by Derek Lam joined Italian brand Câllas Milano as creative director.
Lam will present an initial capsule collection for autumn 2024, which will be revealed on the morning of February 10 during New York Fashion Week.
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Câllas Milano was launched in 2020 by business partners Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann (Lam’s husband), and Marco Panzeri, chief executive officer of the Italian manufacturer Cieffe. The vertically integrated company offers fairly basic designer women’s ready-to-wear clothing, including blouses, pants and outerwear, some with silk scarf-y detailing, priced from about $140 to $1,495, and a sold at Neiman Marcus, Elyse Walker, Ikram, and An Ardscoil.
“Câllas is committed to creating responsibly made luxury,” said Schlottmann, who named the brand after American opera singer Maria Callas. “Our products are made with a conscious and ethical approach, using locally sourced materials and craftsmanship. Our focus is on craftsmanship, ensuring high quality and longevity. Our motto is: what is beautiful today, remains beautiful tomorrow.”
Lam’s immediate objective is to establish a clearer and more recognizable brand identity, with distinctive silhouettes across all categories, he said. This will include more interesting and exciting outerwear, accessories and knitwear.
Born in San Francisco, the Chinese-American designer began his career as an assistant to Michael Kors before launching his eponymous brand in 2003. Coming up in the early 2000s alongside a generation of New York labels including Proenza Schouler , Jason Wu, Thakoon and Phillip Lim, Lam built his business on sportswear, tailoring and outerwear with plenty of leather and fur. He was also the creative director of Tod’s ready-to-wear from 2005 to 2010.
In 2019, he closed his collections business to focus on his contemporary label 10 Crosby, which was acquired by Public Clothing Company in 2020.
“Obviously there’s always disappointment when there’s that dramatic change and something that we’ve given a lot of time and ownership with our partners and other entities to build,” he said as he left. a luxury brand. “But we were also coming out of a period where it was so challenging to find a good base with everything that was happening with the economy, with what was happening with retail and just with the diversion of interest because of the change in the lifestyle.”
After ending his work at Crosby 10 years ago, he was not sure that he would return in any way.
Lam spent his down time learning how to cook (he prefers cumin beef) and teaching himself piano, which kept the creative juices flowing until he was ready to take on a new challenge.
“I saw the development and what they were building at Câllas with responsible practices and it became more and more interesting,” he said. “It fits my attitude about being a designer now.”
While in the 2010s Lam was best known for dressing sportswear, dressing former First Lady Michelle Obama more than once, and launching a collaboration with Kohl’s, “work now encompasses 24/7 and style is of women has changed from what was traditionally expected,” he said. “So there will be tailoring because that’s what’s great and beautiful coming from Italy, and Câllas is known for the pants and the shirt as a base to build on. But I feel like I should bring something a little more directed and emotional so that it stays within what people understand but also, ‘Oh, I really have to have that.’ ‘”
He is excited to work vertically with the brand’s factory in northern Italy, which is not only a resource for creating high-quality clothes but considers the environmental and human impact of production. “The fact is that the factory produces its own energy…And most of what is made there is shipped directly to the client by someone in the facility, so it’s very in-house with a mix of artisans and highly skilled technicians. expect from an Italian company.”
To be closer to work, he and Schlottman moved to Paris last year, where they live in the Marais.
But Câllas sees immediate growth potential in the United States “by nature of being an American designer, and this is a partnership with Jan,” Lam said. “But I’m also very inspired by what I’m seeing in Paris, where women love their coats, which will help me design with an international perspective.”
To that end, it made sense to discuss the Câllas 2024 fall capsule in New York. “I am confident that we can show something interesting, which will become a blueprint to show how the brand will develop under my work,” he said. “And New York is still home, and I think I still have a nice support group.”
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