Life & Work with Alicia Ybarra

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Ybarra.

Hi Alicia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hi, I’m Alicia V. Ybarra, CEO and lead designer of Vanya Designs. I graduated from Kansas State University with a Masters in Apparel and Textiles in December 2003. After graduating, I worked myself up from a retail sales associate to a corporate product development position for a company in TN that has since gone bankrupt, but found I hated the office atmosphere and cut-throat corporate culture. I decided to quit the corporate job and focus on raising my two boys and designing and sewing from home.

Three years of sewing from my basement led to the opening of my first storefront in 2010. In addition to owning and operating Vanya Designs for the past 13 years, my passion is bringing to life couture bridal and formal wear. Through a customized couture experience, my team & I work closely with each client to realize their dreams in the design we create. I have designed and created over 700 unique couture gowns during the course of my career.

My gowns have been worn in Dallas, LA, Vegas, the mountains of CO, and even as far as England and France. My collections have been shown at Omaha Fashion Week, Chicago Bridal Market, Kansas City Fashion Week, and most recently New York Fashion Week.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Building the business has not been without its set of challenges. Prior to the pandemic, I was trying to get my collection into bridal boutiques, wholesale. When the pandemic hit, we had to pivot to sewing fabric face masks and surgical gowns, in order to keep our doors open.

Once things settled down, we pursued the development of our collection again, taking it to the Chicago Bridal market, only to find out most Midwest buyers were looking for inexpensive gowns at a price point much lower than our couture gowns could be. Coming back from that experience renewed my passion for creating couture work one-on-one for individual clients. I am passionate about bringing their dreams to life.

It is a struggle to promote a couture brand from the Midwest when Couture is typically perceived as something one can only have access to in larger cities. I am trying to create brand awareness to overcome that perception and be able to market Nationwide. Our goal is to be the premier bridal design house in the nation. Because we are positioned right in the middle of the United States, I can easily travel for fittings and ship with fast lead times all over the nation.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As previously mentioned, I specialize in couture bridal and formal wear. My clients have told me that I truly have a gift of being able to take their mish-mash of ideas and truly bring to life the vision that is in their heads. I’m most proud of our recent collection of 10 dresses that we debuted on the New York Fashion Week runway! This collection was my team’s best work.

My right-hand Designer, Libbi Jessen and myself brought our combined strengths to each and every gown. The collection embodies elegance and romance with textured fabric, couture details, ethereal moments, and larger-than-life bows. The thing that truly sets us apart from others is the ability to understand fit and size issues while being able to “get inside” our client’s heads. The result is creating one-of-a-kind couture gowns our clients feel confident and beautiful in.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
As much as it was over-used – being able to pivot and be flexible was key. I took some risks, some of which paid off and some of which didn’t, but I never sat in a corner waiting for the crisis to be over. I actively fought to keep my company alive and creatively problem-solved ways to continue to interact with clients.

The biggest positive that came from the crisis was the creation of our Virtual Couture Design Process. I developed a way to meet with clients virtually, ship mock-ups for fittings, and design checkpoints via video call. The result is 100% customer satisfaction with both fit and design. All I did was take our in-house proven methods and create a way for brides to experience the same couture process without ever stepping foot in our studio.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vanyadesigns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanyadesignsbridal/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/vanyadesigns
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vanya-designs-&-custom-sewing-llc/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@vanyacouturecustomweddingg195?si=0qFSstmcYXv_P7-m

Image Credits
Because I Am Photography, Hunter Valentino, and Lyndi Mishe Photography