Designer Katie Gallagher mourned immediately after dying ruled murder

Good friends of the late style designer Katie Gallagher mourned the death of the creative visionary subsequent the surprising information that her drug overdose experienced been dominated a homicide.   

Alexandra Plazas-Herrera, who runs the Excellent 6 brand name growth agency and labored with Gallagher, 35, explained that the promising designer was generally “ahead of the curve” with her collections, which had been worn around the decades by a slew of A-listers like Woman Gaga and Laverne Cox. 

“Everything that she did became a pattern and popular in the very last two years,” Plazas-Herrera, 43, advised The Publish Saturday, noting that she experienced utilised mesh substance and slash-outs in her outfits and types, which turned well-known next the pandemic. 

“She was constantly in advance of the curve. The planet wanted to catch up to Katie.”

Plazas-Herrera worked with Gallagher from 2018 to 2021, and in that time served her provide her collections to a slew of notable boutiques and stores all over the environment, including Edem in Munich, Germany, and the now-defunct Forty Five 10 branch in Hudson Yards.

“The response from consumers was always how fantastically built the samples ended up, how wonderful the collection was,” she said.

“We were being hoping to figure out how to make that commercially viable.” 

“I’m unhappy due to the fact when I noticed her final collection… I think she was having there, and she did not get a probability to show it.” 

Gallagher was located useless from a drug overdose in her Eldridge Street condominium in July, right after a neighbor spotted her keys hanging in the doorway and went in to verify on her.

On Friday, the healthcare examiner’s office environment dominated her loss of life a murder after determining that she died from acute intoxication from the blended consequences of fentanyl, ethanol and the designer opioid p-Fluorofentanyl. 

Detectives believe that her mysterious death could be connected to a pattern of at minimum 26 recent “drug-facilitated” robberies about New York Metropolis, which includes the East Village, the Lower East Side and the Bronx, police sources stated.

There is no clarification nevertheless for how the medications obtained into the system or whether or not her apartment was robbed.

Cops are investigating regardless of whether Gallagher’s demise is related to Kenwood Allen, 33, who was arrested in December and charged with murder in the overdose theft fatalities of two club-goers in the Decrease East Facet, police sources said.

Allen is a person of fascination but has not been billed in the circumstance, the resources additional.

“It’s heartbreaking, simply because she was anyone so proficient,” said guitarist and close friend Alex Skolnick, 54, who attended metallic displays with Gallagher in excess of the many years. 

“I’m not a huge vogue aficionado…but even I noticed her manner suitable away,” he said.

“I had a number of mates in the scene, females, who understood her and had been pals and who wore her issues, and I could just explain to it had a extremely unique fashion.”

Gallagher, who grew up in rural Pennsylvania, established up her eponymous label in 2010, a yr after graduating from the Rhode Island College of Design, in accordance to an obituary released on its alumni web page. 

She experienced labored as bartender at Flats Resolve Taqueria & Tequila Bar in Manhattan ahead of earning a break with her outfits, and also acquired work as a florist even though she lived in Los Angeles for a period of time, in accordance to Plazas-Herrera

In addition to Lady Gaga and Cox, Gallagher’s clothes ended up worn by the likes of Kim Kardashian and Rita Ora.

Her collections have been also highlighted in magazines this sort of as Vogue, Glamour, and W, and Gallagher experienced done 26 collections underneath her label showed at New York Fashion 7 days and Paris Style Week.

She experienced been functioning on a 27th selection at the time of her death, which was established to premiere this tumble.

Gallagher’s family members started off a GoFundMe July to make guaranteed that the last of her get the job done could be finished. GoFundMe

“The money elevated in this article will first be utilized to make sure that Katie’s newest do the job is concluded and observed in a celebration of her life and perform afterwards this yr in her beloved NYC,” family associates posted the marketing campaign web site, which has elevated about $30,000 with a $50,000 aim as of Saturday.

Gallagher’s father, Barry, declined an interview request and referred to a spouse and children statement. 

“The homicide resolve shared by the health care examiner today…what we knew: Katie was the target of a criminal offense,” the family’s statement reads. “We have been holding this information even though awaiting the official ruling.”

The spouse and children included that they “are grateful for any developments that enable us transfer forward, concentration on Katie’s lifestyle and legacy, and provide much more awareness to fentanyl and related drugs becoming used as weapons towards innocent men and women.”

A memorial provider for Gallagher was held in Pennsylvania in August, and a celebration of existence will take location in May perhaps. 

Further reporting by Joe Marino