Elena Starostina

Hello! My name is Elena Starostina. I live in Moscow and create lovely knitted things. When I was 5 years old my grandmother showed me how to cast on and from this moment all my dolls were dressed in knitted clothes. I had a career in a big gas company as a financial director. After a difficult decision to finish my career I had to decide what should I do in life. I started to think and remembered that I liked to knit in my childhood. So I decided to try the Japanese knitting machine which was my mom’s dream. And from this moment I already couldn’t stop as I was totally involved in this interesting and enthralling process! I like the knitted clothes. One more reason why I started to knit is when I had a need to find beautiful and high quality knitted clothes for my child I found out that there are two options only: cheap mass market clothes of low quality or way too expensive brand clothes. So I hope what I do will help the parents with the solution of the problem that I used to have. I work with high quality yarn mostly of natural fiber. The variety of colors, textures and patterns opens wide perspectives for my creation. For 10 years that I’ve been doing this I didn’t have even one copy of my previous works. All of them unique and I am constantly in search of new and new models! Talking about my achievement, I’d like to mention that my early works were regularly published in our local magazine “Nataly”. As a professional I constantly improve my skills. Currently I plan to learn the design programs for developing new models. I’m really glad that people appreciate and like what I do. I love what I do! And you can feel it in my every work!

It is quite a small company as, if you are a designer, you cannot be simultaneously a good administrator of a huge company, I believe, for this you have to have a special talent and a lot of time.

Design for me means a vision of things, their current outlook, a concept, if you want. It's a very changing notion, as designing things you should follow the trends of epoque and people's tastes and interests, as well as your own. Design is an artist's way to actually see things.

I prefer to design dresses for small girls, as they are very inventive and demanding – this is a kind of a challenge.

At the moment I do not knit/design for a company, and my customers are end-customers, mostly parents.

The collection is knitted of premium-class natural eco-yarn, consisting of cashmere, merino wool and silk purchased from distinguished manufacturers.

To start creating things I sometimes have to just catch a kid's look. There should be a small impulse like a girl's smile looking at a dress for girls on a showcase of a kids' store or when you see your granddaughter drawing a new dress for her doll or cutting it out from paper modelling.

Creating our collection for girls from 3 to 12 years of age we thought of what our kids, these small dreamers, want, and, among other things, we thought they would want to look alike the characters who come to them from the books of Lewis Carroll, Hans Christian Andersen, Grimm brothers. They dream of getting into the enchanted forest where Cinderella met her Prince, or of visiting the mysterious Disneyland, or of saving her dear brother Kai after the Snow Queen kissed him, and he forgot his little sister Gerda. Or, the majority of small girls dream of becoming princesses, so they want to look like princesses. Differ from your agemates: wear extravagant clothes that you won’t be able to buy in whatever store, that are not always easy to find in expensive boutiques. Where can such things be bought? How can one feel himself being a Fairy or a Princess, Cinderella at a ball or Alice in Wonderland, if she doesn’t have a suitable dress?

I always feel happy when a good work is done, but even more when I see that the expectations of my small customer have been met or even shifted.

I think it's the ability to meet the people's expectations. And, constant study of fashion trends, of course.

I think I would avoid the word "judging". A design is always very sibjective. What is beautiful for some people, may be seen in a completely different manner by others. Therefore, making my designs I am guided by such simple factors as comfort, simplicity and elegance.

A thing, and especially a thing you wear, should be eco-friendly. The trend of last years is saving materials to protect the nature. I think, I am rulled by the same principle as well.

To me, it's a neverending story. A full cycle: market demand - material search - design - and so on and on. And every new epoque dictates it's rules and trends, slightly different from the previous one. A designer needs just to watch and follow the trends.

Usually I exhibit my works in the Instagram and other social networks, which is less expensive and spreading faster among the target customers. As for now, I am looking for an investor for my small business.

The design inspiration for my works comes from everywhere – from playing with kids, reading, travelling.

At the subconscious level a human being always tends to breathe fresh air, to eat healthy and tasty food, to keep an active lifestyle, to be self-sufficient, and, in other words, he strives for being healthy and successful. And, if he has children, he wishes the same well-being for them. What can we offer our buyers to accomplish that? We can offer them things we dream of for our own children and grandchildren. We can offer them comfortable, convenient “breathing” and eco-friendly wear. Not only is our clothing user friendly, it is also beautiful. Wearing such clothing a child will always feel unique and accepted, irrespective of where he (or she) be at the moment: going out on a party with friends or just going on a walk with parents.

I live in Russia, but I am cosmopolite, and the cultural heritage of my country does not affect my designs. Living and working in Russia is quite a challenge as there is no stable or predictable market for business here.

We offer a business project focused on world markets for the production and sale of environmentally friendly high-quality children's knitwear in the middle-up price segment with a unique design and based on modern world fashion trends as part of the “affordable luxury” concept. This clothing will be released in limited batches on high-quality equipment of knitwear enterprises in Europe made of completely environmentally friendly material. We have developed the concept of online sales, additional services for customers, as well as the concept of organizing a special online service for working with investors in order to sell goods and attract additional sources of revenue to the project.

