Katharine Kidd: Dramatically Draped Dresses
The Katharine Kidd contemporary designer label debuted last year with a collection of dresses designed and produced in Southern California.
With nearly a year under its belt, the new brand moved into a new 2,000-square-foot workshop last month.
The spare, white-walled industrial shop in Culver City, Calif., features a few dress forms, samples of the 35-piece, designer contemporary collection, sewing machines and offices for Katharine Kidd and Crawford Shippey, the label’s husband-and-wife co-owners.
They started the label in March 2010, selling many of the line’s sculptured dresses to boutiques such as Church in West Hollywood and Aura in Santa Monica, Calif. For the label’s second season, Kidd and Shippey said they hope to continue making designer dresses with a team of artisans and craftspeople devoted to the craft of fashion.
Shippey and Kidd said they believe they could not make the product they wanted by manufacturing overseas. “With the details, you have to be hands-on about it,” Kidd said.
Katharine Kidd’s dresses feature dramatically draped styles, straps of fabric crossed over each other and intricate lace work. Samples are created in the studio, where two sewers are employed, and the collection is manufactured in Los Angeles County.
Wholesale price points range from $70 to $350. The Fall 2011 collection is being previewed at the SoHo House hotel in New York Feb. 18–22.
For more information, call (310) 839-5433 or e-mail info@katharinekidd.com.—Andrew Asch
