My recent interview for Oxford Fashion Week 5 Minutes with: Lenie Boya Having recently showcased her first collection ‘Voyage’ at this year’s London Fashion Week, designer and dress agency owner Lenie Boya returned to her hometown of Oxford to feature in the Independent and Couture collections last week. She spoke to us about her passion for design… By Jessica Montgomery. Tell me about your background I was born in Uzbekistan and graduated in Russia as an engineer of telecommunications. But all my life, from when I designed and created my first dress at the age of 7, I wanted to be a fashion designer. To achieve this goal I took many fashion orientated courses. In 2001 I came to the UK and qualified as an Image Consultant and stylist through the International Federation of Image Consultants. In 2010 I bought the shop Revival a Dress Agency in St. Clements, Oxford, which is now Lenie’s Revival Boutique Dress Agency. What has been your biggest challenge since you started? My biggest challenge came when I was invited to participate as a designer in London Fashion Week 2014. I was busy with all aspects of the shop and so my initial thought was to decline the offer. However I realised this was the chance I had been waiting for and so a month and a half before the show I accepted. In just one month and a half I had to think about and draw up designs, choose material and create the dress from the page. Night and day I worked and didn’t finish putting the last stitch on the last dress until 6 o’clock in the morning of the show. I then drove to London and went backstage to prepare the models for the catwalk. Who do you admire? I admire the beauty of human beings, for this is what inspires me to design, create, consultant and style. I believe there is beauty in everyone and so my goal is to help people through my image consultations, styling and design to find and bring their hidden inner beauty out. Making them feel good and confident by looking good. I don’t want to fit that person in to the current fashion; I want to find the fashion that fits that person. How do you stay motivated? I do not need to keep myself motivated as I am absolutely in love and passionate about what I do. Because I have lots of ideas for creations and I want to do as much as possible, I sometimes think 24 hours is not enough time for me to do so. What do you consider to be your greatest achievements? My greatest achievement is being educated, experienced and confident enough to help others achieve their goals in style. And of course my first collection ‘Voyage’ which I showcased in London Fashion Week 2014. What are you wearing right now? I am dramatic by personality and so I reflect this through my style, colours and accessories. I am also the girl that goes for high designer brands. This is the reason behind Lenie’s Revival Boutique Dress Agency, which sells top end high street and high designer brands. Who is your ideal client? Who would you love to dress? I love all my costumers, and I like to be challenged with my work. No matter who my client is, I will always start from discovering her personality and lifestyle first. Then, I will try to create something different for my client to emphasize this personality. I would love to dress the world! I’d love to see the world in style. I will do my best for it. But, I will say my ideal clients would be socially active and contemporary women and fashion aesthetes of manifold personality. My client is a strong personality, courageous identity and confidence with a good purpose in life. Someone who wishes to express herself through great choice of outwear. What does a typical day look like at Lenies Boutique? Lenie’s Revival is a well known Boutique Dress Agency in Oxfordshire and well beyond its boundaries. It is usually called “Aladdin Cave” because of its unique selection of quality well known brands from top end high street (all famous brand names you can think of) to various boutiques and high designers. My clients come from all over UK (even from as far as Guernsey) They know that their satisfaction in quality and price is guaranteed here. My days are always busy and hectic at Lenies Revival. People bring their branded garments, new or almost new, and I have to check every piece myself to see what I will be taking. Each piece of cloths is registered and signed for. Apart from that, I help every customer to choose and style; I control stock daily (prices and discounts), and it takes a lot of time as everything is priced and cared individually. I take care of every customer and love to see my clients enjoying shopping and my styling. I have customers of different age and background and everyone requires individual approach. My job is to make everyone happy and satisfied, both look wise and price wise. Their positive feedback is my greatest prize. What was the last book that you read? I read books about art, philosophy, astrology, spirituality, history and biographies. Any book that can help my self-development is a bonus. As an example, the last book I read was about my favourite artist Picasso who inspired my latest collection - ‘Essential Picasso by Laura Payne. Do you have a hidden talent? Well, I am a designer through and through. So, I do interior and exterior design of peoples houses. I can start from scratch here and produce a masterpiece in the end. And finally, why Oxford Fashion Week? Oxford is my home. I live and work here. I want to show people what I am, my potential and what I can do to style them and stress out their individuality. I had a great success in London, now it is time to come home...
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 21:49:15 +0000
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