As designer and owner of St. Louis’ SKIF International, Ganci has built a brand anchored in extraordinary knitwear. But what’s catapulted SKIF into the closets of Hollywood stars like Lily Tomlin isn’t about Ganci’s keen eye for color, texture and drape. Or, at least, that’s what she insists. “It’s not about my concept on what clothing should look like. It’s more about what is important for something to do on a human figure, a body.”

Ganci has been turning the fashion world inside out since SKIF was founded in 1994. That’s shortly after she had the realization that the clothes available to buy in her native St. Louis weren’t cutting it. “I absolutely had to make my own clothes, because I didn’t want to wear anything that was in the store,” she says. “I knew that clothing had to change. And it has changed a lot since then—all for the better. I love that everybody has his or her own look, and it’s so easily accessible and everybody’s jumping in. It’s not like, ‘Too much is too much’; it’s like, ‘More is better.’”

The notion that individual style is not just desirable but an actual, urgent necessity for modern life feels essential to SKIF’s identity as a brand. The name “SKIF” itself is an acronym for “Sweaters Knitted for Freedom,” and the SKIF website is peppered with quotes that bring to mind what inspired the designs. 

And then there are the clothes themselves. Hand-painted blouses in airy fabrics that seem to float across the body like mist over water. Touchable knits with Rorschach-blotch patterns that make you curious to decode the personality of the wearer. Crushed velvet, blue camouflage, African wax prints, a riot of colors and patterns that Ganci pairs together in thrilling ways. No garment is cinched in. No fabric is too stiff. There’s nothing that restricts the way the wearer can live and move. You’re even encouraged to wear pieces upside down, backwards, to transform a sweater into a shrug by flipping the head hole behind you if that’s the mood you’re in.

“I don’t want to have to be altered to fit into an outfit,” Ganci says. “I want the outfit to fit me … That’s why we say at SKIF that you’re the sweater designer: because it’s your body that makes it look a certain way.”