Putting on a Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen garment for the first time can feel like crossing a threshold. Her designs carry the weight of ritual and history, guiding the wearer like a quiet oracle through time and into the labyrinth of another universe.
That was the feeling on a sunny weekend in May, when Whalen opened up her studio archive to dress Raquel Willis, Chelsea Manning, Ceyenne Doroshow, Aariana Rose Philip, and other trans icons for Atmos’ June digital cover. The sentiment they felt was a shared one: powerful, defiant, draped—from head to toe—in glory.
In that moment, fashion became a form of revelation; one that reached back through centuries to honor gender-defying warriors and trans activists each of whom had carved space for self-determination. It was the kind Whalen seeks to provoke again and again through her work by inviting both wearer and viewer to engage in their own spiritual reckoning. “I feel deep comfort in knowing that we are here together, perceiving a small section of infinite possibilities; things that are incomprehensible to our consciousness,” said Whalen. “We witness the most amazing masterpieces of beauty through the mundane.”
Whalen established her eponymous Brooklyn-based label just three years ago, but her rise has been meteoric. She has already dressed stars like Rosalía and Kelsey Lu, appeared on CBS News to discuss pre-industrial revolution clothing, and had profiles written about her in Vogue and New York Magazine. Her main source of inspiration, though, is the romantic silhouettes and hoop skirts of Victorian forms of dress. Specifically, body modifying extensions, also known as undergarments—sculpted silhouettes from the height of the 19th century reimagined through a contemporary lens.
“These items are so often discarded, but I believe [their histories] imbues them with something potent, vaguely magical.”
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen
Fashion designer
It’s a vision that feels particularly attractive in a world that constantly feeds into overconsumption. Made from deadstock fabrics and discarded panniers and bustles, which she sews, waxes, stains, and resculpts, Whalen’s universe offers a different kind of salvation to a hyper-digitized world. She draws on history and ancestral dress to speak honestly and directly to the soul’s desires. There’s nothing more vulnerable than wearing one’s heart on their sleeve, draped in aged lace and silk, phones away, gathered among like-minded people surrounded by candlelight (this was the setting for Whalen’s New York Fashion Week debut show last February).
“To feel beautiful, comfortable, and held is to be empowered through dress,” she said. “To feel as if you are expressing something internal, externally, authentically. There is an undeniable lightness of heart and twinkle in the eye when someone loves how they look, and there is no other feeling like it when I am able to impart that with my clothing.”
That feeling of connection isn’t just down to design. It’s embedded in the materials themselves, which Whalen believes carry “palpable intention” from previous wearers. “There is a mark of humanness left by the hands that held it before,” she said. “These items [are] so often discarded or deemed less valuable, [but] I believe that this imbues them with something potent, vaguely magical.”
On the surface, Whalen’s whimsical sculptures flirt with fantasy. But beneath the surface, they reflect a deeper awareness of the environmental crises shaping today’s sociopolitical landscape. Rather than surrendering to the doom, Whalen channels that energy into building a new world centered on craft; one that is as slow and intentional as it is sensual. She sees beauty in discarded linens and cottons that were once tablecloths, shaving towels, feed sacks, and napkins because “beyond their psychic weight, the handfeel is unlike anything contemporary textiles have to offer,” she said. “Not to mention uplifting these discarded materials gives them a second life and helps reduce waste.”
Working with these materials isn’t just an aesthetic choice, Whalen notes, it’s a philosophy. The decision to reuse vintage fabrics is informed by her broader interest in how clothing once held deeper meaning in daily life. “It is so fascinating to me how we interacted with dress for centuries, before the process became commercialized and further away from a day to day engagement or practice,” she said. “Clothing now is a part of life generally disregarded or considered frivolous, despite it being something we all interact with daily.”
But nature remains her most enduring source of inspiration, specifically the cyclical shifts of the seasons, which she sees as mirroring the rhythms of fashion, creation, and emotion. Just as central are the personal myths and recurring themes drawn from her life in Massachusetts: fragments of New England lore that help her “communicate authentically through the garments.”
It’s perhaps why Whalen describes her work as “a very honest portrait of my mind’s eye.” She approaches fashion more like a visual artist than a traditional designer, bringing material exploration to each step of the process. Every piece is handmade, sourced, dyed, and sewn in Brooklyn by Whalen and her small team. “There’s a sculptural sensibility to the work,” she said. “The silhouettes continue to grow, expand, and speak to one another each season.”
For Whalen, it’s never just been about garments. Her practice is about building a language, one rooted in a belief that clothing can be both personal and political. As her work finds new life on global stages, in the pages of glossy magazines, and in the hands of artists who carry it into their own practices, she stays grounded in the quiet power of her materials. “I feel so honored that others see the value [of my clothes] and are able to use them as vehicles for their own communication,” she said.
Each of her pieces is a reminder that fashion doesn’t have to chase trends to matter. It can offer something far more enduring: a sense of self.
Biome
Join our membership community. Support our work, receive a complimentary subscription to Atmos Magazine, and more.