Puma Golf and Dani Dazey's New Collection Is a Maximalist's Fantasy

The ultimate girls trip always begins with clothes. Panicked texts asking what one another is packing or wearing feels like a foundational prerequisite to the start of any good trip, but especially a golf trip. Often, where you’re headed inspires your packing itinerary. Picture yourself wearing florals to the Scottish Highlands or wearing all black in the Caribbean. I mean by all means you can, but that doesn't mean you always should...the point is, an essential element of golf trip fashion lends itself to where you’re playing.

So, imagine a world where your dream golf fantasy came to life—filled with kitschy retro vibrance, a bright pink paradise as your backdrop, and your clothes matched the aesthetic perfectly. Puma Golf and Dani Dazey, renowned designer, bring every maximalists’ dreams come true in a whimsical collaborative collection in the heart of Palm Springs at none other than an iconic Barbie-meets-Drag dreamhouse oasis.

Sticking out like a fabulous sore thumb within the desert, the Trixie Motel is an iconic piece of pop culture, both as a physical place and as a popular reality TV show. Trixie Mattel, the stage name of drag queen Brian Firkus, is one of the biggest drag stars around. With over 5 million followers across Instagram and X and a beloved podcast with fellow drag queen Katya that goes viral on TikTok at least twice a week—Trixie is a mainstream social media legend.

Mattel and her motel have a hit reality docuseries that follows the inception of flipping a rundown motel and how it was transformed into what can only be described as Barbie's dream world IRL. To make the magical renovation happen, Mattel brought in who some call the empress of colorful maximalism, Dani Dazey, as the interior designer who was tasked with turning each of the rooms at the motel into their own wonderlands.

Dazey comes from a fashion background, working for brands like Macy's and Urban Outfitters, but launched her own fashion line in 2016, Dazey LA, where she really found an audience who embraced her spirited designs in all their glory. But Dazey has always had a passion for interior design and decided to draw in and expand on her knowledge of trends, color, and textiles. Dazey LA morphed into the Dazey Den, an interior design and home product brand.

Creating a wild and whimsy world, with color at the center of all her creations Dazey couldn't be a better collaborative partner for Puma, who holds a reputation for "playing in the rough" and pushing the golf color story boundaries. (Think Rickie Fowler in monochromatic orange.)

What started in Instagram DMs, has turned into a full blown golf storybook. Dani and Puma put their heads together to create one of the best golf apparel campaigns that golf has seen in quite some time. It's fun, it's playful and a departure from the traditional equation for golf marketing. Like come on, a golf campaign shot like a Wes Anderson film at a drag queen's motel as the primary location is next level. Not to mention, Dazey designed both the apparel and the shoot location...a subtle flex.

But one doesn't exist without the other. When finding inspiration for the collection, Dazey often referenced the motel to help her creative juices flow. "When the Puma team and I started building the concept for the collection, we kept going back to the motel as a reference. The colors, the whole kitschy vintage vibe," said Dazey.

"Once it came time to plan the shoot, there was really no possible other place! It made perfect sense as the backdrop for the shoot and since I designed the motel and most of the prints there as well, the vibes synced up perfectly."

When clothes have the ability to interact with a physical space, something really fun happens—it's literal art.

As someone that has a background in both fashion and interiors, I always find myself pulling inspiration from one when I'm designing the other. Print design has been the perfect unifying factor in my design process! An anchor in home and apparel. For this collection I not only pulled inspiration from my design work at the Trixie Motel, but also Palm Springs as a whole. The city is all about punchy color and unique design choices. It has a rich history it stays true to, but always still somehow surprises you!

Dani Dazey, designer

This collection is a true testament to thoughtful marketing.

With so many things launching and pulling consumers' attention in other directions, it's not enough to just produce apparel. You need a story to help breathe life into designs. You have to give people something to interact with, something this collection does incredibly well. It follows a very specific story—one that is refreshed, fun, and female-focused.

This is Puma’s first ever women’s solo collaboration. In past collaborative projects, there would be men’s and women’s offerings, but this is the first stand alone women’s collection and they wanted to come out swinging.

When I spoke to Puma’s Director of Marketing, Mike Diaz, and their Project Line Manager Jordan Ogier, they gave insight on how important it was for the project to be not just female-focused but also female-led. From both Puma and Dani, the mission was to create a narrative centered around women embracing golf, having fun, and looking good doing it.

In an era where experiences matter, Puma and Dazey created a narrative by having the shoot take on a very lookbook-y feel to create something much bigger. The motel feels like a part of the campaign, and boy does it make you want to book your next trip to Palm Springs.

But the smaller elements are also well-curated. There's intentional styling for each of the models. Different pieces from the collection are captured in different parts of the motel that create stunning, Pinterest worthy photos that are enticing.

But what I admire about this capsule the most is that, yes it feels unexpected but also so very on brand for Puma. They aren't ones to shy away from bold prints and color palettes, in fact, they created a whole brand catalog full of golf's most daring looks. They often feel like the extroverted younger sibling of legacy brands like Nike and adidas, who isn't afraid to be a bit louder—but as the brand develops, they are leaning into being more elevated looks with an edge. Staying within the boundaries of traditional gold patterns, plaid and florals, but mixing pinks, oranges, and yellows that feel like overwhelmingly twee.

The full golf resort-inspired collection—comprised of dresses, tops, skirts, and special edition shoes—is now available at pumagolf.com.