I Care a Lotta, I Wear Collina Strada

A mind-bending archive of Collina Strada, the downtown New York brand that puts self-expression and honest sustainability first.

Launched in 2008 by Hillary Taymour, Collina Strada has spent the last decade successfully injecting the generally colorless style of downtown New York with acid-colored dye jobs, off-kilter dresses, sparkling hair pins, and fearlessly fluid ensembles. Rooted in interconnectedness, self-expression, and thoughtful production, the brand screams nonconformity: cosmically dyed dresses, rhinestone-studded water bottles, and wildly graphic bodysuits serve as representations of the cacophony of sounds, symbols, and spirit that imbue the Collina Strada world.

All of the brand’s pieces are produced in the USA using mostly reinterpreted deadstock materials: recycled t-shirts from Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, and Rose Sylk, an organic cellulose fiber derived from rose bushes and their stems. Taymour has also shown an unwavering commitment to using the brand as a platform for social and environmental change, offering guests at her shows instructions on how to advocate for a rooftop garden in their building and ways to volunteer with vetted organizations.

Gathered within is a collection of iconic brand imagery, runway images, core pieces, and creative collaborations with artists like Dave Mattingly, the artist behind the iconic ’90s book series Animorphs. A visual feast overseen by Collina Strada art director Charlie Engman, this volume is an exciting style compendium that offers endless inspiration on being confident, conscious, and radically individual.