Griffin Frazen on conceiving the cinematic runway units for New York label Khaite

When New York-based label Khaite opened its first retailer on SoHo’s Mercer Avenue in 2023, it was a definitive assertion of intent: sharing a metropolis block with the OMA-designed ‘Prada Epicenter’ (arguably probably the most influential retailer inside of the previous three a long time), alongside shut neighbours Marni, Alaïa and Balenciaga, the shop’s prime location was symbolic of founder and artistic director Catherine Holstein’s swift rise to prominence after beginning Khaite in 2016 (in 2022, she was named womenswear designer of the 12 months on the CFDA Awards; a 12 months later she would promote an 80 per cent stake to fairness funding agency Stripes for an estimated $150 million).

The shop’s interiors, created in collaboration together with her husband, architectural designer Griffin Frazen, had been a mirrored image of the designer’s bold imaginative and prescient for Khaite: unfolding over 7,000 sq ft, the metallic and gray plaster-clad house is evocative of a surreal bunker, extra akin to strolling onto a movie set than a style retailer (cinema has lengthy been an affect to Holstein’s work, with David Lynch being a perennial reference). At its centre is a dramatic shaft of sunshine, illuminating an actual tree beneath, designed to bloom throughout the altering seasons. Frazen describes the arresting design as ‘elemental’; it has offered the blueprint for Khaite’s different shops throughout america, the newest of which opened on Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles earlier this week.

Born in Los Angeles, Frazen – who has beforehand created stage design for Solange Knowles and helped Brady Corbet think about the fictional architectural masterpieces of László Toth in The Brutalist – additionally works with Holstein to conceive the scenography for her runway reveals. Final season, he imagined a raised yellow runway in an ideal loop – a Lynchian tackle the Yellow Brick Highway – whereas earlier reveals have taken place in a creeper-strewn basement of a New York residence, on a high-gloss black runway whereby fashions emerged from pitch darkness, or contained in the Park Avenue Armory, whereby a collection of roving spotlights evoked the high-glamour runway reveals of the Nineties.

‘[The collection and set] actually occur in parallel,’ Frazen tells Wallpaper*. ‘Cate and I work independently for some time, then sit down and check one another’s concepts – in the long run, it’s virtually like a Rorschach train. Cate may be very visible, so I strive to not present her half-ideas; once I do present one thing, it wants to speak clearly. Two weeks earlier than the present, when styling begins, that’s when the gathering lastly reveals itself as a cohesive physique. By then, the set is in course of, however we maintain it porous sufficient to reply to what the garments are saying.’

For Holstein’s S/S 2026 present, which was held within the hanger-like McCourt theatre at multifunctional arts house The Shed this previous weekend (the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed constructing is a part of the Hudson Yards improvement on New York’s west aspect), Frazen created maybe his most bold present set but – a black pool of water dotted with jagged ‘rocks’ and misted with steam, over which fashions walked by way of a collection of angular runways. ‘An expansive pool of water, a panorama,’ is how Frazen describes the abstracted design, which some commentators likened to a collection of floating glaciers.

The steam, which was generated from the pool of water, was a selected problem: ‘In contrast to standard stage haze, water vapour has weight – it adjustments humidity, catches gentle in another way, softens edges, and alters acoustics,’ Frazen says. ‘[We wanted] the topography [to be] intentionally fragmented, so the house reads in another way from each seat and in each digital camera angle. It was thrilling to work with completely different states of matter – water and vapour. [These] extra immaterial set items [are] not normally out there to structure.’

In contrast to different runway units, which could evoke a selected thematic story, Frazen says he sees his position as to create ‘a context that permits the garments to declare themselves’. For S/S 2026, Holstein had thought concerning the fashions ‘as distinct characters, so the set grew to become an summary web site for these characters to inhabit. The fashions’ paths multiply and intersect, creating moments of near-collision and divergence. It’s the alternative of final season’s excellent circle, which was a single, legible object. Robert Wilson usually described his theatre as a “time–house building” – that’s how I take into consideration these reveals, [with] kind, gentle, sound, and motion introduced collectively.’

Versus making a style retailer – a course of which may unfold over a number of months – the creation of a present set is speedy, with fast-changing calls for. ‘There’s little or no room for prototyping, and when one thing shifts, you resolve it in actual time,’ he says. ‘Final season demanded a seamless, singular object; this time the sheer floor space and supplies made that unrealistic, so we embraced a visual grid of parts, which strengthened the thought of a damaged panorama. We additionally had a really massive cargo delayed in customs and pivoted to an alternate end days earlier than load-in.’

Frazen says that it’s only on the present itself that you simply get the ultimate image: ‘[I want the audience not to be] spectators, however members – on the identical floor because the fashions, sharing the air, the sound, the moisture. I need it to be immersive and transporting. At its finest, house carries emotional cost; if folks really feel moved – and if the atmosphere amplifies the gathering – then we’ve succeeded.’