Categories: Mums in Heels|

Let’s have some play time

By |Published On: February 3rd, 2016|

When was the last time you met an airplane engineer? It’s surely even rarer to find one who has also launched a fashion label and is dabbling in doll design…

This story no matter how extraordinary is, happens on a very ordinary January morning over a croissant and a cup of coffee. I am supposed to meet Yana at 10am and she is already there. As soon as I say hi I have the feeling I am intruding. Yana is kind but distant. I am surprised to see a woman totally different from what I was expecting. I’ve done so many interviews in my life that it’s really difficult not to be “prepared” and to some extent proposed, but I love the fact that she surprises and dares my expectations.

Yana

Yana is doesn’t look very much of an extrovert, to me she looks shy, vulnerable and a little uncertain, however sharp, graceful and from time to time tending to sound cynical. Her friends say she is bold, opinionated and copy, but only in their company. For a first meeting I have the feeling she is frail and dainty, but she is hiding it behind her laughter and scepticism rationality. “I am a dreamer, I believe in new ideas and my own ones. I believe in happy ending”, says Yana about herself.

Back in Russia Yana has studied and graduated Aerospace Engineering. I think once you see her clothes you can feel the connection with the mind behind the design and the patterns. There is a certain discipline involved and a certain pragmatism, but you can feel a woman who wants to escape being ordinary and random. She does it with a certain zeal and devotion (not preoccupation though).

I like Yana, the way I like airplanes and helicopters, they make me feel released from daily pragmatism and duties. Here’s what I spoke to Yana about:

Tsitaliya: Who is Yana: I am a fashion designer and a doll maker

Yana: What do you love about fashion design: I love prints and I like to design my own prints and play with them, mix and match. I like to create emotion with my clothes and to develop an atmosphere around it:
Russian/ bohemian/ grunge/ each collection tells a different story. Since I started making dolls I stopped designing clothes, except when people want to order one piece.

Tsitaliya: Why did you start making dolls?

Yana: I don’t know, I just like dolls and I like to provoke the traditional made dolls with a little more of reality. My dolls are not like a Barbie, they have tattoos, wear denim, sneakers and glasses. They are just like real women, the women I meet on the street who are my real inspiration. I started one year ago designing a line of celebrities: I made a Rihanna, then Rita Ora and Pharell. The collection was bought by a store here in Zurich. Last Fall I proposed to do some big dolls as windows mannequins for several boutiques and the idea was well accepted. That was a start to create the big window’s dolls for the fashion boutiques and presentation Spaces. Until now I did three windows and have in project some inquires.

Tsitaliya: Yana can you describe your idea behind making those dolls?

Yana: The small customized dolls are made after a photo, for example my own doll COCO, which is
50cm, styled, can have tattoos and accessories (earrings, dresses that can be changed). I would love to create something like a doll cult, suggesting that you can take your doll everywere: on a trip, at an apero or to walk around, sit with your doll in a Cafe. I don’t want to create some weird crazy idea, just a suggestion to have fun and people take it positively, smiling.

The cult around dolls can evolve and integrate the doll everywhere: book stores, cafe or bars, as street art, home deko e.t.c not only as a rag doll, but also as notebooks, phone covers, cussions, graffity, frames, wallpapers, books ( some of that is already on the online shop).

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About the Author: Tsitaliya Mircheva

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Tsitaliya is a writer and fashion journalist for more than 20 years. She founded Mums in Heels 10 years ago and keeps growing and evolving together with her community or fashionable mums and responsible consumers. Fashion and Wellness are her most favourite topics to write about.