“I have so many different sides, I can never see being just one thing.” That quote is a great starting point in understanding Anya Ponorovskaya one of New York’s fastest rising fashion stars. In her short 5 years as a designer she has opened three stores and is eyeing her fourth. Anya’s designs are, in her own words, “feminine, powerful, and elegant with a little hint of sexy.” The hallmark of all of her clothing is her great talent for creating fitted and shapely designs. Anya bases much of her design aesthetic on balancing negative and positive space. When she visualizes her designs she sees the garments in three dimensions which gives her an advantage in creating fashions that utilize different elements to balance each other. For example, volume in the shoulders and bust is beautifully balanced by a tighter area that hugs the midsection. The genius of Ponorovskaya’s designs is that she always maintains comfort and never compromises movement. Even where her clothes fit and slim the female form they are still comfortable. “My fashions sell in all sizes”, says Ponorovskaya. This is due to the fact that they perform her intended effect regardless of their size.

“I don’t get inspired”, says Ponorovskaya. Her non-traditional approach results in a very open creative process. She works each season in a wide variety of shapes and materials. On the surface this seems to create the lack of a signature “look” but it is in her incredible attention to the effect that her designs have on a woman’s body that the unifying theme in her collections emerges. Every one of fashion’s traditional shapes that she creates is transformed into something that is unmistakably hers. “My fashions sell in all sizes”, says Ponorovskaya, this is due to the fact that they perform her intended effect regardless of their size.

The rare approach that Anya has and the peerless aesthetic that springs from it has now found its way to into her newest venture, shoes. Inspired by the rising tide of artisanal shoes coming from South America, Anya launched her own high quality shoe line this summer. Her shoes are of the highest quality leathers and are designed to be comfortable as well as bewitchingly stylish. If you are in Manhattan please stop by her stores at 167 & 253 Elizabeth Street, or in Brooklyn at 380 Atlantic Avenue. Or check her out on-line, http://www.anyaponorovskaya.com.

Photography by Sander Martijn