The DNA of an Enchanting Brand
We await the poetry and elegance hidden in every stitch, every curve of the fabric. Yves Saint Laurent once said: "Fashion fades, style is eternal." It is style, refinement, and a unique image that inspire the founders of the YVON brand, Karina Ross and Almira Shnaider, to create exquisite collections. In an interview, they share the story of the brand's birth, the philosophy and inspiration that fill each of their creations.
KARINA ROSS: Almira and I first met 10 years ago in a French Cafe in our hometown in Kazan. Shortly afterwards we travelled together to our first trip to Milan. And from this point on an everlasting friendship started. Soon after we visited Paris together. The glance and beauty of Paris was an endless source of inspiration. The inspiration for creating a brand.
ALMIRA SHNAIDER: We felt the wish, the need to do something on our own. A vision materialized. We wanted to created a brand that stands for beautiful and high quality things. We wanted to creates clothes with a perfect fit for everyone and every size.
K.R.: Size and fit was a driver in our vision. At the time it was hard for both of us to find dresses that fit both, our style and our size. So almost 5 years ago we started to create our first few dresses. Maybe half a dozen. Women’s reaction was astounding and it firmed up our intentions to expand our plans. Few years later we founded with the backing of two investors our company in Kazan and Dubai. We divided sales in Russia and the Middle East.
A.S.: I am a perfectionist and so it was important to me that the inner lining of our dresses were impeccable. Seams, lining and hardware, it all had to be perfect. And we decided to only use natural fabrics; silk, linen and cotton.
K.R.: We split our roles. While Almira manages production, development, fabric and hardware selection, I took responsibility for marketing, social media, PR and visual components.
A.S.: We trust each others decision 100 percent. There is little interference in each others line of work. That increases work efficiency by quite a bit and gives us a great work environment.
K.R.: Naming is a landmark moment for a brand. We wanted the name to reflect our character — strict yet gentle. There was an idea to name the brand YVONNE, but we then abandoned this because such a name would lack strength of character. Therefore, we settled on the variant YVON — it is a name with character and at the same time embodies resilience, self-confidence, and femininity.
A.S.: It is very important to us that the girls who choose our dresses feel confident and beautiful. We are inspired by aesthetics, architecture, flowers — everything that fills our life. Our target client is a light, airy girl who loves to attract attention. She is confident and enjoys the looks of others. She likes bright clothes that emphasise her individuality.
K.R.: For her, it is important to feel special in bright, memorable outfits. Our dresses are perfect for an active social life. Girls wear them to both day and evening events, creating striking looks.
A.S.: We carefully consider our collections. First, we select inspiring colours, prints, and silhouettes together. Then we develop sketches and send them to the designer, who brings our ideas to life. We compose prints like bouquets: we select each flower, see how it looks in the frame. We take a hydrangea, a peony. We take 20 frames and develop our completion from there. It is crucial that the print perfectly matches the fabric and looks harmonious.
K.R.: Opening a company in Dubai was a milestone and a strategic decision on this path. There is a very active social life here; it is customary to choose bright, dressy looks for every day. Therefore, our dresses are in high demand. We work with leading multi-brand stores in Dubai, Europe, and Russia. We have contracts with TSUM, VIP and others. We are very densely, actively, and quickly entering Europe, the Middle East; we work so far with France, Monaco, Greece, Kuwait, and Qatar. It is hard entering large multi-brand stores, they are for the good and the bad reluctant to work with newly created brands. Such large companies as Altaya, Bloomingdale’s, Harvey Nichols and Ounass do not take young brands. They are used to work with well established brands. So we have to do our time and work hard to get the chances to establish ourselves next to the big brands. We are confident that they get us on the radar. The only very serious issue that worries me: in Dubai, the Stripe payment system does not support American Express. We are now entering the US market; we have customers coming from the USA who cannot pay with these cards on our website. This is perhaps our biggest challenge at the moment.
A.S.: But in general, Dubai is a very suitable place for our brand. We plan to open our own branded store here, which will be recognisable by its characteristic features — the brand name, model names, and style. An interesting fact in this regard — each of our dresses is named after a flower.
K.R.: A book with 400 different flowers is our starting point on our journey to create a dress. A book we bought together on our first trip to Paris. So in that sense everything started and still starts with Paris. And every time we create a collection, Almira chooses a flower that matches the dress. Our shoots are always recognisable thanks to visual features. We work in extreme conditions, going to amazing places. I especially like such projects because they allow us to show that the “Yvon girl” travels all over the world — from Africa to Rome and Oman. She always takes these dresses with her to convey her mood through them. We shoot in the mountains, on rocks and cliffs, which are not easy to reach but are very desirable because of their incredible beauty. Each time, when creating a shoot concept, I think about where the YVON girl would go in this collection. If these are bright yellow prints, as in the Sun Kissed collection, then she dreams of a sunny country, so we chose Zanzibar. If these are pink dresses with hydrangeas, she walks through European gardens.
A.S.: For me, it is an incredible joy to see when famous girl bloggers choose our dresses and take them with them on trips, get married in them, visit some important places and events. It is an explosion of emotions and we are thankful for that.
K.R.: When you go somewhere for lunch, for dinner, and you see girls in your dresses, it is such a fulfilling moment. We were able to give something out. In that sense joy large orders from multi-brands are a confirmation for the path we took.
A.S.: Do not betray yourself, insist on your own way, believe in what you do. The main thing is to love your work and be inspired every day. Then the brand will be truly special.
