Bellissima – Creating Connections Through Fashion
Bellissima Fashions
Bellissima Fashions (Bellissima) was born out of Viviana Shaneman’s love for fashion and passion for Canadian designers. Since opening its first store in Calgary in 1981, this family-run business has grown from one store with four staff to 12 stores across Western Canada. While many fashion brands struggle to continue to stay and grow, Bellissima has continued to evolve over the past 40 years, implementing new strategies to stay relevant with the times, while remaining true to its roots of focusing on quality designs.
FASHION IS AN EXTENSION OF ONE’S PERSONALITY
In 2021, Bellissima rebranded with a new look, featuring more up-and-coming Canadian designers and attracting a younger audience. The brand has moved from traditional, formal wear to casual, trendy, fashion-forward designs.
[Bellissima] meaning “Beautiful” in Italian
(Mission) - Creating connections that inspire fun, ideation and passion.
(Vision) - To create connection through fashion.
“Viviana believed that fashion should be fun,” said Kacy Chow, Director of Marketing, Sales and Business Development. “For several decades, Bellissima was known for special occasions dresses and through a strategic planning process, we wanted to evolve the brand to live in the moment. Every day should be a celebration. Bellissima is about embracing every moment with joy and gratitude.”
Historically the fashion industry boasted that clothes gave women confidence and when a woman wears brand X, they will be empowered. If one takes a step back, one can see how incredibly patronizing these statements are. The truth is clothing does not create confidence. Rather, Bellissima wants to encourage women to use clothing as a tool to express their personality, uncover their souls and tell their stories. Confidence comes from within.
“At Bellissima, we do not put labels on the type of people we embrace in our stores. Never will we claim to empower our customers,” said Kacy Chow. “We are committed to supporting one another in actualizing the existing power and creativity within the individual. Our collection pieces are palettes painted by the personalities of each person who wears them. Fashion is an extension of one’s personality.”
“Fashion is an extension of one’s personality.”
Today, Bellissima’s collection is incredibly diverse, offering a wide range of brands with a mix of Canadian brands including Joseph Ribkoff, Frank Lyman, Elena Wang and Furious Fur, along with European and international influences, such as EsQualo, JAG jeans and Joules to name a few. Each brand is carefully selected with three main criteria: quality, special details and focus on community.
Today, Bellissima’s collection is incredibly diverse, offering a wide range of brands with a mix of Canadian brands. Each brand is carefully selected with three main criteria: quality, special details and focus on community.
The Canadian fashion landscape has changed significantly over the years. The closure of many Canadian brands, such as Swimco and Le Chateau, has created big gaps in the fashion industry. The lack of opportunities has forced many young talents to move to bigger cities like Toronto and Vancouver to make their names. Fashion is a highly competitive industry, and to succeed in this industry, it is not easy no matter how talented and hard-working individuals are.
“Whether it is clothing, accessories, footwear, jewelry and lifestyle, in this saturated market, it can be difficult for designers and entrepreneurs to create momentum and get traction that is profitable. In addition, not only are the designers, entrepreneurs selling from one boutique to the next, but they are also the marketer, social media expert, production, and their own business advisor. It is incredibly time-consuming,” said Kacy. “We need to support them by creating opportunities to bring their product lines to retailers who have a wider platform.”
As a brand that has 40 years of experience in Western Canada, Bellissima understands the challenges that emerging designers, artisans and entrepreneurs face and what it needs to do to fill the gap.
In 2020, Bellissima piloted the Designers and Entrepreneurs partnership by working with two jewelry designers, Apryl Dawn and Tish Jewelry, and a local candle company, Milk Jar. These partnerships received positive feedback from their customers and community. These brands, since then, have been added to Bellissima stores.
To continue this success, this year, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, Bellissima has launched The Fashion Connects Partnership Series to inspire and nourish emerging talents and give entrepreneurs the opportunity to “create connections through fashion”.
There are currently two programs within this series with plans to launch other programs in upcoming years.
1. Fashion Connects Education Partnership with the Visual College of Art and Design (VCAD)
This mentorship program is designed specifically for students in fashion design, marketing and visual experience at VCAD to expose them to the industry from all aspects. Over 13 weeks, students will have opportunities to work alongside the Bellissima team from marketing, creating in-store experiences, buying and styling. Mentors are industry gurus and veterans in the fashion world who have worked with Canadian icons, such as Joe Mimran, Ralph Laurent, Chanel, and Saks 5th Avenue.
This program is only open to students in their final term of their education with VCAD.
Model: Ashia Sanders
Photographer: Tessa Doll
Location: Kirk’s Alpaca Farm
Product: Jacket – Esqualo – F2137512
2. Fashion Connects Designers/Entrepreneurs Partnership
This program is open to 20 designers and entrepreneurs based in Alberta, Kelowna, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They are invited to pitch their products and if successful, their products will be selected and featured in Bellissima’s 12 locations across Western Canada. The call for applications runs from November 1-30, 2021, with final decisions being announced in January 2022.
To learn more about this program, check the link here or visit https://www.bellissimafashions.com/fashion-connects.
Visit https://www.bellissimafashions.com/ or follow its Instagram page @bellissima.fashions to shop its latest Fall collection.
