BACK in the '90s, as a new designer facing for the first time Didier Grumbach - the revered head of the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, the trade union of high fashion - Josef Statkus was understandably on tenterhooks.

After all, waiting for that dreaded verdict as to whether his designs would be deemed worthy of the haute couture title that only the Chambre can bestow would be nerve-wrecking for any aspiring couturier.

While Statkus' apprehension was unsurprising, his torrent of tears upon hearing Grumbach's evaluation was quite unexpected.

'Hearing Didier Grumbach tell me how amazing it was that my designs followed the old traditions of French haute couture - I was so emotional and happy,' recalls the Lithuanian-born Statkus who was recently in town for a retrospective fashion show held during Capella's New Year's Day festivities.

'Didier Grumbach was shocked that I would react like that. But then, he didn't know what a difficult journey it was for me to get from being a designer in Lithuania to finally making it to Paris.'

Indeed, the Statkus of today may be the dresser of stars like singer Bjork and actress Naomi Watts, while his eponymous perfume is said to be a favourite of Anna Wintour, but his road to success has been a rocky one.

Growing up in a Lithuania that, in the '70s and '80s was still under Soviet rule, there was little - if any - fashion in the country at all.

Retail was so dismal that a young Statkus had to resort to looking overseas for his fashion fix.

'Everything in the shops at that time was so grey and I wanted to look different,' explains Statkus.

'I ended up drawing little sketches of clothing that I was looking for and sending them to an aunt of mine living in America, who would then pick out what I wanted and send them over to me in Lithuania.'

These sketches did more than convey his fashion desires to his aunt, they also got him into design school.

'It was funny. I was initially a professional swimmer in a sports school but my teachers saw these sketches of mine and told me I was really talented and encouraged me to go to design school to study fashion. So I transferred to the Vilnius Academy of Arts and I was more or less the only boy there,' he says with a laugh.

Upon graduation in 1992, Statkus went on to win a scholarship to the famed Arnhem Art Academy in Holland - the same institution that schooled Viktor & Rolf - before returning to Lithuania to set up a small atelier the following year.

Although Lithuania was, by then, an independent nation, the fashion scene remained undeveloped.

'Nobody thought that fashion was important so nobody believed that my business would survive,' says Statkus.

'Everything in Lithuania was so backward. Even for fabrics, everything was so grey that my staff and I had to colour and dye the threads and fabrics ourselves.'

To make ends meet, Statkus also designed costumes for the theatre, which explains his love for the dramatic outfits that he is now known for. The turning point for him was when he was asked to design costumes for a theatre performance at Versailles in France.

'The critics loved my costumes but even though my name was on the bill, they thought I was French, because to them, only French people can make clothes as beautiful as that. They could not fathom that I was from Lithuania,' he reveals with a sigh. 'When you're not from France or England it is extra difficult. Nobody cares about you. Fashion in Lithuania? What's that, they would ask.'

The French public may have got his nationality wrong, but their positive reviews were crucial in helping Statkus claim an internship spot at the fashion house of Angelo Tarlazzi, who later encouraged him to go solo and show in Paris.

In 2000, he left Angelo Tarlazzi and armed with fabrics bought in France, Statkus resurrected his atelier in Lithuania and produced his first couture collection, presented during the 2001 Paris Haute Couture Week. That very year, he won the best debut award presented by LVMH and the rest, as they say, is history.

'You see how hard I had to fight just to make it as a designer,' he asks. 'That's why I cried in front of Didier Grumbach because it really was so difficult getting to where I am today.'

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This article was first published in The Business Times.