Back in the ‘90s, downtown style was dominated by designer Daryl K. The K stands for Kerrigan, but I prefer to think it’s for “kewl.” Now, as then, Daryl K oozes cool-girl chic.
NextTribe will offer its Downtown NYC Insider Tour again in April 2024. Find out more here.
At the NextTribe-hosted NYC Insider Tour fashion luncheon last month, Kerrigan (and designer Azin Valy; more on her later) sparked a style conversation at Jeannie Ralston’s downtown loft. Kerrigan, who now lives in the hipster-haven Catskills countryside (and sometimes Brooklyn), commented that she felt like she was home—home being the old-school East Village neighborhood where it all began for her, just around the corner, decades ago.
Maybe you owned a pair of Daryl K black stretch leather leggings everybody was wearing then or the low-slung bootleg jeans favored by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. Or, you might be coveting them still (if so, lucky you). Kerrigan’s take on fashion now is pretty similar to then: Wear things that enhance your body, are comfortable, allow you to move, and make you happy. Buy less, but buy high quality.
Daryl K Signature Silhouettes
Daryl K showing her classic pieces and offering pointers at the NextTribe Fashion Lunch last month
Kerrigan’s Instagram bio hashtag—#NYCLikeItUsedToBe—underscores her Daryl K signature silhouettes; though these days, she admits she’s more focused on getting things right for women’s bodies as they age. After all, the designer is aging boldly herself. Her tips? “You want a bigger, longer shirt that hides the belly. Keep the good-looking parts of the legs, showing them off with the stretch leather leggings or skirts.”
‘Keep the good-looking parts of the legs, showing them off with the stretch leather leggings or skirts.’
Kerrigan creates an evergreen collection of great-looking basics to be worn over and over again. Like her super-soft India cotton plaid peasant shirt, saucily tucked into the patchwork stretch leather A-line skirt or the ubiquitous leggings or jeans, accented by her chic Chelsea or slouchy cowboy boots. She points out that the leathers, made from lambskin bonded to 96 percent cotton/four percent spandex, stretch to fit any body type at any age.
“I want to make things that women my age can wear,” she says. “I didn’t want to be creating ‘more’ in the fashion world. I think fashion is a big problem. It’s dreadful. There should be quotas about how much can be made and who can use up the resources.” Insightful, thought-provoking words from a sustainably-minded designer that were very timely (the lunch took place on Earth Day 2023).
Kerrigan herself wore a minimal, rolled-up-at-the-sleeves cream silk reversible shirt (wear matte or satin side out, the buttons work both ways), and, of course, her archetypal black stretch leather leggings with trainers. She said she wears her leggings every. Single. Day. And prodded Tribers to do the same. Remember that “buy less, but buy high quality” directive? She still carries the original leather body bag she first designed more than 10 years ago—a design imitated everywhere.
The Coming of “Cool”
Even the lilting Irish articulation of the Dublin-born designer up-levels her coolness factor. We hang on her every word, following her career moves. After studying fashion abroad, she moved to NYC in 1986, where she worked as wardrobe stylist for Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train. She went on to outfit Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, and after that she worked with bands, cementing a longtime friendship with Sonic Youth’s Gordon.
She looked back at being a “picker” for Reminiscence, the Uber-cool thrift store on lower Fifth Avenue back in the day, traveling to the Bronx to “pick” thrift clothes from bins of clothing pre-sorted by fabric. “That’s what led me to become discerning about material and quality,” she explains.
Her trajectory was meteoric, and the downtown underground design scene rose in popularity and accessibility.
Fittingly, a pair of flocked velvet men’s vintage pants found during one Bronx pilgrimage inspired her very first design: boot-cut, low-slung flares. She began producing them by hand in the back of her East Village Daryl K shop on 6th Street near 3rd Avenue.
“I made six to eight pairs of those hip huggers a day,” she says. Then in 1995, when Vogue featured her designs, her business really took off. The next year, she won the coveted CFDA Perry Ellis Award. Her trajectory was meteoric, and the downtown underground design scene rose in popularity and accessibility. Through the years, Kerrigan stayed true to her personal way of dressing and designing.
“I wanted to be cool, I just didn’t want to stand out,” she says. “I wanted to wear clothes that allowed me to move, to have clothes that fit. The leather leggings with the stretch do that. They last forever.”
She passed one of her still-sumptuous stretch lambskin pieces around to the group. “This is my own skirt,” she says. “My own skirt! I just brought what I had in my closet to show you all! It’s at least 10 years old. And I love it still.”
That longevity of coolness—hopefully—will mean we will see more Daryl K. At the end of the luncheon, she snuck in that she’s written a fashion-centric memoir. Now that’s way cool. And definitely something we’ll want to hear more about soon.
Read More: Fashion Sensation Lyndie Benson Reveals How She Got Her Mojo Working at Midlife
0 Comments