Brit stylist turns designer for sneaker collab

MILAN — Fashion people lined the garden at Casa Deglis Atellani, the dwelling that served as the venue for the Katie Grand Loves Hogan debut. Love magazine editor and stylist Katie Grand, who is known for styling shows like Louis Vuitton, Prada and the Topshop Unique presentation, recently collaborated with Hogan on a S/S 2013 capsule collection comprised of sneakers, flats, purses and sunglasses dubbed “Gang.”

“I ran into Diego and Andrea Della Valle at couture and they asked me if I’d work with them again so I said I’d love to because I’ve worked with them before and it was very nice,” Katie explains at the launch. “They make things very easy.”

“It is in the DNA of the brand to grasp new projects that are in line with its International spirit and easy-chic lifestyle,” says Hogan head honcho and Tod’s Group VP Andrea Della Valle. “Katie’s collection is quite sophisticated and has a strong appeal, very consistent with Hogan’s essence of laid-back elegance. Katie has an innovative vision and she interpreted in an unconventional way some of the most iconic styles of the brand.”

Grand and Della Valle have a history, which made the transition to collaborator an easy one.

“I have a relationship with Hogan and Andrea Della Valle that goes back many years,” Grand admits. “I worked with them for three seasons, so I understand the product. I was keen to bring a fresh sense of femininity, which is why I’ve used so much of that intense shade of pink that has always been a favorite of mine: it’s feminine in a way that’s lively and fiery rather than demure.”

Grand exhumed the Hogan archive and selected three styles — the Olympia, the Attractive and the H194 — which she reincarnated in fresh colors and inventive new combinations of suede and calfskin.

Katie and the gang: Katie Grand and Andrea Della Valle (center) flanked by models wearing Gang for Hogan

“A lot of people seem to think that the wedge trainer is a new idea,” says Grand “but the Attractive has been in the Hogan archive for years.”

Models, garbed in black shorts and midriff-baring sneakers, sported the colorful trainers, stepping lightly on the damp grass in between women teetering precariously on gravity-defying high heels. Next to the painful stilettos, the trainer looked like its younger, infinitely more fun sibling — willing to let loose, and ready to party.

Even the purses, slung carelessly over the shoulder, seemed in tune. Bright colors and hearts, a nod to Grand’s role at Love, were a sweet pop against all that black. “They might be brightly colored and decorated with hearts, but they’re extremely practical,” says Grand. “I always carry a BlackBerry and iPhone wherever I go, so I designed them to be just big enough to carry hold both, along with a key and credit card.”

On straddling the line between styling and design, Grand has a simple explanation:

“Normally I stand back at a point because it’s the designer’s name that’s there and they go out at the end of the show. It’s their neck on the line,” she says, “and for this it was mine.”