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 Schneider, 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.
K.R.: We met about 10 years ago when Almira invited me to a French café in Kazan to eat cakes. At the time, we were both planning to go to Milan, and this joint trip became the starting point of our friendship. The idea of creating a brand came to us during a trip to Paris when we were inspired by the city's romance: its architecture, flowers, and gardens.
Almira was then working in a boutique showroom where they made jackets with hand embroidery. She flew to Paris, brought this collection with her, and we took photos for social media. I was the model, and Almira photographed me with her phone. We were standing in Place Vendôme with suitcases, and at that moment, we suddenly realised: why are we doing this for someone else? We know the business and see the beauty around us, drawing inspiration from it — we should try to do something ourselves.
A.S.: We realised that we could create something of our own, using our own vision. We wanted to make beautiful, high-quality things for ourselves. Together, we could create something interesting. We wanted the clothes to be beautiful and have a perfect fit for any size.
K.R.: So, about 5 years ago, Almira and I started sewing dresses for ourselves because it was difficult to find ones that fit our size and style. We decided to create our own brand that would match our preferences. At first, it was just a hobby — we sewed 5-7 dresses a month and sold them immediately.
And two years ago, with two investors, we opened a company in Kazan, built an office and production facilities. In parallel, I opened a company in Dubai, and we started running two websites, dividing sales between the countries.
A.S.: It was important to us that the inner lining of the dresses was impeccable. I am a perfectionist, and for me, it is essential that the seams, lining, and hardware are perfect. We only use natural fabrics, mainly silk, linen, and cotton.
K.R.: We divided responsibilities between us — we have a clear division of roles. I am responsible for the visual component and energy: shoots, social media, marketing. Almira handles production, collection development, fabric, and hardware selection. We have complete trust in each other; we do not interfere in each other's areas of responsibility.
A.S.: Yes, we understand each other very well and do not doubt our partner's decisions. This allows us to work efficiently and make decisions quickly.
K.R.: Naming is a landmark moment for a brand. We wanted the name to sound unusual and reflect our character — strict yet gentle. There was no doubt about the first part — YV — because it is short and sounds confident. There was an idea to name the brand YVONNE, but we then abandoned this thought because such a name would lack strength of character. Therefore, we settled on the variant YVON — it is a name with character, which simultaneously embodies resilience, self-confidence, and femininity. We like the synharmonicity with Yves Saint Laurent, whose ideas have always inspired us.
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, unusual 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 in Dubai. Girls wear them to both day and evening events, creating striking looks.
A.S.: We carefully consider each collection. 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 realise that we need to add something else. It is crucial that the print perfectly matches the fabric and looks harmonious.
K.R.: Yes, it is a very long and painstaking process. We carefully consider where and how we will shoot each collection to create a holistic brand story. 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, Luxo, VIP, and others. We are very densely, actively, and quickly entering Europe, the Middle East; we work with France, Monaco, Greece, Kuwait, and Qatar.
Opening a business in Dubai was quite easy. It is very easy to renew a licence, create a company, visas: everything is online — for any issue. I did a lot of modelling for 10 years, lived in lots of countries, and received work visas. It seems to me that those who complain do not know how it all happens in the bureaucratic systems of other countries.
The main difficulty is working with large multi-brand stores, which are not always ready to cooperate with newly created brands. Such large companies as Altaya, Blooming Dales, Harvey, and Unas do not take young brands. It seems to me that they are used to working only with those they are already confident in and are not interested in young promising companies. They always have the same lineup for 10-20 years on the market. But we are ready and waiting for offers.
The only very serious issue that worries me: in Dubai, the Stripe payment system does not support American Express. We are now entering America; we have customers coming from the USA who cannot pay with these cards on our website. This is perhaps the number one difficulty. We also lack beautiful packaging that can be ordered in small batches.
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.: I gave Almira a very beautiful book from Paris, which has images of 400 flowers with different names. And every time we create a collection, Almira chooses a flower that matches the dress. As a result, by the structure or silhouette, you can see that the cut and image of the dress repeat, for example, the shape of a tulip.
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 Kiss collection, then she dreams of a sunny country, so we chose Zanzibar. If these are pink dresses with hydrangeas, she walks through European gardens.
I associate each collection with a specific country or place — parks, mountains, sea, nature. It is important to connect the print, texture, and fabric of the dresses with the landscape and atmosphere of the country where we are shooting.
All the shoots are vivid, and often an adventure. Sometimes the police stop us during the shoots. For example, a month ago, we were filming in Rome at the Trevi Fountain. We were running around it, and the police were chasing us. It was funny. They approached us several times, warned us, and then arrived with flashing lights and insistently asked us to leave the place, explaining that filming was prohibited here. A similar story happened in Iraq. When we were filming in Oman, on the border with Iraq and Iran, we noticed that boats had sailed up, and people on board were shouting something at us. One boat stopped, and they started unloading boxes from it. We were frightened, thinking they were going to kill us. But it turned out that they decided to offer us fish from Iraq.
The diversity and harmony of natural elements transition with us from collection to collection. When we need to find inspiration to create a new collection, we follow tradition: we go on a trip together. This definitely happens at least once a year — we love spending time together. At such moments, we are completely immersed in creativity and share ideas. We reflect: what would we like to create for ourselves and others? What image do we want to embody?
Our customers and influencers, whom we call the brand's muses, inspire us with new ideas. We imagine how each of them could look in our outfits and think, "This is perfect for her."
We reason like this: this girl will suit a dress with open shoulders. And for another client, it is better to emphasise the waist or add long sleeves for elegance. We have a client with certain preferences — she loves long dresses with closed arms. We take all these wishes into account and create collections based on requests and our own ideas. Thus, each collection is born from a combination of our personal preferences, customer wishes, and inspiration from the places and people around us.
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.
K.R.: When you go somewhere for lunch, for dinner, and you see girls in your dresses. For me, inspiration is in balance and joy when I see large orders from multi-brands. When I hear the sound notification from Shopify.
K.R.: Sometimes we are asked what advice we could give to aspiring fashion entrepreneurs in Dubai. I would say this: do not be afraid to open your own business, believe in yourself and your work. Do not try to adapt to other people's expectations; remain true to your vision. And remember that you will have to work 24/7, sometimes forgetting about food and water.
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.
