APPAREAL FOUNDER’S STORY
“We can send people to the moon. Can it be so difficult to make luxury designerwear that doesn’t need to be cared for like a small child?”
For APPAREAL founder Olesya, wearing great looking clothes was always an important part of her life. It was certainly an important part of her career in marketing at Olay Skincare where she felt under pressure to look picture perfect every day. Looking good gave her that boost of inner confidence and avoided her feeling inferior among peers.
At the same time, Olesya was a working mum to a 5 year-old daughter, and the combination of fashionista, career and parenting meant that time, naturally, was on the limited side. So, as she rushed to get dressed in the morning, or for an evening event, it was always with great disappointment that she couldn’t choose her favourite dresses as they were waiting patiently to be ironed or taken to the dry cleaner. Or, tantalisingly, a dress might be ready but no matching jacket was!
It just so happens that Olesya trained as a rocket scientist, and was able to dream a little bit further into outer space. She refused to accept that humanity could build rocket engines, yet couldn’t invent luxury designerwear that could be washed as effortlessly as a basic T-shirt, and hung to dry to leave no creases. In fact, why not dresses and coats and jackets too? And all matching together.
So Olesya embarked on her quest to find out how to make fabrics to turn her dream into reality. She spent two years travelling to exhibitions around the world and to weavers all across Italy. She discovered that techniques to make high-tech fabrics for sports and car interiors could be reapplied to beautiful looking textiles, often with exciting new textures that opened up a world of design possibilities. Wanting to go further, and being passionate about sustainability as well as quality, Olesya continued her research to find impeccable eco-friendly fur and leather alternatives, hunting down solar-power-panelled fabric suppliers and even sourcing recycled fabric where she could.
Armed with her secret fabric formulas, Olesya then worked with world-renowned Italian ateliers who would reimagine her designs as part of an accessible collection. Here, her combined fashion-passion and scientific-mindset imposed demanding levels of precision on tailoring and cut. She instinctively knew that the flattering cut, the one that makes you look 3 kilos slimmer and 3 cm taller, is what makes women like her feel comfortable and feminine in their own bodies and confident in any situation. It was essential to make it just right, no matter the extra time it took to figure it out.
And so APPAREAL was born. Olesya left her office job and fully dedicated herself to her mission; that no woman ever feels under-dressed because she didn’t have time to iron or pop into the dry cleaner. Her goal was to make sure you have a spring in your step, and feel your real beautiful self every day, not just on special occasions. Because when you feel inspired you are more daring, you feel more fulfilled, you go after what you want, you feel happier and you make others a little happier too.
APPAREAL. Real, wearable, luxury fashion. Not harming the planet. Now women really can have it all.