The first Bella Venice pieces were made-to-order sweatshirts for Taylor Pardee’s friends, a long way from the lingerie-meets-eveningwear the label is known for now. Pardee was 18 and about to head to university when she launched the brand. She didn’t wait until she felt ready.

“I had a strong intuition and just wanted to do it,” she says. “Because I started so small, I didn’t have any fear of failure. I knew that failing at different steps along the way is simply part of growth.”

Starting small turned out to be an advantage. When Pardee and her friends left for different colleges, the clothes went with them. Friends showed the brand to new friends, who showed it to others, creating what Pardee calls a domino effect.

The brand says Bella Venice is now a multi million dollar Los Angeles label, and it is still entirely self-funded.

Building Bella Venice between classes

“I ran everything out of my dorm room and worked between classes in the library,” Pardee says. “I also hired my sister, who was in high school, to help package orders from my room at home.”

She was taking entrepreneurship classes at the same time, and applied what she learned straight to the business. There was no real separation between studying how companies grow and finding out, in real time, what happens when yours does.

Somewhere between those first sweatshirts and now, the brand found its look, and it came from what her friends were asking for.

“When I started, my friends were looking for cute going-out tops, but there wasn’t much available that was genuinely made for women, by women.”

In her view, that comes down to who is doing the designing.

“Since many designers in the industry are men, I felt it was essential to create pieces with a woman’s perspective in mind.”

The result sits somewhere between lingerie and eveningwear: feminine, body conscious pieces made for going out, with some of the softness of lingerie. Everything is made in small batches in downtown Los Angeles from deadstock fabric. The label is also branching out.

“Moving forward, we are also expanding into cosy collections, which have been performing very well,” she says.

Pardee has never taken outside investment.

“Bootstrapping is both terrifying and freeing,” she says. “It means I don’t have to ask anyone for permission, and Bella Venice remains entirely self-funded, which is incredibly empowering.”

Growth comes in waves

Pardee is due to speak at the Harvard Retail Conference this month, and her advice for other young founders is refreshingly unglamorous.

“Many people expect to gain traction quickly, but success requires consistency every single day, as growth often comes in waves.”

Much of that consistency is physical work.

“People assume fashion is always glamorous, but early on, it involves intensive manual labour — from packing wholesale orders to running errands downtown yourself.”

SZA and Hailey Bieber have both been seen in Bella Venice, but Pardee thinks celebrity matters less than it used to.

“While celebrity placements used to have a larger impact, I believe growth today relies much more on internal community.”

She is flattered when famous names wear the brand, she says, but what drives it is closer to home.

“Authentic, peer-to-peer influence is what really drives us.”

Asked what she is most determined not to lose as the business grows, she answers in two words: “The community.”

“Bella Venice feels like a giant friend group because that is truly how it began — starting with my friends, spreading to their friends, and creating a chain reaction. I am deeply grateful for that organic connection.”

That is also where she is taking the brand next, with more in person experiences and a continued focus on the people who already wear it.The sightings that excite her most don’t involve anyone famous.

“I get even more excited when I see a stranger wearing Bella Venice in public.”