You know I love clothes that are unique and when I came across @lokyo_official on Instagram I I fell in love with everything I saw. As I spoke with the incredible designer behind these looks, Alena, I fell in love with her as well. Read on to learn more about Alena and see some of her amazing designs. Once you do I know you’ll understand why I’m so in love with LOYKO!!
What is your background and how did you learn the techniques/skills to design and sew clothes?
I grew up in a small Siberian village with less than a hundred residents, far from the world of fashion. When I first heard about the fashion design profession at the age of six, it became my lifelong passion. I started to sew clothes from the rugs found in the attic. Nobody believed that I could become a professional fashion designer. I was fully committed to my goal and for several years studied apparel manufacturing and fashion design. At the age of sixteen, I started to win my first designer contests and for several years won more than ten national and international awards including competitions in Paris, Beijing, Budapest, and Vienna. She has come a long way to create LOYKO.
How did you get started in this business?
I noticed that mature women like my mother had difficulty finding clothes that look stylish, suit well to their body and are comfortable at the same time. This is the design challenge that captivated me, to create modern clothes, well-styled, to suit modern women. At the same time, I met my husband Aleksandr, an engineer and researcher. Together we decided to create a brand to manufacture clothes for women like our mothers. The unusual tandem of creativity and technology was beneficial for the development of the LOYKO signature style. We combined new proprietary methods of fabric treatment, special oversize cut, and multi-layer designs to create clothes that will help women with a wide variety of figures admire themselves. For several years we won the support of thousands of customers and wholesale buyers. In 2022 we moved to the United States with the idea to make our brand international.
Do you have a favorite material to work with?
We work only with natural fabrics: linen, cotton, wool, silk, viscose. It is interesting to work with each material, I, as a sculptor, can sculpt from fabric. I’m inspired by taking ordinary fabrics and using new treatment methods to make them unique. Often, I don’t know what I will get in the end. After sewing the product it goes through several stages to get signature features like attrition, wrinkled effects, and torn edges to become a thing from LOYKO. Brand aesthetic uses broken lines and asymmetric silhouettes, graceful flowing, textured fabrics, and muted colors to help women express their rich life experiences. To focus on the uniqueness of a woman, LOYKO creates its own fabric designs that we print on natural and tactile base materials. We create clothing based on unusual shapes and textures that are rarely seen off the catwalk while maintaining convenience and comfort for everyday life. Growing up close to nature encouraged me to ensure that my clothes are in consonance with the environment. I create only with sustainable natural fabrics and eco-friendly fabric printing technologies.
Your clothes are absolutely beautiful and unique, what inspires your creativity when designing?
Most often, my muses are women with rich life experiences and a sense of taste. They radiate inspiration for creating a new collection. I always imagine the woman who will wear a new garment, what is her character, her dreams, emotions? What nuance she would like to hide or emphasize in her figure? And a new creation becomes alive. I also love natural textures of stone and minerals and this can be traced in my collections: colors, silhouettes, asymmetric lines.
Do you have a piece that you’ve designed that has special meaning to you?
When I was a student in design school, I made a minimalist multi-layered and light dress in muted shades for myself. The first time I wore it was for a very important event in my life. It was an international design competition, where I won first place. Since then, a lot of events have been associated with this dress. I wore it only on special occasions and immediately success awaited me. For me, it was a magical dress. I keep it for the day, like something magical.
What is your favorite part of owning, designing, and running a clothing company? What is the hardest part?
My favorite is creating a new collection. It is a creative chaos with a lot of uncertainty and inspiration. My team always helps me a lot to implement my crazy ideas in life with great quality. The best part is seeing how women in my clothes are smiling and admiring themselves. The hardest part for me is to ensure that our manufacturing is fully sustainable, including the usage of natural fabrics, eco-friendly manufacturing technologies and minimizing waste.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My day can be very different depending on the stage of the design-manufacturing cycle. Sometimes I can spend all day working on the sketches of a new collection. Sometimes I spend hours communicating with my team and partners. Sometimes I visit fashion and textile events and trade shows.
Who are your customers? Tell me about the women you design for?
I create my clothes for women with rich life experiences like my mother. They have a long and interesting life journey. They love to express their uniqueness and sense of taste but don’t want to sacrifice comfort and high quality. My clothes can gently underline the individual beauty of a woman without drawing too much attention to her person, helping to express nobility and individual style.
As one who loves oversized, stylish, comfy clothes, I’m so glad Alena saw a need and fills it with her beautiful designs. As a woman in her 60s, I still want to wear great clothes and LOYKO allows me to do so! If you’re looking to add something cool and unique to your wardrobe reach out to LOYKO, you’ll be so happy you did! 🥰
Each and everyone of these outfit is so unique! They flow beautifully and gracefully. I especially like the polkadots. Those are fun looking and it makes a fantastic statement jacket!
Thanks Nancy! That’s what I love about LOYKO – everything she designs is so unique and fun! Thanks for reading xo