Interview with Yuliya: Designer of womens plus-size clothing

Hello everyone!

As you may have noticed 100% People have recently been working closely with plus-size retailer Igigi.

Not only have they supplied a fantastic 15% discount for all our UK visitors, they’ve also been a great help with our online shopping article. Plus seeing as I’m already a massive Igigi fan, I just had to take the opportunity to interview Yuliya, Igigi’s resident designer.

Hi Yuliya, hope you are well, we imagine life as a fashion designer is rather hectic, would you agree?

Of course! The job of a fashion designer is an intense one. I have to conceive all of the designs, create them, make sure they fit and come up with all of the solutions to the challenges that always happen along the way. Don’t get into the industry for glamour and fame. I jokingly say that being a fashion designer is not a profession, it is a disease! If you absolutely cannot live without it, then do it. And love and enjoy every moment of it.

How did Igigi clothing first come about?

Designing and making clothes has been my passion since I was five years old. I was working as a couturier when I had my awakening moment in 1997. I went shopping with my full-figured mother to a well-known plus-size chain store. My mom, who loved to dress beautifully but found it difficult to find ready-made clothes that flattered her figure and satisfied her taste, had asked me to come with her and help her shopping. Needless to say, after seeing the selection available in the store, we were extremely disappointed. I began asking myself whether any woman could feel beautiful wearing the clothes that were available in the plus size stores. Would I personally enjoy dressing in this clothing, and how would it make me feel?
I realized that no matter what size a woman wears, she wants to look feminine, stylish and very attractive. The clothes that were available on the market at that time did not do justice to women who wore them. At that moment my personal and professional mission was formed.

We’d like to find out a little more about Igigi and the clothing you create, where does you inspiration come from?

I draw inspiration from everything that moves me and then mold my feelings into designs that will flatter voluptuous figures. Inspiration comes from my extensive traveling, my life, architecture, art, and nature. Colors found in nature are incredible and I always want to translate them. Recently I was inspired by a plant outside of my house; this bush had these vibrant berry-magenta flowers, set against a deep luscious green. The flowers were almost velvety against those lush green leaves. Of course I also look at the emerging fashion trends and winning silhouettes from the catwalks of the top European and American designers. But most of all, my customers are my greatest source of inspiration. It gives me great satisfaction when thousands of women tell me that my ideas and visions help them change the way they see themselves.

Do you believe by designing plus size garments you are helping fill a big gap in the clothing market?

More than filling a gap in the market we’re helping set the standard of how voluptuous women are presented in society. We are pioneers of making women feel beautiful and empowered! I began IGIGI out of the sheer disillusion with the way we women are being culturally influenced to starve ourselves to be able to fit into this impossible and quite unattractive anorexic image. I am as passionate about creating unique, fashion-forward, stylish and great fitting clothes for curvaceous women, as about changing the way our society defines feminine beauty. My mission is to influence media and fashion industry to begin celebrating woman’s unique physical qualities no matter the size of the clothing that she wears.

Would you say your designs are internationally universal? In the UK we have quite a large fashion industry, how does Igigi fit into the UK market?

My designs work weather you’re in the UK, the US, Africa, anywhere! Being from Europe – the Ukraine- I definitely have an appreciation for European fashion, but I also love American designs. Igigi is a combination of clean American designs and the European flair for details. Most importantly, we empower women everywhere to wear clothing that makes them feel fashionable, sensual, feminine, confident and beautiful. Our goal is to provide curvy women in the UK, and across the world, with fashionable designs for full-figured, confident women. It is a combination of our clothing design, quality, fit and customer service what makes us stand out from our competition.

Have you ever considered opening a UK only online Igigi store? If you have, do you think you would create a plus size range specifically for the UK?

Igigi has been able to work with UK customers from the US very well so far! Opening a UK branch would be great but it’s not possible yet, so instead we focus on excellent customer service coming from our headquarters in San Francisco, CA. We have very loyal customers in the UK that enjoy ordering with us because the service is great and they get designs they can’t find abroad shipped safely and quickly to them. Besides the US and Canada, the UK is one of our biggest markets.

Thanks Yuliya, it’s been great talking to you. Finally what message, if any do you have for the 100% People visitors?

What I do is only a byproduct of my mission to empower women. If I were a writer, or a painter, I would express myself that way. But I am a designer, that is my calling, and my gift of reaching out to people is via clothing design. Our goal is to inspire all women to love, respect and treasure themselves by accepting their physical appearance. We make it our priority to teach our customers how to look and feel their absolute best with their physical gifts. We know that not all plus-size women are the same shape even if they wear the same numerical size. We create clothing that flatters many specific figure shapes and educate women how to optimize their appearance. We believe that a woman truly feels beautiful when she recognizes that she is exquisite the way she already is: a wonderful, unique, and exceptional individual!

Remember folks! Get 15% discount off at Igigi with the promotional code: 100PPL (enter at checkout)