I am a dreamer. Ever since I was a little girl and the things I wanted were just slightly out of my grasp, I dreamed of the ways I would create my perfect reality. I never wanted to fit in to what was, but to create what wasn’t. I caused a lot of heartache to my poor mother and sister, who would hold up outfit after outfit while I continued to shake my head in disapproval. At the time in the Ukraine, the clothing was all mainstream and could not fulfill my desire to be unique – myself!
When I was about 13, clothes started to come in from Europe that were trendier, with different colors and fabrics that gave me new inspiration. By the time I was 18, I was already creating designs, looking for fabrics and searching for tailors who could realize my visions. I didn’t know at the time that this was the beginning of a dream that would become my life’s passion.
In the next 7 years I worked in a number of areas including hospital administration, fitness training, consular services, business development, marketing, and public relations. This gave me priceless knowledge and experience and reinforced skills in communications and understanding people’s needs. It became a preparation of sorts of what was to come.
First meeting with Qatar, one of the fastest-developing and wealthiest countries, where the traditional meets the cosmopolitan. Veiled local women saunter elegantly amongst foreign women from almost 200 countries. This incredible mix of cultures provides such inspiration for creating fusion looks. I very quickly envisaged a style that combined the traditional and conservative with the elegant and feminine.
I returned to Ukraine with my mind wide open and began a journey of self-exploration through reading and courses. I read a number of books such as Be the Best Version of Yourself by Dan Waldshmidt, completed the Women Digital Academy Training, and did a course entitled Self-Made Woman. I discovered my most important sources of fashion inspiration: Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, and Valentino, as well as Marc Jacobs and Diane von Furstenberg whose courses in Fashion Design and Building a Fashion Brand had a profound influence on me.
All this resulted in a conversation with my cousin who was gifted in embroidery, a skill handed down from our grandmother. I saw the possibility of upgrading this very traditional Ukrainian craft by modernizing the patterns, using different high-quality fabrics and new color combinations.
Within three weeks we had created the first family look for myself and my goddaughter - 2 royal blue linen dresses with traditional Ukrainian embroidery patterns. And simple as that, one dream had become reality, and another was born: AnnaDreams.
The next step was a return to Qatar, but this time with a vision to develop, improve and introduce AnnaDreams to the world. Within a few months, I had built a website with a capsule collection, was working on photo shoots, developing social media, and connecting with new people to build a small but international community. All the while, I was conducting informal field research to understand the needs and desires of women.
The main thing I learned is that regardless of nationality, culture, education, age, and body type, all women desire to be more beautiful, more confident, more comfortable, and more authentically themselves and seek out styles that complement their figure and personality.
I clearly saw my role as much larger than a fashion and clothing advisor, but to instill in women the confidence and courage to be the best version of themselves. Essentially, I want to help free women from the limiting beliefs they hold of themselves and what is possible. My vision is women dreaming freely and myself as a aid and support to make those dreams come true.
Today AnnaDreams is designing and tailoring women’s clothing that uses natural high-quality fabrics, such as 100% silk, cotton, linen, and velvet. We are continually creating single, custom-made pieces. One woman, one outfit, one look, never to be repeated. Our team is made up of personal stylists, beauty and fashion advisors, tailors, make-up and hair professionals, skin care and nail technicians, fitness trainers, photographers and videographers, and modelling coaches.
Together we work to unveil a woman’s true beauty.
I end with words that are not mine but speak the truth of my dreaming heart:
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
