Walk into Kim Haller’s four-story townhouse in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and you’re greeted immediately by her sweet Rhodesian Ridgeback, Lila. She is followed by a studio: a space home to two large mood boards, a giant crocheted art piece, and an office crammed full of books on fashion, Japanese knitting, and, well, everything Kim Haller needs to be Kim Haller.
Much of the home's original décor remains from the previous owner. Wooden staircases balance out cameo patterns along one wall, while bright-pink Plexiglas decorates the kitchen counter. So despite the designer's previously modernistic studio (perhaps informed by her 20-year tenure at New York establishments like Calvin Klein and DKNY?), her current aesthetic and vibe feels just right against dark wood and rustic fireplaces. This balance speaks to the Haller aesthetic itself. Both cozy and sexy, the designer's knitwear has become every girl's dream: think chunky knits paired with curve-hugging bodysuits, or a velvety bra top in a snakeskin pattern.
We stopped by to chat with the designer.
Shop all Kim Haller here
JESSICA CHOU: You’ve specialized in knitwear for more than 20 years. What got you into it initially?
KIM HALLER: My grandma first taught me how to knit on a car trip down to Florida. My first piece ever was a scarf for my dad; we lived in Australia and there was a football team called the Cats. Their colors were navy and blue, so I knitted a striped scarf for him. But the funny thing was I was so impatient that for every stripe, I kept thinking, "Oh that’s close enough," and when you spread it all out, the stripes got shorter and shorter until the very end.
Obviously since then, you’ve become more meticulous.
I was really lucky because my boss at Calvin Klein was this amazing Icelandic woman who knew knitwear very well, and she taught me from the ground up. Knitwear is so different from wovens because you have to give numbers for every single part of the sweater: how big the neck opening is, the cross chest, the waist, the hip, everything. In woven design you do sketches and you give basic measurements, and it’s usually up to the pattern maker to come up with the patterns.
It sounds like a lot of math.
You have to be a really technical person to do it because you just start with yarn, just a string, and you have to figure out how many ends of yarn, what yarns to mix it with, and all that. So I feel like a pattern maker, weaver, and designer all wrapped up in one. I think that’s why I like it; my dad’s an engineer and I like to solve problems like that. If I find a stitch I’ve never seen before, I try to analyze it and try to figure it out.
What have been some of the more interesting stitches you’ve worked with?
So I like mixing different yarns, like a sheer yarn with something shiny or something matte. Some of the stitches, especially for resort, they’re very unusual. The closer you get, the more you see is going on.
Well you also do some unusual knit pieces, like a bra and panty set, and a lot of bodysuits.
I didn’t want to just throw my sweaters over a T-shirt, so I had this idea of lingerie-like knitwear, so you could mix chunky with finer woven pieces. I like the idea of women being comfortable in their bodies, and being provocative but still sophisticated at the same time.
Have you found any other interesting ways to present knits?
Much of the home's original décor remains from the previous owner. Wooden staircases balance out cameo patterns along one wall, while bright-pink Plexiglas decorates the kitchen counter. So despite the designer's previously modernistic studio (perhaps informed by her 20-year tenure at New York establishments like Calvin Klein and DKNY?), her current aesthetic and vibe feels just right against dark wood and rustic fireplaces. This balance speaks to the Haller aesthetic itself. Both cozy and sexy, the designer's knitwear has become every girl's dream: think chunky knits paired with curve-hugging bodysuits, or a velvety bra top in a snakeskin pattern.
We stopped by to chat with the designer.
Shop all Kim Haller here
JESSICA CHOU: You’ve specialized in knitwear for more than 20 years. What got you into it initially?
KIM HALLER: My grandma first taught me how to knit on a car trip down to Florida. My first piece ever was a scarf for my dad; we lived in Australia and there was a football team called the Cats. Their colors were navy and blue, so I knitted a striped scarf for him. But the funny thing was I was so impatient that for every stripe, I kept thinking, "Oh that’s close enough," and when you spread it all out, the stripes got shorter and shorter until the very end.
Obviously since then, you’ve become more meticulous.
I was really lucky because my boss at Calvin Klein was this amazing Icelandic woman who knew knitwear very well, and she taught me from the ground up. Knitwear is so different from wovens because you have to give numbers for every single part of the sweater: how big the neck opening is, the cross chest, the waist, the hip, everything. In woven design you do sketches and you give basic measurements, and it’s usually up to the pattern maker to come up with the patterns.
It sounds like a lot of math.
You have to be a really technical person to do it because you just start with yarn, just a string, and you have to figure out how many ends of yarn, what yarns to mix it with, and all that. So I feel like a pattern maker, weaver, and designer all wrapped up in one. I think that’s why I like it; my dad’s an engineer and I like to solve problems like that. If I find a stitch I’ve never seen before, I try to analyze it and try to figure it out.
What have been some of the more interesting stitches you’ve worked with?
So I like mixing different yarns, like a sheer yarn with something shiny or something matte. Some of the stitches, especially for resort, they’re very unusual. The closer you get, the more you see is going on.
Well you also do some unusual knit pieces, like a bra and panty set, and a lot of bodysuits.
I didn’t want to just throw my sweaters over a T-shirt, so I had this idea of lingerie-like knitwear, so you could mix chunky with finer woven pieces. I like the idea of women being comfortable in their bodies, and being provocative but still sophisticated at the same time.
Have you found any other interesting ways to present knits?