Colin LoCascio Is The New York Designer With Serious Flower Power

As a teenager from Queens, NYC, Colin LoCascio never dreamed of having his own line, even when he applied to design school. He didn’t want to be a fashion designer, period. “I didn’t even know what Givenchy was,” he says. Toys were LoCascio’s passion. Specifically, soft plush toys, like his cherished Freddie the Frog stuffed animal.

LoCascio designed his first 3D wearable garment during his freshman year at Rhode Island School of Design and was enthralled. He applied the things that he loved about toys – surface texture, sentimentality, and colour to stimulate and excite kids – to clothes. “They’re the most intimate thing, ”LoCascio says. “They’re on your body all day. I want them to evoke joy.” In 2015, his senior thesis collection of novelty lace, sequin work, and colourful patchwork fur coats fuelled custom requests from the likes of Cardi B, Bella Hadid and Paris Hilton. The exposure was great but a bit premature. “Everyone was looking at me like, ‘Where can I buy this?’” LoCascio says. “I didn’t have that infrastructure or understanding of how to work with factories.”

He got an education as the design director of the Jenners’ Kendall + Kylie line from 2018 to 2021. “Kris Jenner wanted product,” he says. By 2019, he felt ready to launch his own collection, defined by knitwear with 3D crochet flowers, printed mesh catsuits, faux furs, and Freddie the Frog motifs. When the actress Iris Apatow wore his pinkish-orange sequin gown embroidered with puffy beaded flowers to this year’s Vanity Fair Oscar party, LoCascio’s skillful and sophisticated execution of playful naiveté garnered him scores of new followers.

LoCascio is currently a finalist in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, the 20-year-old gauntlet famous for putting emerging designers through their paces and requiring them to get serious about their business. LoCascio seems like he’s already there, unfazed and ready to discard the traditional industry playbook. Asked about the future of his brand, he immediately mentions extended sizing, building his direct-to-consumer website, and pricing as he pleases, whether that’s a £5,575 sequin dress or a £95 shirt. “I was following the rules I was taught in school when I first started working and I think a lot of them are out dated, ”LoCascio says. “There are amazing brands doing whatever they want – people are responding and they’re making money.”