After more than 25 years as a pattern maker, illustrator and, most recently, design-room cutter for Bill Blass in New York City's garment district, Azi Blas opened high-end consignment shop Blas Couture and Consignment in Midlothian in late 2011. The shop sells vintage Gucci handbags and clothes from designers such as Tory Burch, Diane von Furstenberg and Nicole Miller alongside custom-made couture dresses from Blas, a graduate of Parsons School of Design. He hopes to promote a new undiscovered Richmond designer in his store each month, and Blas actually rents out cutting-room space and mannequins. "So they'll have a fully equipped laboratory where they can sew, cut, stitch and then transition into selling on the floor."
