A fashionable fairytale

Victoria Durrer Gasse doesn’t label herself a fashion designer, rather (and more humbly) a global designer who takes traditional clothing and gives it a wearable, modern twist.

From bright, hand-dyed silk velvet frocks, shorts and coats to pieces hand-embroidered with beautiful butterflies in Nepal or antique designs customised with appliqué or trimmed with antique Laotian ribbons, with each of Victoria’s famously colourful creations, nothing is quite as it seems.

Every piece of fabric, every button, every ribbon, every jewel and every detail has a story. Perhaps more appropriately, it’s a fairytale of fashion, starting on the designer’s worldly travels and ending up on a hanger here in Ibiza…

Whether a jacket made from amazingly bright Rajasthani fabrics or ancient Indian saris; classic Edwardian petticoats transformed into stunning gypsy ball gowns; Chinese emperor gowns, Geisha gowns and Maharani jackets transformed into modern pieces, all are highly covetable… and some even museum worthy!

Made from the heart, Victoria’s creations also give back to their place origin, with proceeds donated (for example) to women in Bali and an orphanage in Nepal. Yet despite their historical origins, Victoria Ibiza collections – available off the rack in La Galeria Elefante, by studio appointment or in one-off boutiques like Aura and La Paloma - remain extremely accessible to one and all.

Updated on May 22, 2011.