The Tamesis
Come May, visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “The Art of Costume” exhibition will see how the human form has been depicted in art and fashion over time. For Fall 2026, Zoe Whalen explores the same themes, but from an inside-out perspective. “It’s really a love letter to the body, especially my body,” the designer said of her new collection, called “Birthing Circle.” Giving birth and growing her Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen brand were all on her mind. “I feel like I’m at a transition point in my practice, I’m at the beginning of a new rebirth; the beginning of a new chapter,” said Whalen, who gave a riveting performance.
Part of the reason for its breakthrough is the emphasis on clothing first and the public experience second. The changes were evident from the first exit, a twisted sweater with a single hook-and-eye seam, possibly designed with breastfeeding in mind. There are pants and more tailored pieces, like a comfortable fencing-style jacket and another with nice seams on the front and back (look 2). The ZGAW show wouldn’t be the same thing without milkmaid skirts and corsets, and Whalen admits she’s “still obsessed with tiny butt pads, but it’s all very soft and loving and still pretty small and subtle.” (A woman’s waist-to-hip ratio is often associated with fertility.)
Less understated was a top with a wire waistline that curved upward as if it fit a pregnant woman’s belly. Drama is conveyed through color palette. The show opened with white, then moved to myriad reds (all dyed in the studio), then black. This refers to blood associated with reproduction (menstruation, birth, abortion). “I really like pushing for more opportunities to expose the body,” Whalen said, “and not shying away from the function of the body. Currently, I’m noticing an increase in covering up and hiding the body, and I want to push in the opposite direction as much as possible.”
This is not an abstract concept. At the end of the show, the designer, dressed in white, submerged herself in a claw-foot tub located at one end of the runway. Drenched and triumphant, she achieved a public rebirth at the end of a performance based on her decision about her bodily autonomy at a time when Roe v. Wade was overturned and many women’s access to obstetric care was limited.
This beautiful collection takes the brand to the next level and conveys a message. It talks about resilience, possibility, positivity and community. In an era of maximizing appearance, when some people alter their form externally through filters and elective surgeries, Whalen praised how the body naturally has “this incredible ability to shape-shift” and showed how fashion can change along with it.
