VICTORIA TOMAS INTERVIEW

As a fashion capital, this city particularly attracts young fashion lovers like Victoria Tomas who come to make themselves a success story. Romantic movies, idyllic postcards, and Instagram influencers often portray idyllic scenes of Paris presenting it “as the most beautiful city in the world”. Perhaps this is true, but the media also forgets to present Paris as a “real city”. In this city, people from all around the world work hard to pursue the best opportunities to boost their careers and improve their lives. Many aspire to achieve success in design comparable to Victoria Tomas.

Amongst all these dreamers only a few accomplish as much as Victoria Feldman and Tomas Berzins. Two European immigrants who met at fashion school, fell in love, and created their eponymous label “Victoria Tomas”. This creative union of Victoria and Tomas propelled them to success.

Founded in 2012, Victoria Tomas brand has had consistent growth and exposure since the couple gained international recognition. They became the youngest finalists of the Hyeres Festival in 2013. Its clothes are currently sold at several of the finest stores around the world. Their shows are covered by fashion magazines such as Vogue. Many designers aspire to follow the path of Victoria and Tomas.

Victoria, you are originally from Russia, and Tomas, you also have Latvian origins. We know that you met at a fashion school in Paris, but we are curious to know more about each of your stories before coming to France. What drove you to come to this city at the time?

Victoria: I moved to France when I was a teen, but I was born and raised in Moscow. My father was working between Russia and France ever since I can remember, and I was also studying in a French school. Therefore, it was quite obvious that I would move to France sooner or later.

My family and I moved to the Drome region, not far from the Alps. There, I continued studying in art school. Subsequently, I decided to move to create the Victoria Tomas label in Paris. At the moment I felt that fashion design can be a better choice for me to express my creativity and also create a functional product at the same time. This marked the inception of the journey for Tomas and Victoria as they embarked on creating the Victoria Tomas label.

Tomas: Me and Victoria, we have a very different story, as I never thought that I would study and work in France. Till the end, I didn’t know what direction to take for my career. I was quite an uncontrolled teen, with lots of dreams & without much of reality awareness. But, I was always interested in clothes and also in drawing. I was never at the top of the class. However, we were the coolest kids at school.

Bape, LV, Gucci

I always had friends who were older than me and the best dressed. We were always finding solutions to get the best and newest pieces from BBC, Bape, LV, Gucci, even though not one of us had money. I was very much into clothes, but in fact, knew nothing about designing them.

At one of the random parties, we started to discuss future plans. Randomly, we came to the point where we said that we need to try ourselves in fashion.

After some researches, my friend and I found several schools in Paris and applied. In a few months, we had our flight to Paris for the entry exams. We finally got accepted, regardless of the fact that I was only 17 and didn’t even graduate. I had to leave alone to Paris, as my friend decided to stay for personal reasons. That’s where I met Victoria, leading to the creation of the VictoriaTomas brand.

I met Victoria at the end of our 1st year of studies and the rest is history. Victoria and Tomas were destined to create something unique.

First looks of Victoria/Tomas Spring Summer 2020. Courtesy of the designers.

Tomas, in your early years, what did the experience as an intern for Alexander Wang in New York leave you? Was this experience a crucial pivot point in your perspective?

It was certainly a very important experience for me and even for both of us at the time. It marked a significant milestone for Victoria and Tomas.

I was working closely with seamstresses and pattern makers. So, I could widely discover techniques, machinery, and special tools, etc. I’m very grateful to the people who didn’t bother to explain things to the interns and did care about sharing their experience. I was also very inspired by the energy of the city. Working and living daily life in NY definitely leaves a certain beat in your life.

What has been the greatest challenge in founding Victoria Tomas and making it successful?

Launching the Victoria | Tomas brand very young is already a very difficult task. You need to understand that the road won’t be easy and it’s hard to stay patient when you are hungry. Although you race for more, success remains something very blurred. The hardest thing is to enjoy the difficulties that you meet and keep your emotions locked up. Even if you understand that you are right at some point, for Victoria and Tomas, patience was key.

What special qualities do you think have been crucial to make your brand grow and become influential?

You should be an extreme workaholic, but to look always fresh and sober. Also, be grateful and respectful to people around you and your business. Be intuitive and patient. These qualities have helped Victoria and Tomas thrive.

Which artists and designers inspire Victoria Tomas the most?

We think the most important thing in our job is to be distinctive. We are not inspired by someone, but rather can be inspired by a situation, object, or a talk. This is a creative dialogue between us, between man and woman, and Victoria and Tomas weirdly enjoy inspiring each other by their controversy.

We like many artists and we very much respect other designers’ work, but we don’t look at it while we work on the new project. Sometimes we need to learn about other collections, actually to avoid a possible match in design.

Looks from Victoria/Tomas Spring/Summer 2020. Courtesy of the designers.

Want more about Victoria and Tomas? Visit

victoriatomas.com