Fashion Show with Viktorya Allen

I’ll get my PIQF photos up next week. I have a particularly busy week with a lecture and workshop plus I am taking two classes!

I am so excited-I’ll be taking the Sew Together Bag class from Angelina McKenna at Meissner’s-I have wanted one of these bags forever and Angelina is too fun!

And, be still my heart, I was able to get into the Mosi Jogakbo Patchwork class with Youngmin Lee at A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland. I am beyond excited. After all, what AM I going to do with all those sheers?

I am excited to share photos from the Fashion Show I went to last Sunday. In my little head, I am a garment maker. In reality I have not made a garment in awhile but I love Art to Wear. I was so excited to have the chance to see the work of a woman whose work I have long admired.

I have followed Viktorya Allen on Facebook for a few years. Viktorya now lives in Baja, Mexico and formerly resided in northern California. She creates extraordinary and unique fashions and her work was part of the Friday Fashion Show at Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, Ca last weekend. Viktorya joined Rachel Clark and Rami Kim in what surely was a spectacular show.

I was not able to attend the PIQF Fashion Show but discovered that Viktorya was showing her work at the Lincoln Arts Center to a very intimate crowd. I heard about the show through Janet Becker-thank you Janet! I drove through an absolute downpour and I was delighted by the setting for the show. There were maybe 20 women in attendance. I think it was meant to be private and I was an interloper-shhhhhh!

Viktorya gave a detailed and entertaining trunk show of wearable art spanning several decades. I’m sure there are details I missed because I was in awe as I was fondling garments that were passed around. My photos are generally of the top outer garment. Most were part of an ensemble that usually included a blouse or shirt plus pants or skirt. Viktorya’s first goal is comfort and you could see that these ensembles are elegant, artful and truly wearable.

This was adorable! The details, oh the details. Love the hem treatment and all the art on the fabric.

I absolutely love the combination of fabrics, the visual texture. And that flounce at the bottom is just so cool.

Detailed view of the same garment.

The collaging of fabrics appealed to me on this one. I never would have put all those fabrics together and yet it is interesting, cohesive and beautifully edited.

Back view of the same garment.

Somehow I did not get a photo of the front of this vest. Viktorya started with a pre-printed panel (the Van Gogh) then added/collaged additional fabrics. Oh the details…

I love how she added these whimsical tabs at the collar.

Dang those red buttons-I’m obsessed with them! How cool is that?

Viktorya created her own stencils to create the design on this piece. She started with plain white fabric and created this! I don’t have a clear photo of the skirt but you can see the 4-button tab which adorned the back pleat.

Now this is the one I want to wear right now! It’s not the greatest photo but the colors and whimsy and flow of this garment are divine.

Yes, that is a cross-stitched table cloth! Who’d a thunk of that?

Another gorgeous jacket. I found it interesting that her color palette remained fairly stable over the decades. There can be a lot of mixing and matching with that palette.

Love that quilty block part added to the front!

Beautiful and artful button holes. I marveled at the precision and beauty of the stitching of the buttonholes.

Now a few random details that intrigued me:

This was a scarf to be draped across the body of another outfit. Rather than just have a plain scarf, Viktorya added some random hand-stitched lines to alter the hang of the scarf to create more interest.

This is perhaps the most charming detail of all-just love that dragonfly!

A beautiful collage of gorgeous fabrics…

A collar: rather than let it just fold, random hand stitched lines added for interest…

Highlighting the selvage edge…

Long hand stitches to add another subtle layer of interest to this collage of fabrics…

Many lovely details but they do not overwhelm…

Fabric print using a Sharpie.

And this is just one of many mediums Viktorya works in!

I hope to have time to create garments again sometime soon. This trunk show was so very inspiring! I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be posting on Friday to Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday where there is always a fun linky party.