About Us

The Brand

 

Vivloe renders homage to women by creating feminine and bold apparel and accessories produced to high standards.  This American brand is inspired by Art Deco and Hollywood Regency, both styles that exuberantly reflect the American Dream.   A nod to these influences is embedded in the DNA of the designs, while remaining ageless.

The collections are rooted in classic silhouettes with distinguishing details, constructed with high-quality fabrics and workmanship.  Primarily, the line is made in the USA, with great attention to detail and fit.

The clothes are designed to flatter most body types, without sacrificing style for comfort. They are made with women in mind who have active lifestyles and discerning taste.

Limited quantities are produced of each item to ensure that both standards are kept and there’s no excess inventory, curbing the environmental issues around the waste typically created in the fashion industry.

Intended to have a long life in your wardrobe, the pieces are thoughtfully created to be versatile, classic, and well-constructed.

Based in New York City, the collection is sold through the brand’s online boutique, and occasional pop-up shops. 

Bon Vivant

 

The Designer, Vivian Vulpone

 

I began my career in fashion in the early 1990’s in New York City.  After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in fashion design, I embarked on a 20-year career in product development and international sourcing for various well-known private label and brand name companies. I acquired a diverse knowledge of many aspects of production and product lines from children's outerwear to women's tailored suits and dresses, to sportswear, and menswear and jeans. This extensive experience in manufacturing and international traveling served as a strong foundation to launch my line.

A passion was ignited in me at a young age by a penchant for making clothes for my Barbie dolls out of scrap fabrics.  This was my childhood past time. The colorful, energetic Esprit catalogs of the early 1980s continued to inspire a career in fashion.  The fashion industry runs in my blood through generations of talented seamstresses and dressmakers hailing from Europe on both sides of my family. 

My maternal, grandmother, Aileen, and great aunts (Catherine and Sarah) were dressmakers and seamstresses in Ireland in the late 1800's through 1940’s. In 1890, Catherine King studied design and sewing in Dublin (exactly one hundred years before I studied fashion design in New York).  In the 1920’s, Aileen studied dressmaking and sewing with Mrs. Broderick at her dressmaking establishment in Ballinrobe.  My grandmother cycled 15 miles from her home in Carrick to the school, and stayed there during the week to learn, before coming home for the weekends.  After completing her studies, she joined her aunts in their home business. I grew up hearing stories of my mother watching them work in the home cottage and describing the beautiful clothing they turned out for their clients.  It was typical in those days for the young folks going to America to come to my grandmother and aunts to have dresses, coats, and outfits, made for their new lives in the United States.  

My Italian grandmother, whom I shared a special bond with, had a nickname for me. She called me “Dollie”.  My admiration for my nonna fueled my desire to create fashion.  She sewed all the time, and made her own clothes, and outfits worn by my aunts, and family. 

Maria, my nonna, learned the trade in the early 1930’s as a teenager in a small town in Southern Italy.  She was taught pattern-making and sewing by a skilled and talented neighbor.  She would go on to work in a garment factory in Venezuela after she married and had her own family. They moved to South America during hard times in the late 1940’s.  She continued to support her family there before coming to the United States by making tailored men’s shirts from flour sacks she bleached, which her sons sold in the markets in Caracas in the 1950’s.

Vivloe is my art and ode to my Irish and Italian grandmothers and great aunts who shared the same dream.

I live in NYC, where I enjoy being mom to my real-life doll, Chloe.