Fashion designer Vikki Lafford (From The Oxford Times)

Simply enchanting

2:19pm Tuesday 27th January 2009 in Fashion By Gill Oliver

As a child, Vikki Lafford was fascinated by fairytales about wood nymphs, beautiful princesses, handsome princes and wicked witches.

Now a talented couture designer, this enchanted world is still the main inspiration behind the range of beautiful gowns and accessories she painstakingly creates.

Born and brought up in Alvescot before moving to Carterton at the age of 13, Vikki says much of her work is inspired by the Oxfordshire countryside.

“I’ve recently moved back home after living in London and, although I was near Kew Gardens which is beautiful, it is slightly too manicured and controlled for my taste.

“Out here, with the Cotswolds and the Chilterns, everything is wilder and that is what I love about it,” she added.

When 29-year-old Vikki recently needed to stage a photo shoot to showcase her design collection, marketed under the label Liliia, she chose to do so in and around Langford, near Filkins in west Oxfordshire.

She is adamant that she always knew she wanted to be a textile designer and even while at Burford School, she was hooked on needlework.

“When I was in art class, I was always sewing things. Whatever project we were set, I would somehow manage to incorporate stitching and flowers into it,” she confessed.

After gaining a university degree in embroidery, she spent four years as a digital stitch designer in the fashion business before returning to education to complete an MA in textile design.

She combines traditional hand-stitching and painting with state-of-the-art digital techniques, using a computer-aided design package for part of the process.

But despite the fact that her designs can make the wearer look like a fairy princess, it is also the darker side of the children’s tales she finds stimulating from a creative point of view.

“As I got older I realised that beneath the romance and chivalry lurks a sinister and frightening world of incest, jealousy, rage and scandal,” she pointed out.

This conflict is expressed in one of her most recent designs Enchanted Woodland which is a feminine-looking long, fitted gown with a glamorous fishtail shape.

Hand-painted, embroidered and beaded, Vikki made flower and butterfly design motifs to attach to it but also included embroidered spiders and centipedes into the folds at the bottom.

That particular piece is on show at the Forge Mill Needle museum in Redditch as part of an exhibition called Spellbinding Textiles, running throughout February.

Vikki is no stranger to having her work under the spotlight, as one of her gowns made completely from recycled fabrics was shown at London Fashion Week in 2006.

Entitled Who Killed Cock Robin, it was hand-printed with images of spiders and beetles, once again drawing inspiration from the darker side of beauty and romance.

Because of the ethereal quality of her work, it is ideally suited to bridal wear and Vikki has plans to branch out in that direction.

She recently created a stunning wedding dress from raw gold silk for two extremely important clients — her brother Ian, 24, and his fiancée Sarah Williams, 29, who married at Langford Church in December.

“I love using silk because it is such a beautiful fabric. It has a sheen but also a real texture to it. I made corsage flowers from the silk as well,” she added.

Asked what sort of woman she thinks will enjoy wearing her designs, she said:” My clothing is suited to anyone who appreciates craft and has imagination.”

One thing is for sure, stepping into one of Vikki’s unique gowns for a romantic night out would be enough to make any woman feel like a princess.