10 Up-and-Coming Fashion Designers to Watch in Atlanta
Atlanta has long influenced music, film, beauty and street culture, but its fashion ecosystem is becoming harder to overlook. Atlanta Fashion Week now operates as a year-round platform connecting independent designers with retail and industry opportunities, while SCAD Atlanta continues to feed a new generation of designers into the market.
From experimental couture to sustainable fashion and culturally driven streetwear, these 10 designers represent some of the most interesting creative momentum connected to Atlanta right now.
1. Jinseo Park
Jinseo Park is one of the clearest examples of an emerging designer moving quickly from student work toward a professional fashion identity. A 2026 SCAD Atlanta graduate, Park developed her thesis collection, Bring the Bright Future, around hope, resilience, Korean heritage and couture craftsmanship. Her work incorporates sculptural silhouettes, textile experimentation and flower-inspired smocking.
Park’s designs were selected for retail through BAZAAR by shopSCAD, and she has continued developing her work beyond graduation, including presenting her thesis collection during London Fashion Week in September 2026.
Why watch her: Park is building a recognizable design language, romantic, technical and deeply personal, while already gaining experience in both luxury retail and international presentation.
2. Maddy Osborne
Maddy Osborne’s work demonstrates how fashion can operate simultaneously as design, storytelling and cultural commentary. The SCAD Atlanta designer’s senior thesis, Cushion for the Fall, explored the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, family resilience and environmental racism through a New Orleans lens.
Osborne was also selected as a 2026 Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholar through the Fashion Scholarship Fund, an honor designed to support emerging Black fashion talent. Her work has additionally explored the intersection of fashion, sports culture and sustainability.
Why watch her: Osborne combines strong conceptual thinking with an understanding of culture, sustainability and commercial fashion, an especially valuable combination for the next generation of designers.
3. Harris Barnes
Harris Barnes has already begun bridging the gap between emerging designer and retail-ready creative. A member of SCAD Atlanta’s 2026 runway class, Barnes was also selected to sell work through BAZAAR by shopSCAD, placing his designs in a luxury retail environment alongside established SCAD alumni.
Barnes, who works publicly under the name Harry Denims, has also been active in Atlanta’s independent creative community and runway scene.
Why watch him: He represents the type of multidisciplinary designer increasingly shaping Atlanta fashion—someone thinking beyond the garment toward presentation, community and creative direction.
4. Zaria McLeod
Zaria McLeod is still early in her career, but her industry recognition makes her especially noteworthy. The SCAD Atlanta student was named a 2026 Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholar and received a $10,000 Fashion Scholarship Fund award.
That recognition places McLeod among a national group of young creatives receiving direct industry support before graduation.
Why watch her: Fashion leadership often begins before a designer launches a full label. McLeod is already gaining the kind of institutional validation, mentorship access and industry visibility that can accelerate a young designer’s trajectory.
5. Teresa Zacapa
Teresa Zacapa’s work sits at the intersection of historical reference, craftsmanship and futuristic experimentation. Her SCAD FASHION 2026 collection reinterpreted Rococo influences through what Fashionista described as a cosmic, futuristic lens.
Her background also includes industry-facing portfolio reviews connected to Ralph Lauren and Victoria’s Secret, as well as experience in costume and wardrobe work.
Why watch her: Zacapa’s strength is world-building. Her work suggests a designer capable of translating historical research into contemporary fashion rather than simply reproducing archival aesthetics.
6. Alicia Blount — Yellow Blanket
Alicia Blount brings entrepreneurship and sustainability directly into her design practice. Her Atlanta-area brand Yellow Blanket was created around textile upcycling, transforming used materials into redesigned fashion rather than sending them into the waste stream. Georgia State University’s entrepreneurship program supported the venture with funding and mentorship.
Blount’s approach reflects one of fashion’s most important emerging business conversations: how designers can build desirability without relying entirely on new material production.
Why watch her: Yellow Blanket has a clear story, a sustainability mission and a practical business model—three things emerging labels often struggle to develop simultaneously.
7. Jai Lyle — JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII
Jai Lyle has been steadily building one of Atlanta’s more distinctive independent luxury brands. Founded in Atlanta in 2020, JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII focuses on heritage, family, storytelling and what the brand describes as understated opulence across knitwear, eyewear and silk accessories.
The label entered Atlanta Fashion Week’s Bloomingdale’s retail incubator and has continued expanding through collaborations, including a 2026 project with fellow Atlanta creative Melissa Mitchell.
Why watch him: Lyle is demonstrating that Atlanta brands can develop a luxury identity rooted in local culture without attempting to imitate New York or European fashion houses.
8. Archie Clay III — Brain Love
Archie Clay III has turned fashion into a platform for a larger conversation around mental wellness. His Atlanta-based label Brain Love combines apparel with messaging centered on mental health, confidence and personal development.
The brand has moved beyond emerging-market pop-ups into major retail, including Bloomingdale’s at Lenox Square, and Clay has collaborated on footwear tied to the Brain Love concept.
Why watch him: Clay understands something increasingly important in fashion: consumers often buy into a worldview and community as much as they buy a garment.
9. Eric Clark — Rising Phoenix Legacy
Eric Clark was among the designers selected for SCAD Atlanta’s 2026 runway presentation, where he showed work under the Rising Phoenix Legacy identity.
Public information about the young label remains limited compared with several designers on this list, which makes Clark a particularly early-stage name to follow rather than an established brand.
Why watch him: Developing a distinct brand identity while still in the transition from school to industry can be an important signal. Rising Phoenix Legacy already reads as more than a portfolio name, it suggests Clark is thinking in terms of building a label.
10. Sania Martin — Sania Juliette
Sania Martin, who designs under the Sania Juliette identity, was another member of SCAD Atlanta’s selected 2026 runway group.
Like Clark, Martin remains at an early stage where the next several collections, collaborations and commercial decisions will determine how the label develops.
Why watch her: Atlanta’s next generation will not be defined only by designers who already have national distribution. Part of watching an emerging market is identifying creatives at the moment when their design language and brand identity are beginning to become visible.
Atlanta’s Fashion Moment Is Getting Bigger
What makes Atlanta particularly interesting right now is that its fashion infrastructure is developing alongside its designers. Atlanta Fashion Week is actively connecting independent labels to retail through initiatives such as its Bloomingdale’s incubator, while SCAD’s Atlanta campus continues producing designers with access to global fashion networks.
That creates a different kind of opportunity for the city. Atlanta does not necessarily need to replicate New York, Paris or Milan to matter in fashion. Its strength may ultimately come from the same ingredients that have powered its influence in music and entertainment: Black creative entrepreneurship, cultural storytelling, collaboration and an ability to create its own market rather than wait for permission from an established one.