Khaite 9-Year Lookbook 7 Iconic Dress Designs : Puff Sleeves, Dreamy Organza

Striving for design excellence, continuously iterating, launching new Lookbooks each quarter every year, gradually accumulating and forming a brand with unique style. Currently, besides Brunello Cucinelliand The Row , there's also Khaite, and later I'll write about Gabriela Hearst.

These latter three brands represent the current direction of minimalist fashion. You can see the popular elements of the 2020s in their Lookbooks from the past three years, and these three brands learn and draw inspiration from each other.

The two images on the left are Khaite, while the two on the right are Gabriela Hearst. Comparatively, Gabriela Hearst is more famous for its woven openwork lace elements. Although Khaite has been doing this since 2019 with consistent quality, it's better known for tulip designs, puff sleeves, ruffle edges, and flounce hems, which overshadow its openwork knit designs.

Khaite and The Row have more design fusion, which I'll discuss in detail later.

Founder Catherine Holstein previously dropped out of Parsons School of Design to establish her own brand, which failed after a few years. Because of these failures, when she relaunched in 2016, Catherine Holstein had more perseverance and determination. I've already written about Khaite's brand story and main developments last summer. Here, in light of the current season, I'm specifically highlighting Khaite's beautiful dresses as an aesthetic piece.

Like The Row , Khaite initially became popular thanks to a signature cashmere sweater. From 2017-2019, they had many cashmere pieces, but after becoming popular in 2019, their design focus shifted toward dresses, with fewer new cashmere sweaters. In 2022, the focus shifted to jackets, coats, leather jackets, and outerwear (I'll cover Khaite outerwear in a future post).

The breakout cashmere sweater was this 2017 red modified version, which removed the chest pocket and had a more oversized fit - it was a shorter version of this 2019 white cardigan.

Many fashion designers may become famous for their cashmere sweaters, but what they really want to design, what offers more imaginative space, are dresses and outerwear. Look at Dior, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood - for these famous luxury brands, dresses and outerwear are core.

Currently, Khaite's most iconic product categories are dresses, bags, and shoes. This article specifically introduces Khaite's dresses, with the best and most expensive made from silk, cashmere, and wool fabrics.

For items with average quality, Khaite uses viscose and polyester blends or acetate and viscose blends. Viscose is very suitable for minimalist, flat, wide clothing designs, often used by mid-to-low-end luxury brands, such as previously discussed Nehera , CO, and Love Toteme? Here Are 6 High-Quality, Affordable Minimalist Alternative Brands. This article includes some brands less focused on materials, such as Rohe, Joseph, and Prune Goldschmidt 's suits and trousers.

From left to right, Khaite's tops, skirts, dresses, long sleeves, and outerwear all contain viscose and polyester components. These synthetic materials are convenient for creating shapes with strong, clean, and crisp lines.

For natural fabrics to achieve this effect, you'd have to see if specially treated wool works. For viscose fabric clothing, just appreciate the design - they won't be as comfortable or breathable as natural animal fabrics.

You can see from the ready-to-wear items below that Khaite's suits, coats, and jackets are still average in their pattern making, with core product categories being dresses and cashmere knitwear. The Row was established 10 years earlier than Khaite and has more experience in all clothing categories. Khaite still needs to develop for a few more years for their outerwear to mature.

Further Reading: The Row Coats, Trench Coats ; The Row Women Blazers,Shirts,Vests ; The Row Dress,Skirts,Vests,Cashmere Sweater ;The Row Menswear

Because Catherine Holstein wants people to focus more on the clothes, and she personally prefers understated dark tones, each runway show and Lookbook has particularly dark lighting. After Khaite became popular, this runway style also became trendy, leading many American designer brands in the past 1-2 years, including The Row and Gabriela Hearst, to adopt darker, hazier Lookbooks this year.

This Lookbook can be controversial - many of Khaite's clothes aren't designed in a conventional way, some are strange, with certain garments suitable as costumes for sci-fi futuristic films rather than daily wear. Therefore, some of the more artistic silk pieces on the official website are not priced, similar to Fabio Gavazzi's fur - you have to inquire specifically.

For the new SS 2025 items currently on sale on the official website, there are two 100% silk organza dresses. The one above is $9,800, already at fur coat prices - Brunello Cucinelli's most expensive top-tier sheepskin fur jacket coats are only around $10,000, yet this price only buys you a thin Khaite silk dress.
The model below is "Price Upon Request"

If you want to see some wealthy and elegant ladies, search for Khaite dresses - those wearing them are generally celebrities, stars, or second-generation rich.