We are interested in investors such as venture capital funds, which can both invest in the project, and ensure the investment future of the project by preparing their own exit. We offer them an investment project with a high growth potential, initially oriented for the Western consumers and with the ability of successful market entry through Western venture capital funds with further expanding internationally, as well as selling the stake to strategic investors who would be interested to use the project as a business.

It consumes all my time, except for a time for the design implementation.

Every day in my life must have something new. This "new" is something I learn or make.

Keep learning every day: this will expand your horizons and improve your art and skills.

The inspiration is a very positive impulse that makes you extremely productive, no matter how much time and efforts you spend on every particular work of yours.

A talent and the skills of a painter. It's also the ability to see things.

Everything starts with an idea. Then comes a pensil and a piece of paper, and then a knitting machine

Some things are really an artwork, the other things are pretty easy to make. Therefore, it might take from a week to a month to design a new thing completely.

- Mothers aged from 23 to 40 with children under 10 years of age aimed at using natural and eco-products. They are surely projecting this perception upon their children. If adults do not purchase synthetics for themselves, it is quite doubtful that they will save on their children; •Mothers following fashion trends. Scandinavian style fashion. From the point of view of design and style, the era of ruching and Barbie-doll wear style is becoming the past. It is being gradually replaced with minimalism and environment-friendly materials which corresponds to Scandinavian style of clothes made of natural fibers; - They are grandmothers who for different reasons cannot fully dedicate their time to upbringing of their beloved grandchildren, but who adore their granddaughters and dream of making them princesses, buying them beautiful and comfortable clothing; - The child matters. Surely, the opinion of a contemporary child matters when choosing the clothes. She must feel beautiful and already successful (a little one, but already a lady.)

Establishing a stable dress-knitting business in Europe and the USA.

I develop my designs myself, but then I have a team of experienced personnel who implements my design on a high-tech knitting machines.

To see the LadyAlready works, you can visit out Instagram page or send us an email and ask for a latest online catalogue: lady@ladyalready.com.

We can also offer our look-book, company presentation and business-plan to potential investors. Please, contact us to receive all the information: lady@ladyalready.com.

My working experience as a designer of knitwear is over ten years, during which I was developing various models and techniques of work with high quality yarn from the best manufacturers; however I never had the chance to launch any mass-production of my first collection.

I started making my first designs when I was five years old, knitting with together with my grandmother for my baby-dolls. Since then I never stopped knitting.

My main priorities are eco-friendliness of all the materials used in production of my collections; minimalism and street wear style. As for the technologies applied in the process of creation, I use the ad-hoc Japanese knitting machine with limitless possibilities of style and design elements. In my creative process I work with physical models.

I feel that I create masterpieces, where every single model may be considered a separate project. The whole creation process brings me the feeling of euphoria. And long after the project is finished I still keep that feeling of deep aesthetic pleasure which was overwhelming me at those happy moments of my work.

I think, the epoch we are living in pretty much dictates us its rules, therefore in the era of computer technologies one of the best tools, including for work with knitting design, are strong computer skills. Those were general good computer skills that helped me study the design and the ways of its implementation in the production program.

My ambition is to pass from the stage of modelling and developing of separate models and samples to mass-production in the nearest future. Therefore I am searching for investors who would consider my ideas attractive.

Creativity brings freedom, and freedom is the key to success. I would advise the beginning designers to go ahead and start creating without any fear of making mistakes!

Design trends should never be more important than the design core principles themselves. Don't compare yourselves with other designers: you are not better and not worse than the others, you are just different.

My day starts and ends with thoughts about the collection. In between I am busy receiving business calls. For the moment I can say I am lucky, because my day can be divided into two parts, where the second part all belongs to knitting and trying the knit product on. Sometimes the day is not enough, and I work at night.

I trace the fashion trends and shape my designs in accordance with them, trying to adapt to the current designs. I like my own style, but I also like to experiment from time to time with new models, checking out for their interest and working with them as if they were target public.

In my opinion, a good design is the one that reflects the current fashion trends. It also needs to have some certain style marks. And, certainly, the notion of a good design is a personal opinion: its criteria are never the same for all of us, so in this respect, I think, a good design is the one that is chosen by the customer. You can evaluate my designs yourselves. Please follow this link to see the models and leave your feedbacks or follow me: https://www.instagram.com/ladyalready/

Having finished my new design, when the product is already there, for some subsequent days I keep evaluating the product. A few days later I approve or not this product as a finished project.

I consider my biggest and the most successful design work my kid collection winter'2018. You are welcome to see it as well on my page in Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ladyalready/) or, if you are an investor, and you would like to see my look-book, you are welcome to send your requests to my e-mail address: lady@ladyalready.com

Those are the legends of fashion industry whose models and images I frequently turn to in search for details. They are Karl Lagerfeld, Coco Chanel, Ralph Lauren and Loro Piana.

