My name is Victoria. I am a dressmaker, fashion designer and artist with broad experience in various crafts. I practice slow making. I try slow living.
I believe in energies that fill the Universe. Everything within us and around us is energy and any actions and thoughts of our is exchange of this energy with the surrounding world. I admire nature and everything I do is influenced and inspired by the powers of our planet.
I use only recycled, reclaimed and natural materials for all my unique designs. I have been practising recycled fashion since the age of 11, the only thing is, at that point of time I did not realise I was doing something cool, trendy and good for our planet. In post soviet society beginning of 90-s I spent my teenage years in with coupon system and extreme shortage of anything in the empty-shelve-shops that seemed to be the only way to get something new in my wardrobe. I remade my family’s unwanted old clothes into “new” skirts and dresses for myself knowing close to nothing about pattern cutting and going with my intuition and the eye rule to make my clothes look good.
I love the art of remaking and giving new life to something old and unwanted. I think that it is important to understand the consequences of our design processes, because any design, manufacturing and business practices affect unsustainable consumption patterns with products configuring consumers thus setting up incorrect energy exchanges between us and nature. Therefore sustainability is the main core of all my designs. Now making clothes on a more professional level I always try to practice “reduce-reuse-recycle” rule in my work, the habit I kept from those old days.
I happily do clothes repairs and alterations/transformations of any kind as well as designing and creating something new when there is a need for it.
I do not limit myself just to fashion. I create various little pretty things like fabric dolls, one of a kind handbags and other accessories, home décor objects and even jewellery. I believe that creativity has no limits!
You can always find recent updates on my creative processes on TELEGRAM https://t.me/vixecodesigns or INSTAGRAM
PAY WHAT YOU CAN APPROACH
I want to be the change I want to see in the world. Our society was built on a system where we conditioned to believe that people who have more money deserve more and people who have less money deserve less. Those who are more fortunate can afford to pay for better quality goods and services, can afford to buy ethical, sustainable, handmade things and the poor majority continues to buy cheap items and discard them as they break because they can’t afford to pay for the repair either. I want to change that.
I want to be part of the solution, not contribute to further social division into rich and poor. I believe it is up to us what future we want to create from now on. Do we want to head in the direction of deeper social injustice, accumulation of wealth and power and the ever increasing divide between rich and poor or do we want to finally change that? The world is changing and perhaps we need to change too and let go of the idea that people with lots of money deserve more, and people with less money deserve less.
From 2020 I work on “PAY WHAT YOU CAN” principle where I do not charge a certain amount of money for an item or service but instead give you a recommended price, but if you feel you can't afford that, I let you choose how much you can and want to pay depending on your income and satisfaction with the product or service you received without any expectations from my side. I decided to switch from a business to a non profit approach. I do not make any money from what I do, everything you pay goes back into community projects I run.
My promise to you - No matter what you can afford to pay, I will always do the best quality job I can for you.
When it comes to payment - I let you choose how much you want to support my work. This is our energy exchange - I give you from my heart and you give me back from your heart. If you feel you got a great quality item or service and you are really happy with it why not support me as much as you can? If you choose not to support when you can just because you feel my job is less important this is your choice and you have a right to do so. I did everything I could from my heart and I know the Universe will give me back what I give. The same applies to everyone - you always get back what you choose to give. Along with my work, if I can, I always send donations and support campaigns and companies who are working towards a good course to create a better world. I want to set up a chain of change, where I give something to you, you give something to someone else, that someone gives something to the next person and so it goes on until it comes full circle.
I am often asked, what guarantee I have that some people will simply use me and not pay at all? There is no guarantee. I am simply opening my heart to people. Whether they choose to respond from their heart or just take advantage is up to them. In the past I have worked willingly for free or for very little payment, for different people and a variety of reasons. And I can tell you, these are the people I got the most from. Not in terms of money. The feeling you get when you made someone happy is priceless. Besides, very often in life I have received help or support from other people when I’ve least expected it, when I most needed it and without asking for anything in return. And these moments made me think, that I must have done something right in this life to deserve it. Let’s do more of it! Gratitude and kindness never come with a price tag.
I want to inspire others to join me on this path. If you are interested to learn more information behind this idea have a look at Marina Jacobi’s Energy Philanthropy and Money Structures, Charles Eisenstein’s Sacred Economics.
HOW DOES IT WORK
At my online shop I have a price range for you to choose from - the minimum amount will cover postage and basic resources expenses, then it goes up to a certain amount. You choose what you can afford to pay.
The lowest prices are for those who cannot afford to pay the full amount. If this is your situation - you are welcome to use this opportunity and give me what you can as soon as it comes from your heart. I will be grateful to you regardless of what you pay and you will still receive the same quality items or service.
If you can afford to pay a bit more it will allow me to earn a fair income for my work and to continue supporting those who are going through hard times financially.
I see it as a community work to create a better world together. I am truly passionate about that idea and I hope to inspire you to contribute or maybe even join the movement of creating a beautiful world we all know we want to live in. A world where we help and support each other.