In 2012, Catherine Litke founded her fashion house LITKE with a vision, to dress the women in her tad boyish yet super feminine clothing. Past seasons, she has been doing just that with her collections, and this season was no different. I was able to ask her a few questions about her Spring/Summer '15 collection but before I talk about that, let me dive into her garments. I walked around and touched the fabric, I wanted to get my own vibe from her clothing.
  Her collection for this upcoming season was beautifully tailored yet very relaxed. It was filled with gingham suits, red white and blue silk plaid trousers, hand embroidered waistbands, ivory cotton windowpane dresses, and white eyelet espadrilles. Litke's attention to detail and fabric was very prevalent, a perfect example was worn by model Katharina, she wore a red cotton blouson sleeve shirt and a yellow silk hand loomed swing skirt. The skirt from afar looked like burlap: which complemented the cotton blouson so well, but when you touched it, the skirt felt so luxurious, and so light, I quickly realized it was processed silk. Stunning!

  When asked why the mixture of prints? Why gingham and plaid? Litke replied "why not?" Being a fan herself of gingham, she says "I wanted a rainbow gingham print, you don't really see those, you see more madras." the rainbow gingham was not only present as a suit, but also as a sandal, adding that right amount of print to her looks. 

  Her ideal women for this collection was what she called her "dream girl, this sort of floating girl that didn't try very hard, but was wearing this beautiful dress, like she just woke up and threw it on." That was the exact message you received as you walked from model to model. Her collection oozed spring/summer with her silhouette and her use of fabrics; it was relaxed yet tailored, feminine yet boyish, and sexy yet cozy. She said "I always try to make the collection girly, no matter what my inspiration, it is a mix of things I would love to wear." 

  Litke's vision for this season was brought on by the 1960's architecture firm from Florence, Italy named SuperStudio and the art by Agnes Martin. "SuperStudio would make these almost imaginary dreamscapes, where they would superimpose these grid structures, and place these beautiful girls wearing these beautiful dresses and have them just like float around, those images started my collection... Agnes Martin's paintings influenced the stripes, and the grid-like lines I have in my pieces throughout the collection." Martin's, the abstract expressionist, artwork is visible throughout, beginning with the pastel blue striped dress on model Amy, the white patchwork slip dress on model Briet, to the pick-stitch embroidery on the trompe l'oeil dress on model Alisar. LITKE has a stunning, romantic, feminine collection, built for the everyday woman who wants to look and feel sexy without having to reveal too much skin.

By Christopher Garces.