Okay, so Los Angeles-based designer Anna Mkhitarian isn’t exactly a superhero. But this fashion-savvy activist is doing her part to save the world with Annatarian, her line of custom-made dresses, bridal gowns and accessories. By using recycled materials, as well as non-toxic, organic hemp and cotton, Anna is creating conscious clothing that is as earth-friendly as it is gorgeous.

Dubbed “eco-couture” by the designer, Annatarian original designs are one-of-a-kind, reconstructed vintage dresses, embellished with vintage lace, hand-embroidery, paint, or vintage jewelry. Every garment is custom-made to match each client’s personality, whim or sentiment. Customers can choose from five different dress styles, and work directly with Anna to select materials and embellishments. Everything from 1960’s kimonos and muumuus to vintage netting or 24K gold paint is used to create a totally unique garment that is made well and made to last. Clients can even opt to use their own outdated garments to help Anna design a couture dress that is a wearable work of art (a great way to get rid of those what-was-I-thinking-when-I-bought-that, I-usually-look-so-good-in-plaid or I’ll-wear-this-again-after-I-lose-five-pounds clothes). The styles are classic halter, strapless, or spaghetti-strap dresses, and the options are endless - you can elect to make a dress as funky or as feminine, as bold or demure as you are. And whimsical dress style names like Magical Forrest, Urban Goddess and Paris lend an element of fantasy to each design, which is exactly what Anna wants.

“I want my clients to wear their dress and feel like they’re a princess in a magical forest, or like they’re in Paris.” Though Anna herself loves all the styles, Paris, a strapless design, is the most popular in her collection – particularly a green and white version shown on her website. “It’s made from a kimono so it’s very limited, but I can make similar patterns," says Anna.

Having been a vegetarian for over 10 years and an activist for even longer, Anna is not at all new to eco-awareness. And since she began sewing at age five, she is also not new to fashion - she was even using recycled materials back then! Her mother, who was also a dressmaker, would have tons of remnant fabrics left over after she’d completed a dress.

“I wanted new clothes for my Barbies so I would use whatever scraps my mom had leftover,” says Anna. In her early teens, Anna began collecting vintage garments. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion from Otis School of Art and Design in 1996, Anna began working in the fashion industry as a designer and art director. After working for other people for several years, she decided it was time to make her lifelong dream of designing her own line a reality. In 2001 Annatarian was born.

Anna, who is incredibly down to earth, has done all of her own sales, and makes it a priority to only work with like-minded people in order to preserve the integrity of her eco-effective line. The young label is already starting to get press coverage from such sources as “Apparel News” and “LA Weekly,” but is not quite where the designer wants it to be.

“I’m still trying to get the name out there. I would love to create a dress for Angelina Jolie, because I love what she stands for and what she’s doing. Also, Paris Hilton… I think she’d dig my dresses," says Anna.

So what’s next for Annatarian? “Right now it’s just about finding my niche… expressing the art,” says Anna. She is definitely interested in designing a collection of ready-to-wear garments for women. Before that, she will produce a line of T-shirts constructed from organic cotton and featuring “really cool” graphics. Eventually, this rising designer would like to mass-produce clothing in a plant unlike any other manufacturer’s – a place completely devoid of slave labor where inner-cities and at-risk communities will benefit from the art of fashion because “art is the answer,” she says. Sound a little euphoric? Perhaps. But if there’s one person who can pull it off, it’s Anna Mkhitarian, a super “she-ro” of couture.

For more information on Annatarian, please visit www.annatarian.com, or contact Anna Mkhitarian at info@annatarian.com.

This article was originally published at www.arefuge.com.