Because many Khaite dresses have different patterns and even different fabrics for the upper and lower body, the upper body patterns are also used to make tops. Therefore, dresses and spring/summer tank tops and short sleeves are organized according to different design elements, occasionally mentioning outerwear when the pattern is similar. Because these brands that became famous for cashmere sweaters don't want to be limited to cashmere, even though cashmere sells well, there aren't many styles in the Lookbook, with only 1-2 pieces every few years - I'll mention these briefly as well.

Indeed, this is the first time I've written such a long preliminary section. As usual, I'll transition with a photo of myself before diving into the detailed introduction.

Tulip Buds

In recent years, tulips have become very popular in real life, and they've also been widely used in fashion design. Tulips truly unify global aesthetics. In Beijing, they bloom every year after April 15th at the China National Botanical Garden Travel Guide and Beijing Zhongshan Park

Skirts and dresses shaped like tulip silhouettes, puff sleeves, ruffled peplums, and flounce hems have formed a distinctive style. The rise of Prune Goldschmidt verifies this trend, and Miu Miu has also shifted its main design elements in recent years from cardigans and skirts to puffed ruffle shorts and mini skirts.

In fact, the three pictures below are all from Khaite’s 2020 and 2023 Lookbooks, resembling unopened tulip bud dresses.

These tulip bud mini skirts and ruffled shorts are mainly promoted by Miu Miu as their signature design. Meanwhile, Khaite’s tulip version leans more toward dresses and long skirts.

In the 2025 Spring/Summer collection, new tulip bud dresses are also available on Khaite’s official website, but the fabric quality is not ideal. Khaite’s pieces, similar to The Row, often have different colors but sometimes don’t even specify the fabric: the white version is mulberry silk, while the black one might just be viscose.

Khaite’s tulip skirts come in different fabrics and colors every year, with subtle edits to the basic shape.

Khaite’s tops also occasionally feature the tulip bud shape. As a core design element, they usually come in two colors, sometimes even four per season. The two pieces on the left are from Khaite 2019 Pre-Fall, 2021 Pre-Fall, and 2025 Spring/Summer; the pink piece is a variant of the white one mentioned earlier, differing in fabric and cut.

The 2021 Pre-Fall strapless tulip bud top came in black and white. The white version looks a bit like the one Jennie wore in a magazine shoot.

Besides dresses, skirts, and tops, the tulip element also appears in pants. Khaite’s classic Trenton Pants feature a ruffled waistband and a slightly tulip-shaped, rounded silhouette, especially noticeable in the organza versions.

These pants come in various colors and fabrics—some sheer like organza, some in leather, and some in acetate.

In addition to closed tulip buds, Khaite also designs blooming tulip bud dresses.

Khaite’s signature bag shape, launched in 2021, is also inspired by a slightly blooming tulip bud.

When it comes to closed buds, Miu Miu has been working on them, and The Row had already partially incorporated this design before 2016. The blooming tulip buds are Khaite’s unique feature. In fact, The Row’s 2025 Autumn/Winter collection also references blooming tulip bud designs in their dresses and capes.

Closed tulip bud dresses were attempted by The Row back in 2015 and 2016, even before Khaite was established.

The Row’s 2018 Fall/Winter and 2019 Spring/Summer collections already included tulip bud dresses for different body types. Khaite only began experimenting with tulip bud designs around 2019 Pre-Fall—before that, it was mostly puff sleeves. However, The Row didn’t further develop this direction, while Khaite continued to evolve it, especially incorporating organza for uniqueness.

After studying The Row’s semi-sheer silk minimalism and ruched dress designs from 2022-2023, Khaite focused on using new organza fabrics in 2024.

Tulip bud dresses also incorporated organza fabrics starting in 2023, and in 2024, Khaite even introduced a leather version.

In 2022-2023, Khaite absorbed new ruching techniques to create new floral forms.

By 2024 Fall/Winter, the floral designs further evolved into distinctive folded flower shapes.

Notice the use of snakeskin elements? This is another innovation Khaite explored in 2023, applying snakeskin textures to shoes and accessories.

We’ll specifically discuss Khaite’s 2023 new elements application later.

The 2025 Resort collection continues with the upgraded folded tulip bud designs.

The 2025 Spring/Summer collection also no longer limits itself to tulip silhouettes, starting to design directly around the organza fabric itself.

Seeing Khaite’s continuous expansion, iteration, and innovation on tulip bud skirts—starting from similarities with The Row and Miu Miu and developing over 3–5 years—Khaite now has its own distinctive fabrics and innovative designs.

The folded flower design from 2024 was also applied to wool fabrics for layered looks in the 2025 Fall/Winter collection.

The two pieces from The Row’s 2025 Resort collection clearly show they are learning from Khaite’s designs. Even the Lookbook photography style leans toward Khaite’s 2021–2022 style.

