Sustainable Baddie of the Week: Parron Allen
Sun Sign ☀️: Libra
When you step into the Parron Allen boutique on West 23rd in NYC, the city's chaotic energy fades away, and you find yourself in a multifunctional space where discarded materials find new life and traditional techniques meet modern aesthetics. You can’t help but take in the pieces that adorn the mannequins and sense Allen's passion for telling stories through the medium of sustainable fashion. The back area of the boutique is decorated with upcycled furniture that Allen and his husband have redone together. His goal was to have the boutique feel like someone's apartment, like you’re getting dressed in a boudoir— sumptuous, rich, and exciting.
We sat with Brooklyn-based designer Parron Allen Edwards-Stimola to chat about the inspiration behind his brand, how his Southern heritage appears in his ethos, and how his journey with repurposed fabrics has resulted in a brand of “clothes that start conversations.” Parron Allen is a reflection of his personal philosophy and deep connection to his heritage, which emphasizes the importance of upcycling and making use of everything. His ability to combine the fast-paced lifestyle of New York City with the slow and deliberate pace of the South showcases his mastery in creating designs that pay homage to his lineage.
Allen’s journey as an NYC-based designer actually begins back home in Mississippi. Internships in the fashion industry are notorious for being tough to land, and as a fashion student at Mississippi State University, Allen would need an internship to complete his degree. A difficult endeavor considering Mississippi isn’t exactly known to be a fashion hub and he’d have to find the internship on his own. After cold calling multiple design houses with no job in sight, his mother, who had recently seen Vera Wang on Oprah and donned a pair of Vera Wang glasses, recommended he reach out to her. “She seems like a nice lady,” his mother told him. I mean…what would happen if you just called Taylor up? What would happen? In the summer of 2008, Allen would land an internship at Vera Wang in NYC, which would eventually lead to a job offer and the beginning of Allen’s career as a designer in New York.
Parron Allen was born out of a need for creative freedom, the desire to establish his own brand, and exposure to the wasteful side of the fashion industry. Allen would later work at Ellen Tracy and Rebecca Taylor all while taking discarded fabrics to upcycle into his own original designs,
“I started wearing the things that I made for myself and people would ask me, ‘Where'd you get that from?’” Allen says, “Every time I wear something, I'm starting a conversation with somebody in the street that I don't know. I started noting that thing about my tagline being, ‘clothes that start conversations.’”
Mississippi and New York might seem like two worlds apart, each with its distinct character and identity. The former is renowned for its laid-back Southern charm, while the latter exudes insomniatic energy, always buzzing with innovation. To some, they may seem like they could never coexist, but to a designer who hails from the South and found a life in New York, these two places merge in the language of tailoring.
“[In New York] I feel like there's this urgency to always have something new and always try to be the best…but I'm still going to be the Mississippi boy at heart and I'm used to things being a little bit slower, a little bit less, aggressive,” Allen tells us. “I'm always remembering my mother, my grandmother, and how she would make sure everything counted, all the fabric that she had, everything was thoughtful. I feel like both of those things kind of influence my work because I don't like to throw things out. Even if it's like a scrap of fabric.”
We’ve stated in the past that grandmas are the original sustainable baddies, and this couldn’t be more true regarding the lessons Allen’s grandmother taught him about repurposing. Upcycled design isn’t just about cropping t-shirts or cutting out shoulder pads (as much as those of us who lack sewing skills wish it was). Upcycling is a new age term to refer to practices that many of our ancestors adopted out of necessity—practices that ultimately asked them to make use of whatever was available and become inspired to turn it into something new. “It’s a different way of thinking about fashion, but you can still think like a designer and upcycle pieces,” Allen says. Every garment and fabric has a meaning and story to it. Allen finds that silhouettes become a more integral aspect of his creative process as some designs can’t always be duplicated due to the nature of secondhand fabrics. He sees his collections as an ever-evolving amalgamation of one-of-a-kind pieces.
During the summer of 2022, Allen taught junior high students at Parsons School of Design.
“My heart was touched by seeing another little Black boy just like me and thinking, “Oh my gosh, he loves this too,” he says. “His father came in on the last day to see his work and it made me want to cry because my father never really thought this was going to be something, especially at that early age. He didn’t really believe it until I got the job at Vera Wang. Now he’s telling all his dude friends about his son who's working at Vera Wang.” From within his studio to the classrooms of the city, Allen’s work serves as a reminder of the power of ancestral knowledge and the importance of passing it down to future generations.
Allen’s upcoming collection, entitled “Patched Together with Love,” is inspired by the heritage practice of quilting. The collection is an homage to his grandmother, Momma Ruth, and is about “The magic that occurs when you set out to make beautiful things from fabric remnants, discarded textiles, and trims.” For generations, Black American quilters have used this medium to tell stories, preserve memories, and create beauty from scrap fabric. The practice dates back as early as the 17th century when enslaved women quilted together blankets. Originally serving the purpose of keeping them warm at night, enslaved Africans began to use their quilts as a means of communication, often incorporating symbols and messages of liberation into their designs. Allen’s collection not only pays tribute to his grandmother but also celebrates the history of upcycling and quilting in Black American culture.
In the end, what emerges from Parron Allen’s designs is a fusion of two very different places, united by Allen’s vision. It's a celebration of the diversity and richness of his heritage, a reminder that beauty can be found in unexpected places and that the most exciting designs come from the intersection of different worlds. You can find Parron Allen’s designs at the Parron Allen boutique, the Art to Ware store in Port Authority, or on the Parron Allen website.
