Last New York Fashion Week, in September 2024, I left New York designer Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen’s intimate dinner presentation at TIWA Gallery with an aftertaste of soft vegan cheese and cloth – I had accidentally put one of the linen pieces covering my plate in my mouth. This year, I left her AW25 show on February 10 at Performance Space New York with the lingering aroma of burning candles in my nose. The artist and designer sure knows how to create a sensory experience to showcase her eponymous label. Her first NYFW show in 2023 was a labyrinth created by her spiritual godmother (of sorts), Lindsa, who ran a women’s group with rituals and, for her latest collection, she packed New York’s fashion industry into a large, dark room with alters lit from a hundred candles.
Whalen is a true DIY connoisseur. Her clothes, heavily influenced by historic body-modifying undergarments and medieval silhouettes, are primarily made with secondhand or antique materials. She believes both the fabric itself, infused with “palpable intention”, and her own emotional landscape shapes the outcome of each garment – which may be why she’s had people tell her that her pants have come to them in a dream. It’s all slightly spiritual, which is hardly surprising, seeing as Whalen’s mum lives in Salem, Massachusetts, where the Salem Witch Hunts took place. She was pregnant with her when she joined Lindsa’s women’s group and participated in their collective rituals.
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen AW2522 Images
At Whalen’s latest show, a meditative vibe shift undeniably took place. It felt like the entire room filled with stressed New Yorkers took a huge breath in and out. Models wearing corsets, bonnets, hip pads and even armour walked the room under the soft candlelight, lining up in front of the alters, and flash photography was prohibited – forcing people to (actually) put down their phones and be present. All of it was intentional, and all of it goes hand-in-hand with Whalen’s slow and emotional design ethos itself.
To end her AW25 show, Whalen came onto the runway to blow out all 100 candles herself. It was a lengthy and slightly awkward process, and there was a moment when everyone seemed to wonder: “Is she actually going to do this?” She did. After the smoke cleared and the darkness lifted, we spoke to Whalen about infusing clothing with emotion and shifting the energy of a room.
Firstly, congratulations on such a special show. How do you feel?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: After the show, everything felt heightened – like it was a dream. But there’s something more real about the next day after a post-show moment because now I feel like a human again.
It was intense. Why did you want to do a show in complete darkness?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: When I envisioned the emotional tone for the show, I wanted to do something counterintuitive: a show by candlelight. I think there’s something so striking about physically being able to bring more light into the room through bodies accumulating in the room. The audience could see the realness of the model’s humanity and hear the footsteps, and the soundtrack was made with tones that fit exactly the room’s dimensions so that they would vibrate through you.
What about this collection itself? What did you want to say?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: This collection focuses on the sensation of overwhelm, heaviness or weight. I have this meditative vision that sometimes happens when I’m overwhelmed by current events, darkness or difficulty in my life. It’s like I’m in a dark wood and walking a path only illuminated by a candle I’m holding. I’m creating my own light in the dark, and it’s this nuance of feeling something ominous and hopeful at the same time. I don’t think there’s a message I’m trying to send beyond that: bringing light but acknowledging the darkness of the times we’re in at the moment.
There was a spiritual element to it. Did this come from your background? Tell me about your childhood.
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I grew up in the Boston suburbs and my family is very much an English literature kind of family. I went to alternative education schools, and my parents were into youth liberation and exploring yourself. My mum had this practice of earth-centred spirituality, so I learned about tarot and astrology before it was all in the zeitgeist. I actually found it quite embarrassing as a child, but I had this value system of being in a community.
Are you spiritual yourself?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I wouldn’t say I practice any kind of spirituality beyond my personal beliefs. I love reading tarot and my astrology chart, but do take them with a pinch of salt. I like to use these more spiritual tools to get us all to slow down and be in a space of connection. We can so easily forget to appreciate how insane it is to witness a bird flying through the sky.
You mentioned astrology so I have to ask, what’s your big three?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I’m a Capricorn sun and moon, and a Libra rising.
