Copyright Westword
From fierce competition, financial hardships, harsh criticism and long hours, fashion design is full of challenges that can take a toll on a designer’s mental health. A creative designer can either give up or choose to use the struggle to inspire them. Dani Kaiser of Dani K Designs chose the latter. The 25-year-old knew at the age of nine that she wanted to become a fashion designer after seeing an article in a TIME For Kids magazine about a girl who was making clothes and holding trunk shows. From there, Kaiser started making her own clothes. At age 13, she drew attention from a local news show as a child designer who could bring sketched ideas to life. By the time she was ready for college, she decided to pursue it as a career, graduating from the University of Cincinnati. She says her great-grandmother was her biggest supporter, teaching her sewing and partnering with her great-aunt to pool funds to buy her a high-quality sewing machine. “They saw the creative side of me and often gave me things for Christmas and birthdays to tap into that,” Kaiser recalls. She debuted at Colorado’s largest fashion event, Denver Fashion Week in the spring of 2024 with a collection that tells her story of independence as a solo traveler, featuring luxury looks in black-and-white contrasts, inspired by visits to the Alps and Europe. Now she is returning to this fall’s upcoming Denver Fashion Week, November 8-16, where her designs will be featured in High Altitude Night on November 16. Although she had accolades and family support, Kaiser says her biggest challenge was overcoming self-doubt. “There have been times that I’ve thought about doing something, or going all-in on something, and I had hesitations, thinking, ‘What if it doesn’t work out, or what if I’m not doing it right, or what if it’s not what people are expecting?'” she admits. The competition in the fashion industry also stoked her insecurities. “You’ve got a million other people trying to do the same thing,” she says. “You have to have the confidence to find what’s going to set you apart from every other person.” Narrowing down one niche was difficult for Kaiser, who loves designing everything from coats to formal dresses, but she eventually found her niche in high-quality, ultra-stylish winter wear suitable for the mountains or a jet-set lifestyle. “I want people to come to me because I do this thing that nobody else is focusing on, and I do it really well.” She found her catalyst in outerwear, particularly jackets, citing an Italian leather jacket she purchased during her trip to Italy as a guiding light. “It’s like a hug. It’s that feeling you get when you put that on, you feel protected. Like you can go about your day and tackle anything.” Although she’s a Denver native and lover of the mountains, Kaiser admits she doesn’t ski. She wants to design for others who don’t participate in the sport but instead are drawn to the “après ski” scene, the French term for “after skiing,” meaning the social activities that happen outside the time on the slopes. Her goal is to provide quality clothing that will keep you warm, last a long time and travel well for when you might jet off to another fabulous mountain vacation. “I’ve found that many people I talk to who are true Colorado natives don’t ski,” she observes. “So, what do we wear if we still want to enjoy the mountains?” She acknowledges that so much of the “Colorado Casual” Denverites wear looks the same — a sea of basic puffy coats, jeans and leggings. She aspires to provide more fashionable options. Kaiser says the collection she plans to show at Denver Fashion Week’s High Altitude Night will be a combination of her love for après-ski lifestyle wear and her life experiences. She admits she let her self-doubt get the best of her following her first show and fell into a deep depressive state. Again, she’s using that experience as inspiration for her new collection. “It’s called ‘Off the Rails,’ and that comes from what I went through, a long period of time where I just was not well in my head,” she explains. “I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t thinking of myself in the best light. It just felt like everything crashed. I hope to make something beautiful out of the train wreck by picking up the pieces and getting back on track.” Metaphorically, she sees her collections as a journey. She says participating in fashion shows, including Denver Fashion Week, is a way to tell her story. “I want people to get that experience and feel the emotions that are tied with that.” While Kaiser says she’s not sure what’s next for her after this show, lamenting a recent layoff from her day job at a major sportswear company, she plans to keep building her brand and see where it takes her, stating that designing clothing brings her satisfaction and excitement. “It’s just the feeling you get,” she says. “Creating things and seeing the pictures in your head come to life — it’s really fun.”
