In the latest episode of About Your Mother, we have a conversation with Olivia Joffrey. Olivia owns an eponymous fashion line that serves as a love letter to her mother, Anne-Marie. Through osmosis, Olivia absorbed the colorful and artistic life that her mother has led — a life filled with sensory details, records, books, sand, and the ocean breeze.

Imagine putting on a dress and transporting yourself to a different time and place- this is what Olivia’s fashion line can do. The inspiration comes from her mother and her once vibrant life in Spain. In conversation, we discuss how her mother influenced her work, helped her find her passion, and we talk about the power of transcendent storytelling through various channels.

My Mother, My Muse

Olivia lets us in on her memories with her mother. She shares how, before being diagnosed with Alzhiemers, her mother had led colorful and free-spirited adventures. This served as an inspiration for Olivia to create a fashion line in her mother’s honor.

Olivia discusses how, despite being creative and artistic, her journey has been intentionally experimental to pursue something she has never done before. She continues to say she dedicates this line to her mother’s grace and the expat life she has led while living in Spain.

“The fashion line is really about grace and the kind of expat life my mom was leading in Spain in that time. Where you can throw on your dress, go out and carpe diem, and go to the market. Even go to the beach in the middle of the day and have your bathing suit on underneath. Really not become a studied fashion person. I like living and feeling good about myself. That’s how these women that I observed growing up were. Not just my mom, but these other women who were just intrinsically stylish without trying.” – Olivia Joffrey

My Mother’s Style: A Warm Hug

Olivia opens up on her childhood, her mother’s style and spirit, and how her mother raised her on a secretary’s salary. She shares how her mother still managed to live her life to the fullest despite their finances. This was a life – full of sensory and beauty – that echoed throughout their home and paved the memories for her childhood. She continues to talk about her mother and how she has shaped the conviction of what she now loves, believes, and her life perspective.

“Her style to me, it was really warm. It wasn’t rigid. It was like a hug. When people came to our house for dinner, everything was fully on display. The way she cooked and welcomed people in. There was always really good homemade food and lots of wine and music on the record player. It was very atmospheric, despite her kind of salary. She raised me on like a secretary salary, basically. ” – Olivia Joffrey

My Mother’s Bookshelf

In this regard, Olivia discusses her process of storytelling and the times wherein her creative juices are the most prolific. She continues to talk fondly of her mother’s memories and how the things she learned from her mother’s bookshelf were vast. She talks about how the commerce side was not captivating to her but rather the making sense of a woman’s life as a reader.

[bctt tweet=”“We loved each other a lot. The beautiful thing about that is that never dies. It can live in the clothes, it can live in these other things that carry her spirit…” – Olivia Joffrey” username=”AYMPodcast”]

To know more about Olivia’s story and how she shares her mother’s story through her fashion line, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Olivia Joffrey tells a story through dresses. Our collection of refined leisurewear for women finds inspiration in mid-century Spain via California, and the imprint on both of these places on Olivia’s adventurous mother. Our mission is to create elegant, seasonless clothes that delight the senses and simplify the art of dressing. We speak to a woman who values a polished look, but wants it with ease; she is a woman devoted to a life well-lived in her choice of leisure pursuits from surfing to reading to entertaining. How she dresses is an extension of her vivaciousness, curiosity and joie de vivre.

Olivia Joffrey was raised by two native New Yorkers in a California beach house full of books and records. Her eponymous collection is both a love letter to Andalusia, and her mother — a former stage actress whose expatriate years in mid-century Spain flavored her personal style. With the collection, Olivia seeks to share with women the liberation of a chic, effortless dress – one that inspires a life of more joy and passion pursuits and minimal time deliberating in one’s closet.