GREATEST: Daniëlle Cathari

I always work with this concept of ‘complementing contrasts,’ whether it’s in the designs or in the art direction of the shoot. I play with the mix of very feminine pieces with fabrics like silks and wools, next to more laid-back unisex pieces with fabrics like French terry cottons and polyester tracksuit fabrics. 

When I first started working with them, it was very different but so eye-opening for me. I immediately got to see how it really works in the industry, the insight into the production side. It has also taught me how to design with another brand—like, mixing your DNA with theirs and working with restrictions and boundaries, which is all very challenging and fun. What I learned in school was more focused on the practical and technical side within design. It’s nothing business-related at all. I got to learn how to do pattern-drawing, how to make a tailored jacket, to know about fabrics, etcetera. And it was really at adidas that I got some of the insight on how the real-world industry works and all the steps from design to the final product. So it was the perfect mix of my design background with the practical side of the whole process. I’m grateful to have that mix, to have had that experience already. 

Yeah, definitely, because I’m actually quite a rational person. I grew up with a pretty rational childhood. But I so needed to do this. I was analyzing every step before this. I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to postpone my graduation, I’m going to do it this way,’ but in the end, I can really trust my intuition now. And of course it’s not all great—there’s risk-taking—but it felt good. For adidas, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and from there I’ve just been growing and experiencing all of that. 

For sure. What I’m doing with my brand—not that it’s completely different—it still has the same DNA in its design and aesthetic, but it will be more grown-up than what I did before. We’re developing all the patterns in house. We’re producing it here within Amsterdam at ateliers. It’s a different process, but I’m taking a lot from what I learned with adidas. 

Yes, there is hand-sewing—that’s what I love to go in more depth in that tailored way. I like to mix it. It’s all wearable. Of course we have the tracksuit, and there’s a graphic hoodie, but on the other side there’s also a very feminine piece, a wool coat, luxury fabrics, a blouse, a long dress. It’s this whole mix. Most of the pieces are made at ateliers here and a few will be produced in Portugal. 

I was already in high school when I knew I wanted to study fashion. I already had this dream of having my own fashion company. It’s a fun story actually: When I was in high school, I used to make these bowties by hand. [Laughs] And I would sell them online. I love to create, but I also had this big interest in entrepreneurship. It was my way to be creative and earn some money instead of doing paper runs or [working] at the supermarket. I was already into being creative, but also the whole business aspect around it. So right after graduating I went to AMFI, and the course was focused on the technical side within design—nothing business-related. Then adidas came, and now that I have my own company, I’m really experiencing all sides of it. I think it’s really important to have been on all these different competencies within. Like, I am a designer, a creative, but at this moment, building the brand, I need to be in all fields, like, literally, from setting up the distribution to selling the collection. And I’m enjoying this whole process. 

I do know how powerful and how valuable social media is. Honestly, I think Instagram is one of the more powerful platforms and the most interesting one for me, and I sometimes feel this pressure to keep posting stuff and showing what I’m working on [even when] I just don’t feel like posting or often I don’t have time. I don’t plan to make content. Ideally, I just post whenever I feel like it. But I do know how to curate my page, for instance. I want it to be personal, but also work-related to define that kind of balance. It’s stuff I like, what I see around me, some process stuff of what I’m working on, and some personal stuff— and it’s a job itself actually to keep up with Instagram or social media. It is powerful and it’s important and definitely in these times. 

It’s amazing and shows how powerful social is. Most of my following base is from the US, and I appreciate it so much that people really like what I’m doing and support me. It’s all very positive. It’s crazy to see how you can connect and communicate with everyone all over the world now. 

I had an amount of followers—not, like, a large amount, but I do know how to use Instagram, so that’s why I was already posting my process back then. After VFILES, yes, it grew, but definitely after adidas. It was crazy. All of these elements really, I could see it as this experiment. I talked to adidas about it. It was like an experiment to see, okay, I was a student to designer and now working with adidas and doing the design stuff and having Kendall as the face—what does it do in terms of social media? 

For my own first drop, I really see it as this transition between the adidas collaboration and now launching in September my own collection. This drop in November [of 2018] was more focused on the vibe, the aesthetic, rather than on the product. For September, which will be the real collection, that’s more product-focused. It will be the whole package. 

I think around 15. It’s a capsule. 

Comfort is the most important thing—I need to be comfortable. I often style menswear pieces with feminine items, like track pants but with a silk blouse on top. Most of the time, I wear loose fits, or just not super tight. The fabric and the fit is what’s most important to me. I’m normally not that influenced by trends. 

I like the ones that I wore at the photo shoot, the ‘Sambarose.’ I have them in three colorways. They’re just super easy. They have a thicker sole. I’m quite short, I’m like five-foot-four, so I love to have a thicker sole, and it’s a super old-school silhouette. 

In most interviews I’ve done, they emphasize that I am a female designer, and they ask how I feel about that, and honestly, I haven’t really given it attention personally. I’ve been kind of catapulted in this industry, releasing adidas, so now I’m just doing me and making my way in this industry as a designer. But now actually giving it a thought, my designs do empower women, especially the tracksuits and my upcoming Fall/Winter 2019 collection. So maybe I am unconsciously making my own mark that way as a female designer in the industry. And as I think about it, it is a male-dominated industry, it’s just that I haven’t really been standing still. Of course I know it is happening—there’s lots of male designers at fashion houses that have been led by women or doing womenswear more than women, but I am just making my way in this industry as a designer, but also as a female designer. I don’t see it as a negative for me. I’m here to work my way. 

I think it’s really about finding your signature aesthetic, something signature and build on that. Because that’s where people will recognize you from, and that’s a strong point to build on and build it out. I don’t want to feel limited in this industry, in design, so just like [how] I went from studying on to adidas, I don’t want to feel limited. I want to do it like, ‘Okay, can I do this? I’m not sure, I’m just going to try.’ And it feels good. 

At some point yes, but I do like it here. Right now it’s the perfect place for me to work, because it is my hometown and I’ve lived here, and it is the safest as well, for me to build here. That’s just the very rational way. Of course I want to move to the US, but for now it just really works this way, and that’s why I say first I’m going to build this whole thing here. That’s the best way to do it. 

Yeah and I still find it such a hard question. This whole process with adidas, it is an uncommon order to already partner with a big brand before even launching a collection or even your own brand itself. So in that way, there’s stuff I already did. Success is definitely doing what I’m doing now. It sounds so corny, but it’s to do whatever. I don’t want to feel limited and I want to continue doing the things I love to do and to grow as a healthy business. I would love to see people loving the brand and what I’m doing and creating, to get appreciation and recognition from the people that matter to me.