From the VFW website -
Shelley Klassen’s high quality in construction is matched with her consideration for comfort and functionality. The versatility of silhouettes and cuts ensure an inclusive brand for all body types. Our goal is to have women live LIFE in our clothing. From fun to formal, day to cocktail to evening, Shelley Klassen dresses evoke a love for life and all things pretty. This is what her clients have come to love and trust. And it’s the compliments that keep them coming back.
Interview -
The brand is named after the designer - Shelley Klassen – and has been her eponymous label for the last 16 years. Shelley Klassen has sold her designs out of her award winning Vancouver boutique, since 2007 as well as select boutiques across Canada and USA. All garments are designed and manufactured in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Fantastically feminine in design, the Shelley Klassen label celebrates being a woman. Embracing vibrancy in all aspects with color, print and texture, each piece is uniquely designed to its calling. The result is an unapologetic celebration of femininity. It is unique designer clothing for women who are tired of mainstream fast fashion and value quality, sustainability and desire a fabulous functional wardrobe. It is elevated, wearable fashion.
Interview -
Please share a bit about your journey to embrace fashion design as a career.
My mother’s love of sewing and dressing her three daughters in the prettiest of dresses, hooked me from a very young age. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating my own wardrobe. It didn’t dawn on me that it could be a career until the end of my university days when I travelled to India on a placement program for seven months. Falling in love with the rich fabrics, I promptly enrolled in design school once I returned to Canada and haven’t looked back since.
How did you learn your skills?
I studied in Ottawa at the Richard Robinson School of Design. The program was excellent for pattern construction and haute couture sewing. I wrote a business plan in my final year and put it into action upon moving to Vancouver.
My mother’s love of sewing and dressing her three daughters in the prettiest of dresses, hooked me from a very young age. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating my own wardrobe. It didn’t dawn on me that it could be a career until the end of my university days when I travelled to India on a placement program for seven months. Falling in love with the rich fabrics, I promptly enrolled in design school once I returned to Canada and haven’t looked back since.
How did you learn your skills?
I studied in Ottawa at the Richard Robinson School of Design. The program was excellent for pattern construction and haute couture sewing. I wrote a business plan in my final year and put it into action upon moving to Vancouver.
Who are you as a designer? Aesthetic? Customer? Brand?
Fantastically feminine in design, my label celebrates being a woman. Embracing vibrancy in all aspects with color, print and texture, each piece is uniquely designed to its calling. The result is an unapologetic celebration of femininity. It is unique designer clothing for women who are tired of mainstream fast fashion and value quality, sustainability and desire a fabulous functional wardrobe. It is elevated, wearable fashion.
Fantastically feminine in design, my label celebrates being a woman. Embracing vibrancy in all aspects with color, print and texture, each piece is uniquely designed to its calling. The result is an unapologetic celebration of femininity. It is unique designer clothing for women who are tired of mainstream fast fashion and value quality, sustainability and desire a fabulous functional wardrobe. It is elevated, wearable fashion.
Designs are sold out of my Vancouver boutique since 2007, as well as select boutiques across Canada and USA. All garments are designed and manufactured in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
What comes easiest for you as a designer? What is hardest?
Playing with fabric is my happy place. Fabrics tell me what they want to become. The creation side is easy. As with most entrepreneurs and artist, the most difficult is the business side, self promotion, marketing, getting the product out into the world.
Where do you find inspiration for new collections? How important is colour to your design process?
After living through Covid, I felt the need to really dive deep into what is important and realized it is really to live life in full color. To love and laugh and eat and dance and cherish what you have. I wanted to create a collection that reflected this. Color and texture are everything to me and my designs. Walking into my boutique is like a stroll through a beautiful garden. Everything is fresh.
Readers would love to know more about the current collection you showed at Vancouver Fashion Week.
We wanted to create a collection ideal for all your summer/ holiday excursions. Imagine outfits for lounging poolside, exploring the local sites, dinners, dancing or just walking along the beach. Merging the rich texture of crochet, breezy crepes and pleated chiffon with the most soothing of colours, tranquil blue, Caribbean coral, lavender, papaya and berry, each design is a creation of its’ own making. This collection is an invitation to express your version of femininity while living life in full colour.
Playing with fabric is my happy place. Fabrics tell me what they want to become. The creation side is easy. As with most entrepreneurs and artist, the most difficult is the business side, self promotion, marketing, getting the product out into the world.
After living through Covid, I felt the need to really dive deep into what is important and realized it is really to live life in full color. To love and laugh and eat and dance and cherish what you have. I wanted to create a collection that reflected this. Color and texture are everything to me and my designs. Walking into my boutique is like a stroll through a beautiful garden. Everything is fresh.
Readers would love to know more about the current collection you showed at Vancouver Fashion Week.
We wanted to create a collection ideal for all your summer/ holiday excursions. Imagine outfits for lounging poolside, exploring the local sites, dinners, dancing or just walking along the beach. Merging the rich texture of crochet, breezy crepes and pleated chiffon with the most soothing of colours, tranquil blue, Caribbean coral, lavender, papaya and berry, each design is a creation of its’ own making. This collection is an invitation to express your version of femininity while living life in full colour.
Do you have a favorite look in this collection?
My favourites are definitely the crochet pieces with the cascading ruffles. The mix and match separates are so versatile, wearable and breathtaking. They have the feel and comfort of lounge wear but the aesthetic is elevated to a whole other level.
Where can readers purchase your designs?
At my boutique: Shelley Klassen Studio Boutique, 579 Richard St. Downtown Vancouver.
On my website: www.shelleyklassen.com
Through select boutiques across Canada.
Love this VFW interview from 1 year ago.
What's next for you as a designer and your brand?
We are focusing in on the niche market of ‘Resort Wear’ as it really is our true calling. Our brand has always been feminine and colorful by nature and extending this into resort wear excites me to no end. As travel has opened up, people need the perfect wardrobe for their excursions and my aim is to deliver to them the most irresistible resort collection.
Links -
- Website - www.Shelleyklassen.com
- Facebook - www.facebook.com/shelleyklassenofficial
- Instagram - @shelleyklassenofficial
- Youtube - Shelley Klassen
- Twitter - Shelley Klassen
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