For seasons the Khaite woman has been stealthy, quiet and pared back. This time the show took place in the cavernous Brooklyn Storehouse, under spotlights in an otherwise pitch black room, and a softer vision emerged from the dark. Romance is the word I kept landing on.

It began, Catherine Holstein said, over a martini, at Venice's Gritti Palace. Her husband Griffin Frazen, the architect behind Khaite's store and show sets, shares her crush on that city, and the two are besotted. The ceiling moldings over the bar inspired the cameo-like cutouts on the pastel shift at the center of the collection.

Holstein used to say they should take things away. Now she asked "what can we add" and I love that reversal. It changes how I look at shoes too, so the first edit below starts at the floor.

Bags appeared in about a quarter of the looks, so they were a supporting act and not the headline. I understand that choice, because the clothes were already doing plenty of talking.

What I like about a softer Khaite is that an accessory no longer has to be armor. A top-handle bag, a small clutch or a slouchy shoulder bag feels right beside clothes that bob gently as they move. The whole collection had a hazy, dreamy quality, and a pliable shape suits it far better than anything rigid.

I would carry something with texture and let the dress stay the quiet star.

The dresses are the heart of this show. There were lace pieces with flower embroidery and exterior basques, pastel shifts that suggest antique lingerie, and sheer mousseline tops and skirts, with horsehair ruffles making everything bob down the runway.

More than a third of the looks were tied at the waist, and about a quarter carried a floral. To me that says Holstein is not abandoning shape, she is letting it breathe. The small touches matter too: the bra that opened the show was finished by hand with basting stitches.

Leather appeared in only a handful of looks and sunglasses in just a few, which tells you the dresses carried the story. A lace-trimmed slip dress or a draped satin midi feels like the right mood to borrow.

Khaite is one of New York's big commercial success stories, so I always wonder what will survive the trip from a dark warehouse to real life. My nomination is the evening suit: a sheer little jacket with a slim skirt edged in ruffled horsehair. It is so old that it comes around as new.

I am tempted by the dresses first, of course. But the suit is the smarter answer for anyone with plenty of little black cocktail dresses already.

What stays with me is the lightness. A designer who once subtracted decided to add, and the room felt warmer for it.