At this point, Khaite’s design approach is truly successful. They used to learn from The Row, and now The Row is learning from Khaite.

Layered outfits with tank tops have been a trend for several years. The Row also released versions in 2022, and they are still popular now.

Puff Sleeves and Ruffles

The Row already had beautiful puff sleeve designs in 2015 and 2016, similar to tulip designs, but they were just trying new seasonal elements rather than making them a core design to iterate on each year.

Khaite was established in 2016 and released its first collection in 2017, focusing on cashmere sweaters and silk shirts, establishing Khaite's foundation as a brand using premium materials. Puff sleeves, lantern sleeves, and peplum ruffle designs began appearing in shirts and dresses in 2018, becoming a core design element that continued to evolve.

The dress design in the third image, with different textures for the upper and lower body, also became a Khaite signature.

The first 1-2 years of clothing design for each new brand establish its foundation, so it's essential to be clear about what style categories you're truly interested in creating. Later, you can expand into shoes, bags, accessories, coats, outerwear, and other categories, but the style positioning and fabric selection are determined from the beginning.

Khaite's tops in 2018 and 2019, apart from cashmere sweaters, were primarily puff sleeves and lantern sleeves. In 2022, they expanded into coats, outerwear, and leather jackets, incorporating the lantern sleeve silhouette element into the jacket category.

Here's a simple image of Khaite's signature lantern sleeve leather jacket; we'll discuss outerwear in the next article. This article mainly focuses on dresses, skirts, and tops.

By FW 2019, it was already clear that Khaite was committed to puff sleeves, lantern sleeves, and tulip designs, and building on their cashmere sweater foundation, they made dresses a new core category. This season's designs were almost entirely dresses.

2020 featured puff sleeve blouses and flounce hem tops, with ruffles used at the neckline, sleeve edges, and garment hems. Note the shape of the Khaite Bra - all Khaite bras are bandeau bras as will be explained below, and the semi-transparent fabrics clearly revealing the breast are also a Khaite feature, which will be discussed later.

In 2020 Pre-Fall, ruffle details were used at the neckline to design multiple dresses and shirts.

For 2020 Fall, the ruffle details were expanded to cover larger areas.

After a gap of several years, 2024 Resort continued to recreate and upgrade these designs.

Khaite's 2021 collection combined puff sleeves with pleated designs. The shirt's puff sleeves were used at the cuffs, and even the rare cashmere sweaters had a lantern sleeve style.

For 2021-2022, Khaite's cashmere Lookbook pieces used towel boucle textured fabric, which looks somewhat unattractive - too rough and dry.

Two more styles were released for Fall/Winter 2025, though it's uncertain whether they're cashmere.

The cashmere sweaters sold on Khaite's official website are still those basic classic styles from 2017-2019. Although rarely shown on the runway, they're still being produced and sold on the website.

Silk Organza

Puff sleeves and lantern sleeves were rare in 2023, as Khaite focused on minimalist styles and wrapped pleated skirts that year, with a style leaning toward The Row's silk dresses, which will be discussed later. In SS 2024, Khaite's lantern sleeves returned, all in semi-transparent silk fabrics, representing a key periodic upgrade for Khaite.

This year, Khaite's signature organza fabric and texture became popular, and they continued using this textured fabric for skirts and tops afterward.

FW 2024's puff sleeves combined with semi-transparent designs, and the original cotton puff sleeves were also made in a minimalist wool style.

The use of puff sleeve silk fabrics in SS 2025 and FW 2025 is more high-end than the previous pure cotton versions. This year, they began learning from Gabriela Hearst's woven fabrics, combining new woven materials with their core puff sleeve and ruffle design elements.

2022-2023

From SS 2022 to FW 2023, Khaite was mostly making new attempts and learning. Below, I've organized by design elements. The learning and references from these 1-2 years brought Khaite to new heights in subsequent collections. During this period, Khaite primarily learned from The Row's minimalist style, using silk fabrics of the same color family but with different thicknesses and transparencies, and incorporating snake skin elements.

In the first section about tulip skirts, the 2023 SS design is very similar to Miu Miu.

Snake Skin

SS 2023 and Pre-Fall 2023 established snake skin elements as a Khaite signature, with the former designing various snake skin coats and suits, and the latter featuring various snake skin patterned boots and high heels.

Same-Color Organza Silk

Another element is the combination of semi-transparent organza silk with other non-transparent silk fabrics in the same color family, creating a layered effect. The Row's silk spring and summer clothingfavors this combination of silk fabrics.

Initially in 2019 and 2020, Khaite's own research into gauze was quite ordinary, and the designs were not particularly outstanding, lacking significant luster and dimensionality.

