Conversations with Friends: OLIVIA VILLANTI
Olivia Villanti is the founder and creative director of Chava Studio, a Mexico-based fashion label rooted in craft, restraint, and intentional design. Her work explores the space between garment and object, emphasizing material, timeless silhouettes, and small-scale, thoughtful production.
Working closely with local artisans and workshops, Olivia approaches fashion as a slower, more considered practice — one that values process, longevity, and emotional connection over trends. Through Chava, she creates pieces meant to be lived in, carried across places, and worn as an extension of place, care, and identity.
THE FOUNDATION
Chava Studio feels deeply intentional—rooted in craft, restraint, and process. How do you define your niche within fashion today?
Thank you so much for saying that! That’s the hope. Chava really was created as a rebellion from what has felt like absolute commoditization of fashion in general. I wanted to create products that felt really special from the moment they arrived to you, that have been created with a lot of care. I also saw this white space in terms of tailoring—an experience men have been served forever but that hasn’t really focused on women. I wanted to offer all the amazing collar, cuff and interlining options men have, but with a women’s touch and with an eye for design. I always think about how women wear our clothes and that’s how we design our collections, considering what she might need to make her wardrobe feel exciting and emotional but also very functional.
Your work often blurs the line between garment and object. How do form, texture, and construction guide your designs?
These are definitely tent poles in our designs—form and texture being the result of the fabrics we use. We start our design process with our fabric buys, not the other way around. Once we have our fabrics, we start dreaming up our designs. Construction is obviously a huge part of our process, we are currently entirely made and cut to order so getting all those details right is inherently a focus for every single piece. I love the shapes our shirts make, especially the oversized ones, because the fabric drapes and hangs in such an interesting way depending on how someone wears the shirt.
Place seems essential to Chava. How does working in Mexico shape your approach to materials, production, and pace?
Chava is so specifically a brand that could only be born here—and I mean that from the small quantities of product we produce to the love our seamstresses put into each piece and also the development of our marketing (every partner we have worked with is so incredibly talented). I feel Mexico is rife with creativity and people who genuinely want to collaborate, everything feels like a collaboration. I believe Mexico has a culture of craftsmanship that has allowed us to create something really special, unique and personal to the people who work on it. I’ve also been able to build out a small team of exceptional women who I admire and care about so much.
GARMENT AS OBJECT & FORM
You collaborate closely with artisans and small workshops. What does ethical, meaningful collaboration look like to you in practice?
Calm, respectful dialogue with our producers, clarity around deadlines (and keeping those deadlines reasonable, I really try to keep our timelines as advanced as possible). Also confidently knowing that our partners have expertise—I ask questions, understand their process and often defer to their opinions as long as our goals are both clearly articulated. I think one of my core values in life is trying your best to put yourself in someone else’s shoes: Treat others as you would like to be treated is the way I strive to operate at Chava.
Many of your pieces feel timeless rather than seasonal. How do you resist trend cycles while still evolving creatively?
I think we try our best to meet the moment based on our own personal desires and needs without going too heavily into “trendy” territory. I am not especially trendy myself though I love to understand what is happening in fashion and am not immune to acclimating ideas if they feel right. I always run something through the Chava lens: Is it elegant? Is it feminine? Is it a little undone/sexy? These are the tenets we really build around. I also think if you use beautiful fabrics and turn to tailoring as far as technique is concerned, you are pretty immune to trends. The evolution of Chava mirrors me and the women who work with me, it mirrors our personal evolutions. So we are always asking ourselves: What’s speaking to us right now? What are we craving? It helps us really personalize the process.
What role does slowness play in your creative process—and how does that translate into how the garments are worn and lived in?
I am impatient to a fault so I’ve had to grow personally as I work on this brand. Slowness I would say refers to our production process, prioritizing the people who work with us over profits but in many ways we work quickly too. When I feel something or intuit something, I move towards it without too much hesitation. I think trusting my gut and leaning into that has helped me enormously in my professional life. So much of Chava is led by the heart and our nimbleness as a company.
PLACE, CRAFT, AND MEXICO
How do you think about sustainability beyond materials—through longevity, care, and emotional connection to clothing?
Care is such an important part of this! We try to educate customers, we use fabrics that generally don’t need special care beyond cold, gentle wash cycles. Whenever we ship shirts they feel so “fresh”, they’ve never sat in a warehouse or been packaged in plastic polybags. They’ve never been touched beyond the making of them, so there’s something emotional about that, about being the first to ever try the shirt and to have a relationship with it.
Are there particular fabrics, techniques, or traditions that continue to inspire you or anchor your collections?
I love interlining, it was the missing piece in my shirting as opposed to my husband’s shirts which always had this perfect texture at the cuffs and collars. You know how men’s shirts have collars that can be “popped” so easily? Or cuffs that can be folded and stay put (and can be bunched for some added texture too)? This is something that changed the game for me, I just love a woman’s shirt that you can do those things with. And as for fabrics, god I’m such a nerd I probably shouldn't go too deep here because I could, but I love ALUMO’s (the Swiss mill we work with) cotton qualities. They have a slight sheen that feels luxe, they age insanely well and they’re just the most fun to work with on oversized shapes.
PURPOSE-DRIVEN TRAVEL
For travelers interested in experiencing fashion through a cultural lens, where do you find the most inspiration—markets, ateliers, landscapes?
The people in the cities you visit! I love seeing what people wear and understanding culture through this lens. Vintage markets are always a stop for me when traveling. Travel is an ENDLESS source of inspiration, I love even noticing how I dress when I’m on a trip. I like to observe what I reach for and want to wear as research too.
What does “dressing with intention” mean to you, and how do you hope people feel when wearing Chava?
Oh I think my ambitions are largely in relation to this very question. I am very ambitious in this way! I want people to feel sexy, feminine, powerful—and most of all, I want them to feel like themselves. I want them to feel close to themselves. I guess that’s why I love putting the whole Chava look together. I've always had a very personal relationship with style, a very emotional one, so I know how wonderful it feels to love what is in your closet.
MEXICO THROUGH OLIVIA’S EYES
For Coffee: Del Rio
For Lingerie: La Sirene
For Mexican Bites: Comal Oculto
For Drinks: Bar Nino
For Unique Ceramics: Perla Valtierra
For Dinner: Bulla
