Colleen Allen, Hodakova win celeb backing
- Vogue reported on April 24 that celebrities and stylists are increasingly dressing stars in newer labels including Colleen Allen, Hodakova and Fforme, extending runway buzz onto premieres, galas and front rows. - Recent examples include Olivia Munn in a deconstructed white Fforme dress at a March 31 New York premiere, and Lily Allen in Colleen Allen at the 2025 CFDA Awards. - The attention is landing as Colleen Allen entered the 2026 LVMH Prize semifinals and Hodakova builds on its 2024 LVMH Prize win. (vogue.com)
Celebrities and their stylists are giving smaller fashion labels a bigger share of the red carpet. Vogue singled out Colleen Allen, Hodakova and Fforme in an April 24 report on the shift. (vogue.com) The pattern is showing up across different kinds of visibility at once: premieres, awards shows and fashion-week seating charts. That matters because these brands are still in the stage where one well-photographed look can define a season. (vogue.com) (wwd.com) Fforme got one of those moments on March 31, when Olivia Munn wore a white deconstructed maxidress from the label’s fall 2025 collection to the “Your Friends & Neighbors” season two premiere in New York. WWD said the look came from Frances Howie’s runway and kept the brand’s “undone elegance” intact on the carpet. (wwd.com) Fforme has also been building celebrity proximity inside the shows themselves. WWD’s front-row gallery from its fall 2026 presentation listed Hari Nef, Morgan Spector and Rebecca Hall among the attendees. (wwd.com) Colleen Allen’s rise has followed a similar path, but with a sharper awards-season stamp. At the 2025 Council of Fashion Designers of America awards in New York, Lily Allen wore a lace-trimmed bralette, ivory satin skirt and oversized satin coat from Colleen Allen’s spring 2026 collection. (wwd.com) That appearance landed just as Colleen Allen’s industry profile was climbing. WWD reported in February that the New York designer had joined the 2026 LVMH Prize semifinalists, a shortlist that often functions as a global introduction for independent labels. (wwd.com) Allen’s collections give stylists a clear visual hook. Her spring 2026 press materials described nightgowns, lingerie and dressing gowns reworked for public life, while her fall 2026 review emphasized Gothic romance, lace and technically complex tailoring. (showstudio.com) (wwd.com) Hodakova arrived earlier on the celebrity circuit and with a bigger trophy case. The Stockholm label, designed by Ellen Hodakova Larsson, won the 2024 LVMH Prize, and WWD documented one of its breakout celebrity moments when Cate Blanchett wore a custom top made with 102 antique spoons to a “Borderlands” event in Los Angeles in August 2024. (wwd.com 1) (wwd.com 2) On the runway, Hodakova has kept feeding that image with clothes that are easy to recognize in a photo. WWD’s spring 2026 review described umbrella-spoke skirts, belts turned into a cape dress, zipper halves used as metallic embroidery and the brand’s first shoes, with lasts hand-carved by Larsson. (wwd.com) Fforme’s pitch is different: less spectacle, more precision. WWD’s spring 2026 review traced Frances Howie’s collection to black-sand beaches in New Zealand, with molded rubberized pieces, surf stitching, hand-frayed dresses and tailoring finished by a family of menswear tailors. (wwd.com) Put together, the three labels show how celebrity dressing now works for independent brands. One look on Olivia Munn, Lily Allen or Cate Blanchett can move a name from runway review to mainstream recognition faster than a full season of trade coverage. (vogue.com) (wwd.com 1) (wwd.com 2) (wwd.com 3)