When did you realise clothing had power?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: As a child, I was very into changing my outfits four or five times a day. I’ve been obsessed with clothing from a young age, but I don’t know if anyone really knew what to do with that. So, I started taking sewing lessons every Saturday when I was 12. I didn’t think the path of fashion was realistic, so I thought I’d go to business school, but then I was encouraged to apply for FIT, and I got in. I feel lucky to have found my path and calling, but even after coming to New York and studying fashion design, it took a while to find my place in it and combine my hippie Massachusetts new-age upbringing with the fashion world.
Where are you at with combining both of those sides to you now?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I’m constantly surprised at how much actually leaning really hard into both of those truths about me has opened up a new pathway. Interning at places like Eckhaus Latta and going to Central Saint Martins for a study abroad program really opened my mind. The emphasis on process and research changed how I think about designing clothing.
When did you know you wanted your own label?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I ended up getting my master’s at Parsons, but I don’t think I ever really woke up one day with a feeling that ‘this is what’s going to happen’. It was just being open to following the path with the most support and ease. After studying, I left with an understanding of the value of community and fell into a pocket of understanding. There are so many people who are aligned with my value system and how I think about and engage with clothing.
I’m so happy when anyone who wears my pieces feels impacted by them. Someone DMed me once that they tried a pair of my pants on at Cafe Forgot, and then they appeared to them in three of their dreams
How would you describe how you think about clothes?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I love beauty and the feeling of playing dress up with my friends. It’s my favourite thing to do. But I’ve been in fashion rooms where it feels quite serious and removed from reality, but the people I work with feel so grounded. Even the models I work with are people who I have real connections with, like Judy Collinson this year who was the former executive vice president of Barneys. The best part of the year for me is the two weeks leading up to fashion week because I get to spend time with amazing people in my studio who are trying on clothes and doing weird crafts on my floor.
I saw Anna Delvey in the show. Are you close with her?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I cast Anna Delvey because I thought she was a good representation of the dichotomy between darkness and light. People have such strong emotions about her but regardless of how you feel, she’s someone who has faced a lot of darkness head-on.
What about the armour? I know this was your first time working with metals.
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: I’ve never considered creating armour because I know it’s done a lot in fashion to represent strength or protection. But, this year, I worked with Vasaris Balzekas on the armour because we wanted to play with using reclaimed silver plates and discarded metals as a base. You have these rough-looking pieces that actually acknowledge the brutality behind these objects and the brutality of victory.
Who would you be most excited to dress?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: It’s my dream to cast Hilary Duff. If anyone can make that happen, she’s my childhood hero and I’ve just been thinking about her a lot. But also, so many of my favourite artists and mentors are people I’ve already connected with through my work. I’m so happy when anyone who wears my pieces feels impacted by them. Someone DMed me once that they tried a pair of my pants on at Cafe Forgot, and then they appeared to them in three of their dreams.
It seems you really can infuse emotions and messages into clothes! What are you influenced by, fashion-related or otherwise?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: My biggest inspirations are people who exist in the art and fashion space, like Rebecca Horn and Women’s History Museum. I really view my work as an opportunity to not only look back at past fashion collections but also the pre-industrial revolution and pre-fashion industry. How we thought about clothing for centuries before we had the invention of the sewing machine, and things became more automated. I look at what fashion trends and what body modifications were like then, and then just pick and choose.
How do you make these older references new again?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: There’s a lot of room for new proposals and a new chapter beginning where we have more of an emotional connection to clothing – emotional sustainability. My work is a new proposal for the future, where we feel more value and attachment to what we wear and have a harder time discarding it. Or people learn how to sew and make things for themselves again. I think having more of an appreciation for the craft and for these objects as art pieces is my underlying goal.
I like that you took the time to blow every candle out at your show. Were you ever worried the fashion industry wouldn’t have the patience for it?
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen: Everyone is so busy, and it can become a pressure cooker. Fashion can be so removed from our emotional humanity, so I’m trying to offer a space that conveys something about how I’m feeling – where we all sit with our mixed emotions. It was really important to me that everyone sit in a moment of darkness together after the show.
