Take Your Vitamins
944: Local Bikini Designer Puts Her Own Spin on the Suggestion
By Sarah McClure
July 2007
“I have a personal obsession with bikinis. I always need more,” says Amahlia Stevens, creator of Vitamin A. “I can’t have enough black bikinis – they’re sexy, elegant and kind of low-key.”
Vitamin A, Stevens’ flirty, West Coast-chic line of mix-and-match bikinis was launched seven years. She laughingly admits that there are “overflowing drawers of bikinis” at her office and home, and says she has already ordered every bikini style for this season in black, naturally.
The label’s trademark “California Cut,” along with custom-designed textiles, European-imported materials and Steven’s detail put into every top and bottom, has catapulted the Orange County-based designer into fashion hubs across the globe: Europe, Japan, the Caribbean and Canada.
“It’s not so much a conscious design direction,” says Stevens. “That’s just my environment – I love my home and the ocean, I draw inspiration from the lifestyle.”
Steven’s California-girl style is influenced by her early immersion in art and design. From studying at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena (her degree is in illustration) to her work in magazines and record labels designing media illustrations, Stevens lives the California ideal.
A professed beach devotee, Stevens moved to Laguna Beach 17 years ago from Los Angeles, and spent years frequenting Malibu, Hawaii, Mexico and St. Bart’s on the Caribbean.
“I love being in water and in a bikini. But if you’re wearing the wrong thing out here, you can lose it very quickly,” says Stevens, referring to California’s impressive surf.
Her bikinis, which are meant to be both functional and beautiful, are distinguished for their California Cut – a style that came from Stevens’ idea to re-cut and alter materials to fit her body.
Taking the Goldilocks-approach to find a bikini that was just right, Stevens began designing suits that were made with European-quality materials that emphasized curves like a Brazilian fit, that wouldn’t wear out fast and would stay put “even through a dive into a wave,” she says.
This season she is adding resort wear, off-the-beach apparel made of sheer cotton and featuring jersey dresses, hooded tunics and flirty drawstring pants.
This season’s brilliant pieces include copper shimmer fabrics, which are “such a beautiful, deep copper brown,” according to Stevens. Her giraffe and lemonade sparkle prints are also gorgeous. Tops and bottoms are sold as separates, which all boast elegant shapes as like the City Wrap Top, New Starlet Tankini, Bridgette Bandeau and a one-piece, the Love Knot Maillot.
The name Vitamin A was created after Stevens read a milk carton and combined the idea of a certain milk nutrient and her first name’s initial. “There’s an element of humor in the brand,” she says.
Prior to her bikini line, Vitamin A was the name Stevens called her design consulting firm, which she started in 1994. And while she began by just designing bikinis for friends and acquaintances, today her locally made bikinis are found in the pages of Elle, Vogue and Cosmopolitan, and worn by the likes of Sienna Miller, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Amber Valetta and Gwen Stefani.
Celebrities ask Vitamin A for custom-designed bikinis, too. “I would love to one day take up their requests,” she says. For now, her focus remains on her customers and Vitamin A’s “healthy” vision.
Make your match at www.vitaminaswim.com