Meet Gianna Smith: The Beauty & Brains Behind Our Fabulously-Felted New Drop

As a junior fibers major at the Savannah College of Art and Design with style, spunk, and alllll the moxie, Gianna Smith is naturally one of the coolest, most creative gals strutting around the 31401.

While her dream job would entail weaving for an accessories line or larger brand, or working in production with interior or furniture design, we were lucky enough to snag Miss Gia and her tedious talents, bringing you none other than one of our favorite collaborations to date — LOVE & MOXiE x GiANNA.

As of late, Gia says she typically draws inspiration for her work from nostalgic places from her childhood, or her surroundings, friends, and the personalities and styles of others she’s met since moving to Savannah. She is currently ob-sessed with artists such as @miaweiner and @faigahmedstudio.

Like most art school students, it’s no surprise Gia isn’t getting through her day and a million and one current projects without a little (or a lotta) caffeine. You can typically find her putting some pep in her step with a Chai Tea Latte at Foxy Loxy or Henny Penny.

When she’s not making magic (orrrrr having an oh-so casual color-scheme related meltdown in typical SCAD student fashion) at Pepe Hall, Gia loves sketching in Ellis square before class, grabbing a snack at Brighter Day, hanging out with her friends at Forsyth Park, or trekking out to Tybee for an afternoon at the beach.

It should come as no surprise that you won’t find Gia lapping around the Oglethorpe Mall or racking through H&M. She’ll be the first to tell you that most all of the outfits you’ll catch her sporting are thrifted from a resale shop (or one of her all-time favorite stores, her roommate’s closet). Otherwise, a few of her fave go-to spots to shop around in Savannah are Ordinary Magic, E. Shaver Bookseller’s, and Picker Joes Vintage Market.

Obviously, a days worth of weaving, crocheting, felting, and everything in between works up quite the appetite — particularly for fried chicken. While Savannah is certainly in no shortage of good fried chicken, Gia’s current faves are the hot chicken sandwich or chicken & waffles plate from Collins Quarter on Forsyth. However, if she’s in a pinch, Fancy Parkers Chicken Tenders will definitely do the trick (duh).

Working on this collection over the past nine months, it’s safe to say we drew inspiration from a million and one different places — and we’re not mad about it! Sifting through Gia’s portfolio, we fell in love with a heart motif she frequently experiments with in her own work. Lucky for us, this made for an absolutely fabulous tote embellishment.

After coming across a Louis Vuitton duffel with brightly colored, crocheted motifs, we knew we wanted to create a collection inspired by the spunky color pallet and the idea of playing around with dimension. Ultimately, with Gia’s help, we decided on felting our infamous moxie-motifs as opposed to crocheting. This gave us a lot more room to experiment with the 3D-aspect, allowing the plaids and felted textiles to make for an oh-so perfectly timed fall collection — just in the nick of time for back to school! ;)

We’ve loved having the opportunity to work with Gia and are over-the-moon to finally share this collection with you. Before she ends up weaving her way through the world, one piece of fried chicken at a time, you can snag your very own L&M x GiANNA piece here — or check it out in person at our studio or at one of our upcoming events!

(Psst! Know a local student or SCAD grad who's looking for an internship or industry experience? We'd love to meet'm! We're actively looking for creatives to collab with on upcoming collections. Shoot us an email at hello@lovenmoxie.com, check out our contact page, or send us a DM on Instagram @lovenmoxie!

check out the full L&M x GiANNA collection here

Cheers! Danielle & Renée

“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!” … life is short, live with moxie!