Charity catwalk show for designer

Unusual fabrics are used in Frocked de la Vallière designs

A designer will use an Anglesey charity evening to show clothes fresh from a London catwalk to a home audience.

Funds raised will go to a complementary therapy unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.

Frocked de la Vallière is backed by the Welsh Clothing and Textile Centre (WCTC) which says such firms dealing in high quality goods have a good future.

"The business has taken over my house and my life, but I am very focused on what I want to achieve," said founder Tracey Valliere-Evans.

"Fashion design is a very difficult area to break into," said Adrian Clarke, manager of the WCTC, which is based at Glynllifon, near Caernarfon.

"The industry is changing, there is no point trying to compete in the mass market as production costs in Wales would just be too high, but there is definitely a place to push forward companies such as Frocked which are targeting the high quality niche market," he said.

Tracey Valliere-Evans says her firm has taken over her life

A background in jewellery design and a course in textile design with technology, at Coleg Llandrillo in north Wales were the starting point for the business.

With a grant from Anglesey County Council through Menter Môn, the company was set up 12 months ago.

"I graduated with two other friends and we thought of going into business together.

"One of them Sophie Ingham, from Tregarth, now works with the company part-time, and she has the gift of being able to interpret my designs," said Ms Valliere-Evans, 36, whose business is based at Four Mile Bridge, near Holyhead.

This dress is made up of numerous panels with intricate stitching

"She can produce a garment from a sketch I provide, and we work through a garment design as we go, rather than sit down and design it all on paper first."

Through the WCTC, Frocked put itself forward for Profile 6, a show put on by the London Fashion Forum, a not-for-profit organisation funded by the London Development Agency.

That led to Frocked being short-listed out of 175 designers to show its designs.

One benefit was a result of the company wanting to use Hunter wellingtons with some of the designs. The Wellington company now wants to use one of the Frocked designs in their marketing material.

The charity show is at The Waterfront restaurant, Treaddur Bay, on Saturday at 1930 GMT.