A Creative Victory: VVB

I love to connect with other women who share my interests and appreciation of fashion, creation and art in general. I am grateful, through technology to have been able to connect with fellow artisan and eBoutique owner Brande Wilkerson of Victory Vintage Boutique and Design Studio (or VVB). I have personally shopped  for Vintage via VVB for my own closet and am currently waiting on a fabulous Custom feather creation from her design studio to arrive! 

Vintage Hat SOLD

Creative individuals always inspire me and this includes Brande, a busy MOMpreneur with 2 girls and a budding creative business in Austin Arkansas. She is a happy, positive person who I am thrilled to feature. I'm all about one's creative evolution and over the past 3 years I have seen Brande's passion for Fashion's past evolve into this haute hybrid of Vintage, Re-styled, uniquely inspired pieces from full gowns to hair accessories.  She does a lot of her own artistic portraiture, modelling and photography too. She styles her images, does theatrical makeup and sets the scenes to bring her visions to life. She has an affinity for Vintage wedding gown re-inventions and by the look of her images some really amazing friends (models), though she primarily models her creations and Vintage wares. Shes a one woman show like I am and for that alone I have a ton of respect for her and the hours it takes to run a creative business and also be a good mother.

I asked her to tell me about the Evolution of her business. I wanted to know where she started and where she thinks she is heading ...

Brande explained to me, "My business Victory Vintage Boutique started in year 2000 when I inherited a group of amazing billowing chiffon peignoirs from my grandma. I was on the hunt for more like these and found them! I went looking for the things I loved and started selling some of them online and learned there was a market out there for beautiful vintage garments like the ones I loved. I started selling online that year and became a Powerseller within 9 months! I was selling and shipping amazing vintage dresses, accessories and party gowns around the world!"

In the last 2 years I have expanded to open my Etsy Design Studio which offers one of a kind hand made designs, gowns, headpieces and hats. Many made from discarded vintage millinery ,trims and vintage fabric remnants that came into my hands that were just too beautiful to toss. This was the birth of the VVB dream gowns line of altered vintage wedding gowns and headpieces. I look forward to growing and expanding my design work, and evolving my collections into unique wearable creations as inspiration come into my hands! The future for VVB is wide open!

I love that she pushes the boundaries and follows the vision that is uniquely HER's. She draws her inspiration from several sources. She told me, "Many factors inspire my designs. I am an art buff, and my mother is an art teacher so it has always been in my life & blood! Recently I have been hugely inspired by the Art Nouveau period of art history. Some of my favorite artists are Alphonse Mucha, Gasper Camps,Walter Crane and Georges de Feure. Their amazing work inspired the "Fine Art Inspired collection" of gowns & headpieces for VVB. I offer these creations in my Etsy Design Studio. We offer these pieces for rental for photo shoots as well."

Who is the VVB woman? Brande says, "The VVB woman is a creative and uninhibited creature! She is confident in expressing herself through creative style and glamorous fashion design! She is also not as interested in the trends as what inspires her and makes her unique!"

Her FAV piece from her most recent collection is the Huldah Headpiece ($225)

A floral, faux fur creation. 

Available HERE 

"I think its my favorite because of the vintage element with the fox fur stole that drapes the shoulders.The colors and earthy and flattering on everyone and the dramatic feel of this brings a magestic queenly feel when you wear it. The gown styled with with is also from our collection of altered vintage slip dresses. Its made with a ecru collar and embellished with trimmings from a vintage wedding veil"

Giant Pansy $195

The VVB 2 cents on Style: "Wear what best defines you! Trends are fun to embrace and try but only choose the ones you like and add your own twist to make it yours. Reinvent your style by your own definitions each season..that way YOU own the trends!"

The sky is really the limit for Brande and VVB. I'm excited to see where her creative inspiration will lead her next.

Are you a VVB Woman?

 What's your FAV piece from her collections?

Leave your comments below!

CONNECT with VVB:

Facebook

Twitter

Ebay Store

Etsy Design Studio

Web Site

BLOG

Movin' On Up

I have literally spent the last 28 days moving only to see a sea of unpacked boxes. Let's not even discuss the amount of time sorting, packing and purging I did in the days and weeks prior. I thankfully have had help along the way but now find myself with boxes left and no hands on deck, except for those that are way to small and busy to contribute in a productive way.  My 2 year old son is thriving and growing so fast. He has a keen sense of how to un-do what I have just done. If I put it away he is quick to be at my heels taking it back out again.  I am under a mountain of my past trying to get organized for my future.

I have been on a mini-hiatus from my blog and eBoutique due to this crazy life transition and the symbolic opening of a new chapter. I am happy to report that I'm BACK! I have some amazing content coming up and fabulous pieces to be list to Evolution Vintage eBoutique!

