Colleen Allen

Colleen Allen

Colleen Allen trained in menswear, worked under Raf Simons at Calvin Klein and designed at The Row, then launched her own womenswear label in February 2024. Within two years she had a CFDA nomination, an LVMH Prize finalist spot and a front row that included Charli XCX and Greta Lee. The clothes are tailored with menswear rigour and cut with something much stranger in mind.

A menswear designer changes her mind

Allen studied men's tailoring at Parsons and Central Saint Martins because she wanted to learn the craft properly. By the time she launched her own label she had decided the menswear conversation was finished and the interesting question was how women actually inhabit their clothes.

Shirting with a crooked grin

The tops carry her training plainly. They are drafted like menswear and then pushed slightly off axis, which is why the press keeps reaching for words like witchy and uncanny to describe a collection that is, technically, very orthodox.

Jackets from The Row school

Allen spent time on the menswear team at The Row, and the outerwear here has that same refusal to shout. The volume is considered rather than exaggerated.

Skirts and the new femininity

Her stated subject is embodiment, which in practice means clothes that acknowledge a body rather than draping over it. The skirts are the most direct expression of that.

Our honest take

Two years in and she is already in the LVMH Prize final nine out of more than two thousand applicants. This is the moment to buy a designer, not after the win.