By FW 2023, Khaite gradually began using silk with texture similar to The Row in dresses and shirts. Building on their accumulated design experience with this fabric, by 2024, they made semi-transparent, three-dimensional organza-type silk fabric their signature.

The Row's semi-transparent silk shirts from 2012 and 2019, and Khaite's FW 2023 version:

After mastering this combination of same-color silk fabrics with different transparencies, Khaite's 2024 collection featured many dresses in this fabric, combining their signature puff sleeves with newly learned minimalist style.

2024 Resort:

2024 FW:

2025 SS:

Minimalist Pleated Dresses

Learning from The Row's minimalist fabric design with vertical pleated dresses, Khaite began creating not just fairy-like futuristic styles, but also minimalist designs suitable for daily wear.

Khaite released a cashmere dress with a fitted top and pleated skirt, which became a popular and classic piece on their official website.

Minimalist dresses from Pre-Fall 2024 and Resort 2025:

These four minimalist pieces from FW 2024 lean toward The Row's style, though the photography Lookbook still has Khaite's dark aesthetic from previous years. By 2025, Khaite's Lookbook started becoming cleaner and brighter, similar to The Row.

By 2025, Khaite's style had become similar to The Row, though with some differences in design details.

Bandeau Bra

This section should be viewed together with the pleated dresses above, except that those feature vertical pleats or irregular pleats, while this section introduces horizontally pleated ruched dresses combined with Khaite's signature bra design, more like wrapped bandage dresses, along with tube tops, off-shoulder, and other neckline developments.

Khaite's bust design is quite distinctive; since 2019, both cashmere vests and regular vests have featured a 1/2 cup bandeau design.

SS 2020 featured bandeau bust designs in Khaite's only vintage literary-style runway show.

Most designs in 2020 and 2021 featured this bust design paired with puff sleeves. This design is more suitable for A and B cups; larger busts would be somewhat squeezed, as seen on the model in the middle.

From 2022-2023, more off-shoulder bandeau designs appeared, eliminating the puff sleeves on both sides. As mentioned in the previous section, designs from 2023 onward leaned more toward minimalism.

In addition to off-shoulder styles, asymmetrical shoulder designs were also prevalent from SS 2022 to FW 2023.

In 2022, they also experimented with various ruched dresses, different pleats, and various necklines.

In 2024 and 2025, they occasionally returned to the 1/2 cup design, but with more unified color schemes for ready-to-wear pieces, without the exaggerated vintage puff sleeves and ruffles of the past. The silhouette occasionally featured minimalist tulip shapes.

Semi-transparent silk

Khaite's controversial see-through designs were part of the brand's initial tone-setting in 2019 and 2020, featuring transparent designs that reveal the chest.

In subsequent years, Khaite has consistently included one or two transparent dresses or shirts each season, some revealing the chest, while others just covering it. Even with designs that might show nipples, I've seen some celebrities wearing them with a bandeau underneath.

This set of photos in my article was taken without wearing a bra, and after posting them on WeChat, my mom commented:

After I sent her these Khaite model photos, she asked which country they were from and then went quiet.

After a while, she said I would feel pain jumping and running without a bra. I explained that I'm used to it—I jump rope this way and have trained for it—so she had nothing more to say.

Personally, I don't wear one from October to May of the following year. In autumn and winter, I wear cardigans or jackets, so you can't really tell. I only wear them occasionally in summer. This time when I went to the National Botanical Garden to take photos, it was around 2 PM and quite hot, so I took off my cardigan. I actually had brought a cardigan that day but didn't expect the weather to suddenly become so hot. At the end of this month, I'll have to wear a bra again.

Back to Khaite—in 2024 and 2025, they've leaned towards quiet luxury minimalist designs, but each quarter still includes some of these nipple-revealing pieces.

Epilogue

It seems Catherine Holstein truly loves these semi-transparent designs. Along with tulip shapes, puff sleeves, and ruffles, these have been Khaite's three core design elements since the beginning in 2017-2019. Add to these the snake skin, organza, pleated dresses, and bandeau bras that emerged during the 2022-2023 transition, and these seven elements form the core design elements of Khaite's ready-to-wear collection.

I'm quite tired after finishing this article—there were many image materials, making it a very informative piece, especially suitable for readers who want to create their own brand.

What I want most from Khaite is still their cashmere sweaters. In 9 Hidden-Gem Cashmere Brands from the US, France & Germany — Mostly Made in China, I expressed this view: For top American cashmere sweaters, look to high-end minimalist brands like Khaite, The Row, and Gabriela Hearst—America doesn't have specialized cashmere brands.

WeChat | Substack: pamperherself