Coping with moving and kids is a lot, but nothing I can't handle. On an all ready full plate, what's one or two more things, right? Each day I set small goals to ensure I accomplish something and not to set myself up for disappointment as the project pile up.  I'm Movin' on up in all aspects so being organized is key and something I'm working on.

Cheers to this new chapter!!

Vintage Dress: Victory Vintage Boutique (VVB Facebook)

Vintage Belt: Evolution Vintage

Shoes: Cambria - JustFab

Shades: Tres Noir Ultra Lux

Bubbles : MaisonVeuve Clicquot

PS - I just unpacked my FAV summer wedge. "CAMBRIA" from JustFab in Black

Bring some Comfy chic to your events this summer!

Available in 4 colors!

Are you making a move in your life? work? or physical space? Tell me how you did it with style in the comments below.

Just PLEAT it

Photographer Mark Shaw - Vanity Fair 1953

What is my obsession of the moment? PLEATS! There is nothing that screams FALL to me than a Vintage wool pleated skirt with boots and a great blazer & fitted T-shirt, turtleneck or cowl neck sweater.

Pleats have been a staple design element in fashion for centuries. Did you know there are 11 different types of pleats, each with a different technique and look?


Accordion pleats are the most basic form of pleat, consisting of a series of permanent folds of equal width in alternating opposite directions. When pressed flat in one direction, accordion pleats become knife pleats. Accordion pleats are rarely used in dressmaking, but are used to make folding fans.
((Sold))

Box pleats are knife pleats back-to-back, and have a tendency to spring out from the waistline. They have the same 3:1 ratio as knife pleats, and may also be stacked to form stacked box pleats. These stacked box pleats create more fullness and have a 5:1 ratio. They also create a bulkier seam. Inverted box pleats have the "box" on the inside rather than the outside.

Cartridge pleats are used to gather a large amount of fabric into a small waistband or armscye without adding bulk to the seam. This type of pleating also allows the fabric of the skirt or sleeve to spring out from the seam. During the 15th and 16th centuries, this form of pleating was popular in the garments of men and women. Fabric is evenly gathered using two or more lengths of basting stitches, and the top of each pleat is whipstitched onto the waistband or armscye. Cartridge pleating was resurrected in the 1840s to attach the increasingly full bell-shaped skirts to the fashionable narrow waist. Alexander McQueens Final collection
Cartridge Pleat Gown

Fluted pleats or flutings are very small, rounded or pressed pleats used as trimmings.The name comes from their resemblance to a pan flute. Vintage gown (Fluted Pleat Trim) ((SOLD))

Fortuny pleats are crisp pleats set in silk fabrics by designer Mariano Fortuny in the early 20th century, using a secret pleat-setting process which is still not understood.
Mrs Condé Nast wearing one of the Fortuny tea gowns C. 1917

Honeycomb pleats are narrow, rolled pleats used as a foundation for smocking. Knife pleats are used for basic gathering purposes, and form a smooth line rather than springing away from the seam they have been gathered to. The pleats have a 3:1 ratio–three inches of fabric will create one inch of finished pleat. .
Knife pleats can be recognized by the way that they overlap in the seam.
Organ pleats are parallel rows of softly rounded pleats resembling the pipes of a pipe organ. Carl Köhler suggests that these are made by inserting one or more gores into a panel of fabric.
Plissé pleats are narrow pleats set by gathering fabric with stitches, wetting the fabric, and "setting" the pleats by allowing the wet fabric to dry under weight or tension. Linen chemises or smocks pleated with this technique have been found in the 10th century Viking graves in Birka.
Hermes Plisse Pleated Silk Scarf

Rolled pleats create tubular pleats which run the length of the fabric from top to bottom. A piece of the fabric to be pleated is pinched and then rolled until it is flat against the rest of the fabric, forming a tube. A variation on the rolled pleat is the stacked pleat, which is rolled similarly and requires at least five inches of fabric per finished pleat. Both types of pleating create a bulky seam.
Watteau pleats are one or two box pleats found at the back neckline of 18th century gowns and some late 19th century tea gowns in imitation of these. The term is not contemporary, but is used by costume historians in reference to these styles as portrayed in the paintings of Antoine Watteau.

1700's Marie Antoinette Costume with Watteau pleats

Vivienne Westwood "Watteau Gown" 1996
Pleats are in the back

Gianni Versace 1990's Pleated Mini's


* Thanks to Wikipedia & other online sources for the Pleat definitions*

Mark Shaw Vanity Fair 1953

So .... Can you JUST PLEAT IT?

Check out this cute cream 40's pleated & lace dress sz. M

Buy it HERE
From Victory Vintage Boutique - Model: Brande Wilkerson (Owner)

SHOP EVOLUTION VINTAGE's SELECTION OF PLEATS: