Vinka Lucas

Vinka Dragica Lucas (née Ravlich / Ravlić; 1 January 1932 – 10 August 2020) was a New Zealand fashion and bridalwear designer, business owner and co-founder of New Zealand Bride magazine.

Early life Lucas was born in Croatia, in the village of Kozica near the Adriatic coast. While growing up there, she learned the traditional local skills of needlework and embroidery, and later moved to Zagreb to learn cutting and design at the Academy of Dress & Design. In 1955 she moved to Auckland and started working in the fabric department of department store Price & Dempster.

Career In 1959 Lucas and her husband David Lucas bought a fashion and dressmaking business in Hamilton; they renamed it Maree de Maru (meaning "Marriage of the Brides" in Croatian) and turned it into a bridalwear store. In 1962 the couple opened a store in Customs Street, Auckland, and in 1966 moved it to the city's busiest street, Queen Street.

In the 1980s, Lucas branched out into the Middle Eastern market; in partnership with a local sheikh, Sheikh Abbas Filamban, she opened a salon, the Vinka Lucas Designer Collections Salon, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and another in Kuwait. and Vinka Brides. A number of Lucas' sewing patterns are in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Dresses by Lucas are part of the Eden Hore fashion collection. She died in Auckland on 10 August 2020, aged 88 years; her funeral notice advised mourners, "Vinka's standard of dress mandatory".