Nina Hollein, wife of Metropolitan Museum of Art CEO Max Hollein, has made a mark in the fashion world. After a successful career in architecture and a pause to raise her family, she returned to her passion for design. Her designs are influenced by her ballet training, focusing on comfort, movement, and personal style.
Hollein’s first designs were for children, using traditional Austrian home textiles from mills she had personal relationships with. When the Holleins moved to San Francisco in 2016, she adapted her designs to the glamorous galas and evening events. She added transparent Austrian tulle to her repertoire, creating tube dresses that can be transformed into cloud-like pieces.
Hollein emphasizes the importance of comfort and movement in her designs. She wants women to feel active and involved in their style, not just passive customers. She attributes this approach to her dance training.
Interestingly, Hollein’s no-waste “color field” dresses achieve their unique shapes through puzzling straight-edged geometric forms. As she develops the sustainable aspects of her designs by working with upcycled men’s suiting, she leans into the hard lines associated with architecture. However, she also creates frillier and more romantic dresses where the arms are connected to the skirt.
Hollein’s work is currently being shown alongside that of Austrian artist Elfie Semotan in an exhibition in New York, curated by Dr. Gerald Matt and called “Inspiration Comes From Everyday Life.” Semotan’s work is known for its non-conformist approach, focusing on people’s innermost feelings and self-expression. Her portraits share space with fashion shots and interpretive sittings focused on fabrics and nature.
Both Hollein and Semotan take a somewhat abstract approach to fashion, prioritizing personal expression and the body as an extension of the self rather than primarily as a tool for seduction or status signaling. This refreshing and apt approach highlights a future for fashion that is about individuality and connecting on a personal, human level.
