaces on clothing feel soulful, as if they have already lived a life before reaching the body.
The collection revisited a few greatest hits in tailoring (where it all began) but nothing felt archival. Rather, familiar silhouettes were reworked in new fabrications and finished with new closures.
“She’s a lady, but she’s fun and weird,” Kallmeyer said, describing her client. “She’s taken seriously but she doesn’t take herself too seriously.”
Jewelry by Presley Oldham felt collectible, reinforcing the idea of objects held with reverence. She collaborated on the shoes as well, while larger leather totes signaled a growing practicality without dilution.
Her command of the body remains her through line. Pants were cut looser, jackets gently nipped at the waist but left to hang with ease, and dresses showed a sensitivity to fit — close where it matters, fluid where they should be. As she scales, post her first CFDA nomination, her message was clear: growth doesn’t require compromise. These were capable, emotional pieces — hero items that felt discovered, personal, and quietly powerful.
And that is were Kallmeyer is at its most assured.