Colleen Allen Doesn’t Mess With Ouija Boards
Colleen Allen, a Chicago-born womenswear designer based in New York, discusses her approach to fashion as ritualistic and transformative practice. A Parsons and Central Saint Martins graduate who previously worked with Calvin Klein and The Row, Allen launched her label in 2024 and has earned recognition as a CFDA American Emerging Designer nominee, LVMH Prize finalist, and Net-a-Porter Vanguard recipient. Her collections reinterpret historical garments—corsets, bloomers, petticoats, Victorian tailoring—through a contemporary lens, softening their rigid silhouettes. Allen’s design philosophy draws heavily from tarot divination, witchcraft aesthetics, and the divine feminine, informed by her Catholic upbringing and its exclusion of women from direct spiritual access. She treats each collection as a cyclical, non-linear evolution, keeping a personal altar and approaching occult symbolism with intentional reverence. Her work embodies darkly romantic sensibilities while using material objects to create access to esoteric, otherworldly spaces.
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