KSW x Antonio Melani Summer 2022 Collection Inspiration

It is almost here!  My 2022 collaboration with Antonio Melani, exclusively at Dillards, launches officially on May 2nd!  I’m incredibly excited that the dresses have arrived and I hope you love them as much as I do!

This year, my inspiration came from past summer vacations and gatherings that bring back really happy memories.  Because I had a little bit of an idea of what to expect after last year’s collaboration process, I really put a lot of thought into how I wanted you to FEEL in the dresses!  So many of last year’s supporters told me that they loved how easy, comfortable and flattering they found the dresses and I wanted to create the same type of collection.  My goal for these dresses is that, when you go to your closet to get dressed in the morning, seeing a KSWxAM dress hanging there makes you want to reach for it and makes you happy!

The first step in the planning process for the collection was for me.  Last Fall, the talented design team at Antonio Melani asked me to send them some inspiration and told me it could be anything!  We needed a launching point and some visual cues to let the design team get to know me better. I put some thought into what I hoped our daily lives would be like come summer.  I wanted the collection to truly exemplify my favorite parts of my lifestyle, from the shapes and styles to the colors.

As most of the collection was created over virtual meetings, I sent the talented AM design team a digital board full of images from our summer vacations, our home and the some of the dresses in my closet that I found myself wearing over and over again.  In the images above, there are gorgeous details from a favorite holiday in Venice, our bedroom’s Gracie Wallpaper, a corner banquette in our home that was featured in Veranda Magazine, a favorite china pattern called Famille Verte, a few tablescapes including a favorite from my new book, A Loving Table, created by the talented Sharon Lee Clark,

After they took a look at my inspiration boards, we regrouped with a virtual meeting and took a look at the design teams first round of drawings.  Just like last year, it was amazing!  There were so many wonderful options and the hardest part of the process was narrowing down their initial designs to the edited collection that we are offering in May!  Samples were made and shipped to my home so that we could feel the fabrics, consider the placement of zippers and ties, and really think about who and how they would be worn.  My sisters and my mother came over, tried the dresses on, and we put careful consideration into what we would chose to put on if these dresses were in our closets.  I was so impressed by the attention to details and experience of the Antonio Melani designers.

I was also impressed with the “fitting” part of the design process.  Getting to try the samples on with my sisters and my mother really helped with that part too!  Simple things like zippers and pockets and hooks and snaps really make a difference and they are hard to determine until you really get to try things on.

Millie got to design a dress this season too!  I’m so happy that she selected a dress made out of one of the same fabrics from the ladies collection.  She loved it and the design team modified it to suit the little ones!  I hope they will be a hit with the little ladies in your life!