New York Fashion Week felt ‘like a new business launch’ for this Wichita designer

When a producer unexpectedly reached out to Alicia Ybarra about participating in New York Fashion Week last fall, the Vanya Designs Bridal owner regretfully declined.

“We were still just in survival mode post pandemic, and I couldn’t even think about developing a collection,” Ybarra said.

However, the timing was right for her to participate in the spring fashion week at last month’s Fashion & Music Conference show with 10 custom bridal gowns.

“It was phenomenal,” Ybarra said. “It was everything I could have imagined it to be.”

Initially, she could only imagine how the show went because she couldn’t watch it.

“There was so much chaos happening backstage, I was just praying that everything would turn out OK,” Ybarra said. “I had no idea how it looked or how the crowd responded.”

Then she watched a video and was thrilled. Her collection was the show closer, which allowed Ybarra to then take the models still in her dresses to the streets of New York for a photo shoot.

“It was just a really cool experience.”

Ybarra said this show was a smaller one in the week.

“I feel like it was a really good place to start.”

She also liked that it was not part of the Bridal Fashion Week, where she worried her work would be “lost in a sea of wedding dresses.”

Ybarra said she and Vanya designer Libbi Jessen worked closely on each of the 10 gowns.

“And they were definitely the best we ever created,” Ybarra said. “We took both of our strong suits and put them in every single piece. . . . It’s a very cohesive collection. It’s seriously next level.”

Wichita jewelry designer Debra Navarro also worked on the show by providing pieces to go with each of the gowns.

There was one big reason to participate in the event, Ybarra said.

“For us, it was exposure and being able to put that on our resume, so to speak,” she said. “It sets the brand up at a more prestigious level.”

For years, Ybarra said her business has kept hitting the same threshold, and she’s been looking for ways to grow it.

She thought going to market in Chicago in 2022 would help by getting her gowns in boutiques nationally.

“I feel like we crashed and burned on that,” Ybarra said.

“I came back from that, and I was questioning everything about myself, my company, my existence, my purpose in the world.”

She laughed at the last part.

“That’s a little dramatic.”

Ybarra said this show and the connections she made should help.

The producer, who found her on Instagram, is talking about including her in a fashion show in Italy.

Ybarra also met models and makeup artists that she plans to keep in touch with.

“Those connections that I made will help get me closer to my target market.”

In addition to the thrill of being in the show and seeing her work on the runway, Ybarra said the future possibilities are exciting, too.

“It honestly feels like a new business launch.”