HILLARY TAYMOUR
Despite its reputation as an emerging brand, Collina Strada was founded by designer Hillary Taymour in 2009. Since then, Taymour has moved from Los Angeles to New York and transitioned from designing handbags and accessories to ready-to-wear, all the while honing the label’s aesthetic to reflect exactly who she is. Today’s Collina Strada serves as a platform for social issues, and its radical transparency and individualistic attitude have made it a cult favourite and also earned approval from the establishment; Taymour was a CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund finalist in 2019. ‘I’ve been able to get [things] to the place where now I can make exactly what I want, whenever I want to make it,’ says Taymour. ‘I’m less scared of what people think. I really want to focus on sustainability.’ The environment was front of mind in Collina Strada’s A/W20 collection. It features upcycled dresses, trousers and shirts, as Taymour repurposed discarded clothing from the US that wound up at Ghana’s Kantamanto market, and serves as a critique of the waste and pollution of the used goods economy. Elsewhere, diaphanous dresses, button-up shirts and draped trousers are constructed from deadstock fabrics sourced within the US or from rose sylk, a lustrous textile made from spinning rose petal fibres into cellulose. ‘It’s hard,’ Taymour says of balancing both ecological and design commitments. ’I’m not trying to create products for products’ sake. I’m going to make what I can with the materials that I have.’