Love, Kelly: Signed, Sealed, and Sent to NYFW

BY: ISABELA RANGEL / MANAGING EDITOR

Love, Kelly’s Season III Runway Show Announcement, Via Instagram

On a crisp night out in Midtown, I took a seat amongst a crowded room of strangers in a once-empty venue on West 36th.  It was an eclectic group, all dressed to the nines in outfits that could have been mistaken for part of the fashion show. The hall reverberated with music and camera clicks as the models stepped onto the runway, all donned in Love, Kelly’s newest clothing line. 

The lights softened as the show began to close. From the back of the room, I hear cheers erupt as a final person walks the stage. I’m surprised to find that this closing walk is the one that jars me the most– the image of a boy I had met in my speech class last semester, closing out a Fashion Week event, is something only New York City could truly prepare you for. 

With an unwavering smile on his face, Kelly Butts-Spirito, the founder of Love, Kelly, stood center and clasped his hands in gratitude, giving a quick, conclusive bow as he wrapped up organizing his first independent fashion show in the heart of Manhattan.

Kelly (center) taking a bow after his first independent fashion show in September (Via Instagram)

A few weeks later, I found myself in a room with Kelly again– no flashing lights, no runway, just two students meeting over a cup of coffee in the newspaper office. The designer who had a line of people wrapped around his Manhattan venue now sat across from me as simply Kelly, a guy with an idea that followed him from his hometown to the heart of the city. 

While Love, Kelly was founded in 2021, during his freshman year at Long Island University, he didn’t initially set out to launch a clothing line and build a brand. The motivation to branch out stemmed from his passion as a music video director for local artists in Burlington, Vermont, Kelly’s hometown. 

“I always was really inspired by people who brought together, like, creative communities where…the unique thrives. I was inspired by Cole Bennet, who started Lyrical Lemonade, and I was really inspired by like…different people who had these like companies that sort of allowed them to just do anything, you know?” His eyes widened with a scrambling excitement as he talked, and I could imagine the same energy that sparked his company in the first place. 

 Kelly quickly discovered that his newfound passions were ones that needed to extend beyond his hometown music projects.

“There’s a music video director…Dave Myers, and he shoots all the biggest Drake videos…I remember thinking like, ‘If I became Dave Myers, would I feel like that was it? Would I feel accomplished?

“I was like, no, I don’t think so.”

Kelly started his freshman year at LIU as a journalism major, a decision that came as a surprise to me (as someone who thought she was aware of the other ten students in her major,) and as a turning point for Kelly, who was inspired by a conversation with a New York Times video journalist to go to school for documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism. 

After an artist he had been working closely with signed a record deal and began to gain traction, Kelly took on the role of throwing house-party concerts in his town, organizing events that brought other artists together in a collaborative space to share their work. 

“The thing that I love the most about my brand, and what I think has been the most successful is the community around it…and that was the first moment where that was born.”

It was a feeling Kelly reveled in. “I wanted to have something that was a place where I could have community and have an umbrella for the things I was passionate about, " he said. “ At that time, it was almost like there was a brand, but there was no name for it. It was just… Kelly doing stuff.” 

How did the name ‘Love, Kelly’ come about? 

“I used to say ‘Directed by Kelly Butts-Spirito.’ My name is super long, and clunky…I was like there’s gotta be something cooler.”

He blushes. “I was always a very romantic guy…I had a girlfriend at the time and I would write her these long love letters and I remember at the bottom, I would write Love-comma-Kelly. Then I was like, ‘wait a second…what if it’s like the project is a love letter that I’m signing off…’” He motioned with his hands, as if to connect his ideas together.

“Love Kelly.”

I glanced at Kelly’s sweatshirt, marked with the logo of the brand itself, and mentally tried to envision the pipeline of small-town music-video directing to launching a clothing line. With no avail, I asked him exactly what his vision for his company was. 

For a long time, this question was curtly answered with the title of videographer and creative director. Now, Kelly is trying to establish a bigger goal in his mind: to continue expanding his brand into a multimedia empire. 

“It [Love, Kelly] already exists. I do have clothes that I sell, they exist. I do have videos at industry level and I do have a festival (Love, Kelly Winterfest)...” 

“All of those things are real now, so for me…for my own imposter syndrome, I’m trying to embrace [the idea of] running a company…” He trails off, and I can almost see him mentally prepare himself for his next words. 

