A self-described introverted child, young Vivien Agbakoba entertained herself by creating designs with her mother’s hand-held sewing machine. “When all the kids were playing outside, I was just busy crafting one thing or the other,” she says, using reverse engineering to figure out how dresses are made. By the time she was 12 or 13, the Nigerian-born designer was making clothing and found it came easy to her. “It gave me an inkling that I had a gift for making dresses, and my parents recognized that as well.”
After obtaining degrees in other fields, Agbakoba, now 56, went to design school and started a fashion line in her late twenties. Her husband’s career took the family to live in Venezuela, where she paused paid work to focus on raising their three children. When they settled in the DC area around 2002, Agbakoba, at the urging of her mother, decided to relaunch her fashion business. The Anya by Vivien brand was reborn.
Agbakoba offers custom designs in addition to off-the-rack options at her store at Westfield Montgomery Mall. She carries pantsuits, kimonos, accessories, and more, along with her signature evening gowns. The boutique stands out for the quality of its materials, a welcome contrast to the inventory of department stores nowadays. While Agbakoba loves satin, Chantilly lace, and hand beading, she always designs with her clients in mind. “We want to make sure that we give our clients what they want, but in a way that they will step out and still stand out and make a statement in whatever crowd that they are in,” she says. Many customers recognize a sample of Agbakoba’s “Karen” gown on display, the embellished, head-turning number Bravo star Karen Huger wore on her vow renewal episode of The Real Housewives of Potomac.
Agbakoba, who has appeared on nine seasons of the reality show, has been close friends with Huger for decades. Huger is even the vice president of Felicia’s Fund (feliciasfund.com), Agbakoba’s nonprofit organization that invests in “the education and vocational training of young girls.” As part of these goals, Agbakoba is currently building a fashion academy on the site of her store, building off a concept she launched in Nigeria. She was inspired by her late mother, who empowered girls and women throughout her life.
When she’s not working, Agbakoba and her husband of 30 years, George, can be found at social events, traveling the world, or playing golf at Bretton Woods. Is she still an introvert? She’s now an ambivert, she says with a laugh. “As soon as those heels come off, I just want to crawl back into my studio and not be bothered.”