Olivia Colley

Olivia Colley

Collection

Bio

Olivia Colley is a New York–based womenswear designer from Atlanta whose work explores Southern visual culture through print, materiality, and texture, examining how identity, memory, and perception are shaped through restraint and atmosphere.

Thesis statement:

Rooted in the visual culture of Savannah and Charleston, this collection examines the tension between preservation and lived experience in the American South. It considers how beauty is often maintained as something to be observed, fully engaged, protected, distanced, and shaped by tradition and memory. Through this lens, the work reflects on what it means to inherit an aesthetic that is both intimate and untouchable, detailing how subtle motifs and these environments inform identity, perception, and the ways we engage with the American South.

These visual codes and motifs are embraced and it informs  how inherited aesthetics can be translated into something lived, worn, and re-experienced through the body. It explores the shift from static preservation to embodied presence, using clothing as a means to collapse the distance between viewer and object. In doing so, the work proposes a reconsideration of Southern identity, one that moves beyond passive observation toward a more intimate and active engagement with its visual language.

Video:

Olivia Colley 2026 teaser video

Image: Look 1 Colley-Shift dress constructed from individually pad-stitched preserved amaranthus on cotton. The piece draws from the weight and downward pull of Spanish moss, translating its dense, suspended drape into a surface that feels both delicate and heavy, capturing the tension between fragility and permanence.
Image: Look 2-Elasticated linen top paired with a skirt composed of preserved amaranthus. Inspired by the way Spanish moss gathers, hangs, and moves with air, the silhouette emphasizes gravity and volume, allowing the material to fall naturally while evoking a sense of quiet heaviness and organic movement.
Image: Look 4 Colley- shift dress hand painted water color and individually hand tacked and cut snake scales of cotton
Image:

Look 5- linen button up dress with belt made of real dried and preserved Amaranthus flower

Image:

Look 3

Close up details