Former Mackage Co-Creative Director’s Got Women Covered With New Knitwear Brand

Elisa Dahan, the former co-creative director of Makage, who helped build the company into a global outerwear brand, has launched a new collection of knitwear, named after her late mother. Dodiee is unique as it combines knitwear and shapewear to smooth any errant bumps or bulges.

“I spent the last 20 years building Mackage,” said Dahan, whose co-creative director at the outerwear brand was Eran Elfassy. “I’m really happy that I contributed to making it a global brand that helped change the way people look at outerwear.

“We sold five years ago,” Dahan said, referring to the InterLuxe Holdings Group of Lee Equity Partners, which took a majority stake in Mackage’s parent company APP Group. “It was a very surreal moment, I think everybody that’s in this industry dreams of the moment when you have so much desirability that you’re acquired.

With the future of the Mackage brand secured, Dahan has been free to do other things. “We hired amazing executives that can continue to grow the brand,” she said, adding, “I knew that it was time to do something else that was really close to my heart. The only way I could have left Mackage is to know it will continue to grow in the right direction. I’m a shareholder and I’m cheering them from the sidelines.”

Dahan bought the name, Dodiee in 2014, but was in the middle of charting Mackage’s growth, so the new brand had to wait.

Dodiee is an homage to Dahan’s mother who passed away from cancer at age 45 and its recurring tulip motif a nod to her own love of the flower. Dodiee, Dahan’s mother also loved tulips. “I remember her doodling tulips so I got inspired to do an icon for the brand, which is a tulip,” she said.

The name is obviously personal and Dahan took it to the next level, by making the brand’s logo her mother’s signature, taken from a letter Dodiee wrote to Dahan’s father on their wedding day. The last phrase in the letter, “Your half will follow you everywhere,” became a visual at a recent pop-up shop in SoHo.

The brand primarily will be direct-to-consumer, but Dahan sees wholesale accounts and more pop-up shops in its future. The latter gives her the opportunity to get feedback directly from consumers, and she spent time in the store doing just that.

“The whole idea was to develop a collection that allows you to live a grand life and feel good, supported and sensual, because my mother didn’t have a chance to live the grand life she should have,” said Dahan, whose board of advisors includes talent from brands such as Lancôme, Zara, Sandro, Jacquemus and The Kooples, among others.

“Someone said, ‘It’s incredible that you have chosen to get inspired by your mom, when mothers are the women that shape us,’ which leads us to the product,” Dahan said. “I’ve always loved knitwear. I think knitwear is so comfortable and allows us to do so many different things. Nobody’s really honed in on doing elevated knitwear.

“I wanted to do dressed up knitwear, but I also find that knitwear isn’t always the most flattering and forgiving,” said Dahan, who used patent-pending technology to unite knitwear and shapewear for the first time to create form-sculpting sumptuous knits and tailoring.

“I wanted to find a way to fuse shapewear and knitwear together,” Dahan said. “It’s important to have fashion and function. We were doing that for outerwear with Mackage, and I wanted to find a way to do it again.

Dahan’s coats for Mackage were known for being feminine with silhouettes that flattered the body, many with belts at the waist. “That’s what really stood us apart in the beginning, highlighting the woman’s silhouette,” Dahan said. “I go back to wanting to really showcase the female body and make women feel sexy, supported and confident, because we all have beautiful shapes and sometimes we just need a little extra support. It’s been really fun to see women wear it.”

The preview collection is a first-look at the brand’s covetable aesthetic, which highlights all body types and truly supports the female form. A full collection is launching for spring/summer 2023.

Dodiee, which ranges in price from $750 to $1,500, features sculpted cut-out dresses, two-piece pant sets and handmade crochet body suits crafted in cashmere in a palette that ranges from neutrals such as black, white and camel, to a soft lavender, and peaks with a bold florescent green or fuchsia.

“Women should feel good when they get dresses up and that’s what I wanted the collection to convey,” Dahan said. “I’ve been really excited about how it makes them feel. I’ve now realized that women, when they feel comfortable, do a little shimmy dance.”

Dahan wants to make Dodiee accessible for women of many sizes and shapes. The brand goes to size XXL, and the designer wants to go even further. “I want to continue to grow from XXL,” she said. “To me, that’s really important. When we were doing the fittings, women were taking off their bras and throwing them down and saying, ‘I can even wear it without a bra’, which made me really happy. Again, it’s the feeling that women should have when they dress.”