Amanda Phelan


Amanda Phelan is the Creative Director and CEO of designer fashion label PHELAN. She debuted her Spring 2016 Collection at New York Fashion Week in September 2015 to critical acclaim. She is based out of Brooklyn, New York.

Early life and education

An accomplished dancer and artist, Phelan attended the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied painting before completing a degree in textiles. While at RISD, her degree focused on the engineering of both woven and knitted structures.

Career

Phelan started her professional career designing knitwear for Alexander Wang. As an emerging designer, Phelan has distinguished herself by her unusual performance based runway shows, and forward thinking textile fabrications. Her Fall 2016 Ready to Wear show was described as "thoughtful, progressive and daring". In interviews, Phelan has suggested that these events are a deliberate attempt to disrupt the standard presentation format, and introduce conceptual content aligned with her materials. She has also been noted for a high level of technical virtuosity and use of complex fabrics. Phelan's runway shows for New York Fashion Week to date have been collaborative performance based events with the Vim Vigor Dance Theater Company, and were hosted at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in Manhattan's Lower East Side. In 2018, Phelan exhibited her first work at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Items: Is Fashion Modern? exhibition, which featured 111 items of clothing that have had a strong impact on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries.