Photos by Nicole Roegner

One-of-a-kind finds are just waiting to be discovered in clothing designers’ homes and studios.

As the amount of fashion designers in Phoenix increases, so does the competition. While it may seem like there are myriad retail boutiques popping up all over the Valley, it can often be expensive and competitive for designers to get their work into those boutiques.

The competition and high costs have led some designers to resort to selling their work out of more unconventional “boutiques,” such as their own homes or local art galleries.

Rickie Gonzales, local designer and founder of VMarie Fashion, has been selling his line out of his studio apartment for about a year.

“I basically do everything here at my studio,” Gonzales says. “That’s what starving artists do.”

Gonzales does not fit the “starving artist” image that probably comes to mind. His designs have been shown at Phoenix Fashion Week twice, he has been featured in a variety of newspapers and magazines, and he says his clientele consists mostly of women from Scottsdale. But Gonzales says that when you’re up against almost 200 other Phoenix designers and boutique owners who charge exorbitant fees, survival as a designer can be tricky.

“Sometimes people [store owners] will offer to put your stuff in there, but then there’s always something behind it. You’re paying for your rental space, you’re paying $350 a month,” Gonzales says. “I will not do anything on consignment. If you want my clothes, you’ll pay for it.”

Gonzales says his clientele is willing to pay the high costs of one-of-a-kind, hand-stitched clothing.

“Scottsdale women love to pay for things that are different, and they like to spend money,” he says. “These women will buy $5,000 jackets, and it makes sense for them to buy a $3,000 dress that’s one of a kind.”

Sue Wagoner of Scottsdale is one of his clients. She says she and her daughters like buying Gonzales’s clothes for exactly that reason.

“Every time that we have wanted something very nice and unique, we contact him,” Wagoner says. “And that’s what I will always continue to do because I do have dresses I purchase other places, but I like to have something that’s very different.”

Wagoner says that when she wants to purchase something from Gonzales, she calls him to make an appointment, at which point she can go to his studio to see his completed collection or get fitted for a custom-designed piece.

The last piece Wagoner bought from Gonzales was a blue baby-doll dress that he custom made for her.

“My usual baby-doll dress prices vary from $150 to $400, depending on the labor, hand work and material,” Gonzales says.

After about a year of selling his work exclusively out of his studio apartment, Gonzales just began selling out of his friend’s boutique, Liquid, and says he is thinking of opening his own shop in the future.

Angela Riccobono, another local designer, also came up with an untraditional way to sell her handbags and wallets late last year. Riccobono, owner of Cherry Bombin’ Stitchery, sells her work out of her girlfriend’s art gallery, Anti-Space, in Downtown Phoenix.

Riccobono and three other women have turned the space into their own indie, artsy boutique called CB:AG (Cherry Bombin’ Wear & Angry Grrl Industries), where Riccobono stitches her pieces in the back of the building and sells them in the front, along with jewelry and art from Riccobono’s gallery partners.

“I’m just really testing my products right now, and pretty soon I’ll just be selling my stuff wholesale,” says Riccobono, who has been a designer for about three years.

Unlike Gonzales, Riccobono has sold many of her pieces on consignment and enjoyed it. She says it allowed her to reach a different clientele than she could in a boutique, but her new space is more convenient.

“Some other places are more established or have more foot traffic, [but] it’s just nice to have my own place because I can send people here,” she says. “It’s kind of really something that’s credible.”