Kelly Klein — the ultimate ’90s minimalist muse — is back at it with her friend Tony Melillo, who’s created “The Kelly” T-shirt for his ATM collection.
In true minimalist fashion, it’s not a collection, but a single style, in white — a short-sleeve version of ATM’s popular slub jersey destroyed wash T.
The offering will be promoted online with shots featuring Klein, both on her own and with Melillo, as well as a video where the longtime friends reminisce barefoot in faded jeans and, of course, white T-shirts.
Tony Melillo and Kelly Klein
Courtesy ATM
Klein recalled how she met Melillo. She was supposed to be having dinner with another friend, who couldn’t make it in the end.
“He didn’t tell me he couldn’t come,” she said in the video. “And he sent Tony instead. So a stranger showed up at the restaurant and the two of us had a nice dinner together, not knowing each other at all. And we immediately became friends.”
Klein has lived many lives in and around fashion, going to work for Calvin Klein in the 1980s, marrying the designer (with whom she remains friendly) and moving on to a career in photography.
Above all, it is a collaboration that came together naturally, Melillo told WWD.
“It feels authentic,” he said. “That’s the biggest point of doing something in general and, especially in my world, where T-shirts are so important. She’s part of my brand, part of my life, so it just feels real.”
Having just one version of The Kelly is fitting.
Even Melillo, whose initials give the brand its name, only wears two ATM T-shirt styles.
“I don’t need to wear the whole collection,” he said. “I wear two.”
Klein had one preferred style, and now it’s been updated and bears her name.
“That same T-shirt is her underpinning,” he said. “It’s her T-shirt to go to the gym. It’s a T-shirt to go pick up whatever.
Kelly Klein in ATM.
Courtesy ATM
“I love the destroyed wash because on the hem of the T-shirt it has a very subtle destroyed wash,” he said. “So the slub jersey is specific because it’s something that we own and we’ve created from scratch. And then the hem — it takes eight minutes to do this destroyed wash by each artisan.”
That hand touch, care and story are part of the appeal, he said.
“It’s really going after a realness that brings us back into the foreground, versus just trying to throw clothes out at people,” Melillo said. “We’re really trying to push the relevance of not just being a brand, but bringing something that’s culturally relevant amongst all ages and a community.”
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