Katrin Schnabl

Biography

About the work

Katrin Schnabl’s elegant, often surprising pieces evoke a familiar yet unconventional feeling. She has always been engaged with dance, trained and performed as a modern dancer and designed apparel for dancers and performers. This experience continues to inform her focus on the dynamic human body, but she also understands how clothing can arouse the imagination of those who are captivated when they see her work. Her adventurous designs naturally connect fluid, sculptural forms as she carefully observes the body moving through light and space.

As they become enduring classics in their own right, her dresses and separates often appear quite simple at first glance. Thoughtful, frequently intriguing construction and refined materials yield poised, versatile pieces that enhance a wide range of body types. Inventive draping and fastening methods are symbiotic with her enigmatic cuts and construction. Schnabl’s pieces challenge the wearer to immerse herself in finding new ways to integrate separates into her existing wardrobe as well as her lifestyle.

About the designer

German-born Katrin Schnabl has been presenting collections since the mid 1990s, following a career as a professional modern dancer. It was her natural next step of designing dancers’ performance garments that led her into the world of fashion. In 2002 she launched her signature collection. She graduated summa cum laude from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and worked in the ateliers of several noted fashion designers before branching out on her own. Her work has been featured in WWD, Wired, GapD, the Village Voice, The New York Times, Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. She came to Chicago in 2004 at the invitation of the School of the Art Institute’s Fashion Department, where she currently teaches beginning and advanced studio courses. Previously, she taught at Parsons School of Design in New York.