“I’m trying to say I’m the founder of a company.” 

As Kelly dove deeper into the creative scene, he spent his time travelling and networking in cities like Atlanta and Vermont, where his creative direction would soon lead him to interning with VFILES and exploring the fashion side of the industry. With these foundations, Love, Kelly immersed itself in the fashion world, participating in collaborative New York Fashion Week (NYFW) events and sharing the mock-ups he wanted to build his brand off of.

In June, Kelly startlingly took to his social media platforms to address Converse, one of the biggest names he had previously worked with. It was a confrontation, a pointed and startling jab at the company for ripping off the original concept of his “Dear Love” and “Love, Kelly” branding in the launching of their newest celebrity campaign. The evidence he shared on Tiktok brought over 42k viewers to his videos, with supporters flooding Converse’s posts with demands for accountability.

 In the midst of his scandal with Converse (a situation that he and the company are now handling privately,) people wondered how Kelly would choose to continue to market the brand in the aftermath, a question Kelly kept in mind in culmination to the brand’s first independent runway show this past September. 

“I had realized, like, whatever I do next has to be for me, because I already did all that ‘prove everybody wrong sh*t,’ you know?” He shrugged. 

“Everyone wanted me to be like, ‘This is a F*** Converse [fashion] show,’ but for me, this was like proving to myself that this wasn’t the end of my story, and that my brand is beyond just this moment in time. [My brand] is me, and a show of my resilience…I was like ‘I have to do this show.’”

And he did just that. Kelly’s latest collection made its NYFW debut on September 15th, drawing crowds that wrapped around the street where it took place. His team of models was accumulated from a multitude of creative backgrounds, enlisting the help of local rappers like Zach Kyle, to internet personalities, and LSU basketball player Trace Young. 

I asked him how he plans to handle future collaborations after his issues with Converse, if he would change his approach now, or if there’s any regret riddled in the mix of all the lessons learned. 

“A part of me thinks I should be more ‘gatekeepy’ about my ideas,” he laughs, and there’s no bitterness in his voice. Mainly, Kelly chalks it up to a stroke of bad luck. “I was this small designer for one of the biggest f*cking brands in the world. They’re offering me this opportunity...what was I gonna do, stop and be like, ‘wait, sign an NDA?’” He laughs at his own naivete, not embarrassed by it, but fond of the young designer who was so eager to share his ideas. 

His story with Converse sharpened him. There were many positives that came out of it, he reflects. “It brought a lot of attention to my brand and…I think in some sense, legitimized my ideas as a designer.” 

Finally, I asked him for any words of advice he would give to other students looking to branch out creatively, and what he hopes people will take away from his brand. 

He didn’t miss a beat. “Just do it. Do it, and don’t spend too much time stressing about how it looks right now. Just start.” 

He hopes that people will see the full arc of his brand’s journey: the clothes, the milestones, and the energy that make up Love, Kelly. Above all, he doesn’t want to be viewed as a prodigy, but as someone who kept trying, kept creating. 

“A lot of it is perseverance… My hope is that people don’t see me as super talented, but more as someone who’s super resilient.” He says. 

Kelly’s newest endeavours will bring him to LIU’s very own Kumble Theater, where his documentary is set to make its debut on December 10th. 

The film, shot by Kelly’s longtime friend and collaborator Mike Granucci, will follow the evolution of his brand over the last three years as he turns his wild vision into the creative force that Love, Kelly is today. Through interviews, behind-the-scenes clips, and the growing community around his brand, the documentary will give a glimpse into the work that’s propelled Love, Kelly forward.

The Love, Kelly Story, set to make its debut Dec. 10th (Via Instagram)

For most designers, showcasing at NFYW is one of the most common end goals for aspiring creators. But for Kelly, it was only the beginning. Love Kelly, like its founder, is a brand constantly in motion. It’s restless, driven, and tirelessly hopeful. What started as house shows in a small town has now become a creative community, a world pieced together in bars, basement studios, small venues, and soon, the big screen. In listening to Kelly talk about the future, there’s a deliberate vision that comes into focus–and it’s one that’s meant to last.

“There’s a story to what I’m doing that I think is bigger than just the project.”

Watch the Love, Kelly SZN III Fashion Show here