California Apparel News

Photo Gallery

Enchantment and Wonder Found in Dalia MacPhee’s Holiday Collection

Photos by Brett Stanley

Designing for the Holiday 2021 collection of her eponymous line, designer Dalia MacPhee was inspired to create a collection that spoke to a season that is more celebratory than last year. As people emerge to safely celebrate the holidays, MacPhee also wanted to celebrate a return to glamour, fashion and fun.

“The inspiration for the collection was similar to the inspiration for Fall. It was a continuation, basically a resurgence of fashion, which we all miss—an excuse to celebrate, safely obviously, but more social and celebratory than the last holiday season. It’s something for people to be excited about and able to move in,” MacPhee explained. “There is a little of that Roaring Twenties inspiration of getting back out there, dancing and having fun and really celebrating what fashion is.”

For Holiday 2021, MacPhee relied on sequins, velour, lace, velveteen and mixed media. Hues include jewel tones with deep burgundy, stunning red, rich purple, glimmering gold and elegant black. With short cocktail designs and glamourous floor-length-gown silhouettes, MacPhee applied winged sleeves, capped sleeves, asymmetrical short hems and beaded fringe treatments on cap sleeves. The designer also chose to use light fabrics, which would allow those wearing the designs to move freely.

“The main thing is to appreciate every moment,” MacPhee said. “When you look inside your own closet, I guarantee that there is a dress that, when you look at it, all you see is the memory you had from that dress and hopefully it’s a great memory. That is why pieces like this are important. Usually it’s being worn to something that is important to the wearer.”

Offering a special approach to the Holiday collection was not limited to the garments that MacPhee created. Working with photographer Brett Stanley, MacPhee approached the collection’s campaign though a vision that included an underwater shoot.

“There is something about shooting underwater to me that looks like fine art. It feels like you’re being transformed into a Caravaggio painting,” MacPhee said. “When I’ve done the underwater shoots, I’ve always stuck to Spring/Summer collections, but I wanted to throw Holiday in this time because it felt like the last year and a half or two years we’ve been suspended—everything stopped. So, that is what this feels like as well. Suspended in time.”