I currently live in Moscow, Russia, however I am oriented for the European values. I love freedom which exists in the European common space. The city which gives me inspiration is London: it has always been the city of my dream since I was a little girl. For me, London has a special romantic spirit.

My business and work culture philosophy is that there is no place for procrastination.

At present I find myself in the very beginning of my way. However, for the future I will provide opportunities for young designers of knitting fashion.

To be a nominee or a winner of this competition means a significant rise of my status as a designer. It brings me understanding, that I am on the right track, and I will do my best to increase the recognition of LadyAlready brand. My participation in this competition will positively influence the opinion of my current and future prospects and it will multiply work opportunities for my team.

Well, I have always dreamt of working with wool. Or should I say, different knitting materials always used to make me dream of what would become of a small ball of wool. It all started very long ago, when I discovered the great tactile and visual sensation of a small ball of wool in my hand. It was thin cashmere of that deep dark blue ink colour, and I started scrutinizing the thread structure. To expand my knowledge a little, I started studying different materials, reading about wool and its properties, types, and then studying wool fabric types. Later on, I found it really necessary to receive a bit of profound knowledge, so I chose a school named "Fashion factory" in Moscow, where I studied two courses, one of which was dedicated to knitwear manufacture, and then the other one was about infants wear.

I love fashion; however that would be too simple. I love good quality things, and I love to fantasize on what design could have been the result of using this or that type of yarn. I love thinking of different, and at the same time smart combinations of various sorts of yarn. The background of these all is a long-lasting dream to bring to life all those diverse designs that could have come out using my japanese knitting machine I bought quite some time ago.

I decided to become a knit wear designer on the peak of my financial career in my early fifties. However, even before I used to dedicate almost all my free time to knitting, both handmade knitting and machine knitting.

I design knitwear for girls and women under the brand name LadyAlready, giving preference to small princesses. All the latest models are on our page in Instagram. My design focus is never the same, so it's hard for me to say if I give preferences to some designs over the other designs. The latest trends are always those of the world fashion. Therefore I constantly search for new forms and styles. And it is hard to predict how the style of my designs will change the next year, as sometimes one small detail is enough to change the whole concept of the new collection.

Like every other professional, I think it's the question of working a lot and never giving up the idea of developing your dream into something else.

Well, my concept of a great designer consists of several ingredients: - Know well modern working materials; - Be flexible and ready to go out and start everything from the very beginning; - Be curious and not to be afraid to experiment, even if you understand that sometimes it leads to nowhere. However later on, you will recognize that the past experience was precious! - Love what you do and do not have problem envying someone greater: all in all, the envy is the engine of the humankind progress. - Be ready to lose everything to start over. - Keep watching the latest changes in the industry.

In my opinion, a good design is the one that reflects the current fashion trends. It also needs to have some certain style marks. And, certainly, the notion of a good design is a personal opinion: its criteria are never the same for all of us, so in this respect, I think, a good design is the one that is chosen by the customer.

The core value is to be able not just to attract a customer, but also to make him stay with your brand. The designer and the customer are in this respect inseparable, as the development of each of the two always depends on the other one. After all, the two sides create the demand and the offer.

I would still keep designing women´s and girls´ knitwear. And that would have been the manufacturer or the customer whose style in general is similar to mine.

I think, such dream project does not exist, as long as the working process implies that each new project is innovative. So in the end it is equal to realizing every once in a while a new dream project.

Secret ingredients in designing of knitwear depend on the time of the year and the country you live in. The priorities are different in the countries with mild and severe climates. However, I would focus on designing a comfortable wear design in the first hand.

Those are the legends of fashion industry whose models and images I frequently turn to in search for details. They are Karl Lagerfeld, Coco Chanel, Ralph Lauren and Loro Piana.

Among others I could name Loro Piana and Ralph Lauren. They meet my main requirements, which are high quality materials, overall comfort and style that I like.

Lately I have been focusing on using eco-friendly materials in my collections. I think it is great because it is protecting the environment, but at the same time it keeps being in trend, meets the customers' requirements and goes with the fashion. Please send us an email and ask for a latest knitwear online collection: lady@ladyalready.com.

To be a better designer one needs to stay in profession and incessantly watch for new trends and ultimate changes. It is important to see the fashion development in process, and designer's best friends here are fashion magazines and their internet websites, where the fashion magazines place all the updated information quicker. Subscribing to the latest news or newsletters could also be an idea. Watch fashion-show videos. And, definitely, subscription to Instagram accounts is a must. You can subscribe to my Instagram by following this link: https://www.instagram.com/ladyalready/

I would have most probably become a watercolour painter. But including then I would not stop knitting.

Design is art and creativity. Design is everything that we see around us, even if we don't really like it. Design is... my work.

Well, I think, in this I should pay the best tribute to my family. They give me inspiration to create my designs and the most successful ideas of LadyAlready are born when I look at my grand-daughter.