Let us make it personal and speak with Son Trava head designer Victoria Kapriz about her upbringing in the south of Russia, fashion education at Polimoda in Florence, an internship at Alexander McQueen in London and how her diverse background is influencing the brand.

«I remember the girls in my primary school lining up at my desk and asking me to draw the dresses for their princesses paper dolls”, Victoria reminisces, smiling.  From the very beginning, she knew she was going to become a fashion designer, even before she knew what it actually meant.

Eventually her passion for princesses’ gowns developed into fashion design and fine art studies in Krasnodar, her hometown in the south of Russia and one of the main sources of inspiration for Son Trava, with its proximity to the Black Sea dachas and a true southern leisure lifestyle that rarely comes to mind when you think of Russia.

Fast forward to sun-soaked Florence, where Victoria had a chance to perfect her design skills at one of the major fashion schools in Europe under the supervision of Patrick de Muynck. «Back then Patrick had just left the position of a Fashion Design teacher at the Royal Academy in Antwerp to come and work in Polimoda. It was an amazing opportunity to work under his supervision».

Next stop — London.  Victoria’s first internship took place at a small menswear brand which surprisingly turned out to be a great influence on her future brand known for its delicate dresses and nightgowns. She learned menswear pattern-making and fitting and fell in love with the men’s style and fabrics, which she now uses almost exclusively for Son Trava designs.

Quite unexpectedly an opportunity to intern at Alexander McQueen appeared, and frankly, this is not a chance you walk away from. «As an intern, you are obviously at a pretty  low position, and yet there you have incredible resources at your demand and you literally sit two meters away from a tailor who is making a dress for Kate Middleton. You’ve got a lot of resources, a lot of possibilities and not a lot of time».

«Once I created a corset-type top and soon after I’ve sent it “upstairs” to the head designer, I got called up to her office. I immediately decided that something bad had happened. But there she was — standing beside a model, who was wearing my piece, with a discreet smile and asking me: did you make it? It’s beautiful. Thank you».

Ultimately, when Victoria got invited to one of the most high-end and well-known fashion houses in Warsaw, she didn’t think twice. It was a chance to learn high quality from the ‘kitchen side’ much closer than in a large international brand and also a great opportunity to work with an amazing team of professionals — tailors, seamstresses, pattern-makers. It was an on-hand experience of working with the best materials, the best European manufacturers, the highest quality of dressmaking. And of course, also a chance to design for celebrities from Anja Rubik to Zaha Hadid, whose cape she created specially for the V&A’s Alexander McQueen «Savage Beauty”» Opening Gala..

Now, all the parts of Victoria’s diverse background came together like a puzzle to create the world of Son Trava...