4 New Brands To Know Now On NET-A-PORTER
Fire up your wish lists: Maria McManus, Kallmeyer, Stouls and The Park are the new names to know now, says COLLEEN ROSS
Kallmeyer
When Daniella Kallmeyer launched her namesake label 13 years ago, she had one goal: to empower women in their style choices. “I wanted to create something that felt both emotional enough to tell a story from season to season, but accessible enough that the wearer was still the main character,” Kallmeyer explains. This approach has won the designer the hearts of women in Hollywood – Cynthia Erivo, Sarita Choudhury, Sophia Bush and Christy Turlington have all worn Kallmeyer to high-profile events in recent years.
“The Kallmeyer customer is discerning and strong, she knows exactly who she is and, at the same time, is still evolving,” says the designer. “She is unbothered with fussy or over-designed clothes; she is classic with a twist. The spectrum of masculinity and femininity is a sliding scale within which her style and personality contain multitudes.”
Kallmeyer’s core collection is a thoughtful curation of elevated, everyday staples, each designed with comfort in mind. Softly draped skirts and dresses are cut to skim rather than cling to the body, utilitarian field and chore jackets come in roomy shapes for easy layering and tailoring – the brand’s metier – is made to be lived in. “The sweater as scarf is a must-have for every wardrobe – it’s the perfect styling piece and cool-weather accessory,” Kallmeyer says of her favorite pieces in NET-A-PORTER’s edit. “The new waxed cotton ‘Lottie’ jacket is also spectacular; it has so much detail in such a simple classic silhouette and will be a forever piece that just gets better and cooler with age.”
Based on New York’s Lower East Side, the brand held its first runway show in September 2024 after years of intimate presentations under the moniker Café Kallmeyer – the designer’s way of showing how her pieces work in real-life settings. “I love watching people – how they walk down the street, how they stand when they're comfortable or empowered, how they adjust clothes to fit their bodies, how they make things their own, what they do out of necessity – like being too hot or too cold,” says Kallmeyer. “I’m so inspired by the idea of my product being a vehicle for problem-solving and how good style can both take the thought out of dressing and create conversation.”
Maria McManus
“Our ethos is to encourage our customers to buy less harmful, well-considered pieces and to wear those pieces more often,” says designer Maria McManus. Born and raised in Ireland but now based in New York, McManus is uncompromising in her mission to help protect the environment by challenging fast fashion and throwaway culture. “If a garment is well-made and has a more classic sensibility, I believe it will become a cornerstone piece in our clients’ wardrobes,” she adds.
Emphasizing the importance of fabrics in the longevity of a garment, McManus only uses natural, recycled and organic textiles that are kinder to the environment, fully traceable and responsibly sourced from trusted suppliers across Europe and Japan. “Most clothing made today contains non-biodegradable, synthetic materials that take hundreds of years to biodegrade, creating microplastics in our soil and water sources and doing unknown harm to animals and marine life,” the designer explains. “Our aim is to create a collection that is 100% compostable – and we are almost there.”
Once McManus has chosen her seasonal fabrics, she works with a pattern maker to determine the season’s silhouette. “As pants are the cornerstone of our brand, every collection starts with a pant silhouette (or two) and we build looks from there. Some styles might take a few weeks to ‘concept’, drape, create a muslin and fit, while others take months to perfect.”
The brand focuses on understated wardrobe staples in simple yet interesting shapes you can wear on repeat, from cropped barrel-leg jeans and shrunken jackets to oversized, cocoon-shaped shirts. “My silhouettes are quite classic; uniform dressing with a twist or an extra detail somewhere in the design,” says McManus, who loves to layer her pieces. “I like to wear classic clothing but style in interesting ways – a dress over pants, a shirt tied around the waist as a belt, a sweater worn as a scarf,” she adds. “I dress in quite a masculine way but always with a feminine touch.”
Stouls
Since launching her label in 2004, Paris-based designer and founder Aurélia Stouls has redefined how we wear (and care for) leather – an idea sparked by her desire to create a collection of leather T-shirts with the same level of wearability as those made from cotton. “The leather had to be stretchy (like a jersey) and machine-washable for it to get along with our busy lives,” she explains, adding that it took years to perfect the version used in the brand’s collections today.
Produced and dyed at a tannery in France, Stouls likens her signature stretch-leather to a second skin and always considers how it moves with the body – so it doesn’t restrict a woman’s movements and slots in perfectly with her lifestyle. “I built the brand around freedom,” Stouls notes. Not only does the material feel amazing, it looks beautiful, too. Stouls, a talented colorist, develops every shade herself and works closely with the tannery’s chemist to get each tone exactly right.
“I observe the world, tune into my mood and exchange ideas with my team,” reveals Stouls of her design process. “Then, I dive into iconographic research and set the vibrational tone of the collection through the color palette (the brand’s DNA) before building a plan. Next, I retreat to my home in the south of France and start sketching. If the prototype doesn’t match the intention behind my drawing, I have it redone until it does,” she says. “Precision is the guiding principle for every one of my designs – everything from colors, volumes and details is equally important.
“My collections are intentionally small and tightly curated to offer the perfect piece in each product category,” Stouls notes. Among her most iconic styles are the flared ‘JP’ leggings, the ‘Caro’ dress and the sleeveless ‘Miuccia’ top – Stouls’ favorite piece from the NET-A-PORTER edit. “The perfect evolution of the T-shirt, it’s chic and feminine with a sharp design.”
The Park
“The Park’s customer is easy to describe because it’s me and every woman I know. She’s a fashion lover with a lot on her plate, who prioritizes looking and feeling great. She trusts her classic taste in clothes but takes risks because she knows getting dressed can be an adventure,” says The Park founder and New York native Sarah Bonello.
Launched in 2024, The Park is built around Bonello’s belief that clothes should make you look and feel good. “Whenever I start working on a new collection, I think about comfort, versatility, ease, elegance – and how each piece must create a chic, sexy silhouette. That’s my road map,” she explains. The result is a beautifully curated line of sleek wardrobe essentials that serve as the perfect foundation for everyday outfits, from sculpting bodysuits and fitted tees to figure-hugging midi dresses and wear-anywhere leggings.
“My design process always starts at a café. I sit and watch women walk by and think about pieces that would make their lives easier – and make getting dressed more fun,” says Bonello. “Maybe it’s a chic, sleeveless turtleneck bodysuit that elevates a classic pair of jeans or cropped wide-leg pants that show off your new Saint Laurent slingbacks. From there, I do a rough sketch of my concept and then source fabric.” Currently, the brand is using Pyratex® – a responsibly sourced high-performance fabric that blends wood-based fibers with recycled elastane for shape retention and feels like a second skin.
“I’m emotional about fashion. Your clothes should fit with easy elegance and make you feel confident and look luxurious,” adds Bonello. “Even if you’re not a die-hard fashionista, I know of no woman who doesn’t struggle with stress at least somewhat when she gets dressed. I wanted to change that feeling and let women know that, whatever their mood, when they walk into their closet, they can start with a piece from The Park.”
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The models featured in this story are not associated with NET-A-PORTER and do not endorse it or the products shown