Unlike Kate Bush, Melitta Baumeister is not “runnin’ up that hill.” With a 2023 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund under her belt, and as the recipient of this year’s National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, you could say she’s at the top of it. Not that she’d rest on her laurels. Baumeister is a designer in seemingly perpetual motion; you can see her riding a bicycle in her signature black dress and cap through the streets of New York. Her avatar has also recently taken up residence at Dover Street Market in Paris, giving the illusion that she can be in two places at once.
The two things that Baumeister wanted to bring together for spring were fashion and sport. On a call, the designer explained that she had been “working on sculptural shapes for movement…because we have a running shoe collab coming up.” This partnership is the first Nike has done with a performance sneaker. The tagline for this project, which will be released at the end of the month, is “Run Like No One Is Watching,” which explains the eye embroidery on some of the cotton pieces in the collection. Baumeister, who only recently started going on runs, said she has the feeling of being observed when working out. “I feel like a lot of people who love fashion maybe present themselves more from a fashion perspective…you want to identify yourself more with your clothing identity or fashion identity.”
The shapes in this collection will be familiar to those who have been following the brand, as will the sweatsuit, which has been part of the repertoire for many years now. The double layers in a shirt and the double printing on a denim set were intended to capture a bit of the blur of an object in movement. The pieces with what look like linebacker shoulders (and which were stuffed with tulle) actually referenced an Erwin Wurm sculpture of a top-heavy body on skinny legs. Although some looks were styled with leggings, this collection was created not so much for jogging but for the kind of running around that city people do. You might even call these designs rather dashing.