Dahlia Drive is unique in its colors, textures and just plain feel on your body, making it different from the regular summer dress. It’s the sorta dress you slip on and forgettabout it. But trust me, no one will forget about the gorgeous, vibrant, absolutely stunning jewel tones and stained glass-like patterns on each dress. For a couple reasons, its hand painted and there’s only one of a kind.

Tutta Mia is located on a quaint corner a walk skip and a step away from Commercial Drive. This is where we met with designer Wendy Van Riesen, owner and designer of Dahlia Drive.The inspiration for this collection is the Issachar window from a collection of stained glassed windows designed by Chagall as a gift to a Jewish Synagogue of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in 1962.

To make each dress, Wendy hand paints her interpretation from each window pane onto transfer paper and heat sets each painting onto a vintage silk slip. This process takes about 6 hours and uses disperse dyes, not natural but are environmentally friendly because her papers can be reused or recycled and there is no water waste.For Wendy, the randomness and not knowing what the turn out will be is the favorite part of making this collection. She continues to develop as an artist, and as a clothing designer as she prepares for a charity fashion show, the Vancouver art gallery and her own take on the 11 other stain glassed windows from the Chagall collection.Here are some photos of our visit: Amanda is wearing a Dahlia Drive: Christian Dior Vintage silk slip hand painted Chagall interpretation.You can purchase, try on or browse Dahlia Drive at Tutta Mia (1302 Victoria Drive at Charles St).