Julia LoVan is an American fashion designer, fine artist, and urban community developer. She worked in the fashion industry as well as in gang prevention/youth development in the Rampart district in Los Angeles, CA . In 2009 she was one of 6 designers chosen to show 15 pieces in the Project Ethos fashion show in Hollywood from which she subsequently made the headlines and front cover of California Apparel News, which serves the largest apparel center in the country. She was also on the founding core team of the Mosaic fashion show fundraiser Hope in the City in 2008, becoming sponsorship director and designers coordinator in 2010, steering the annual show to become an official part Los Angeles Fashion Week. She has worked with many top photographers, models, designers, and companies such as Mike Colon, Jeannie Mai, Catwalk Pros, Lemon Lime Agency, Johan Khalilian, Core Clothing, Chan Luu, Dear Abigail, Fuze Beverage, International Silks and Woolens, Shekhar Rahate, David Kang Casting, def.i.ni.cion, paqit, Raven and Lily, Falling Whisltes, To Write Love on Her Arms, Awaken, and The Border feature film.
Born to Laotian immigrants, LoVan grew up in northwest Iowa with two siblings. She studied fine art at Northwestern College, completing a design internship at Zandra Rhodes and the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, England. From junior high through college she enjoyed competing in many sports and painting portraits, and after college did a year-long program in Atlanta with Mission Year which drove her passion to combine creativity with social justice after living in and serving in under-resourced areas. LoVan currently lives in Des Moines, Iowa where she works at Serve Our Youth providing mentoring for adjudicated youth, and creates wedding dresses and women's contemporary apparel for sale in the midwest, California, and online and is working towards opening her own boutique. She is a part of the Los Angeles cohort of the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative which increases the capacity of urban youth leaders. She also enjoys cooking and baking, Soup Night, hanging out with family and friends, and buying fabric. www.JULIALOVAN.com
