LAYLA NOWAIN could never resist the lure of fashion. After graduating with a degree in Sociology at UCLA, she felt the need to attend the venerable Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in order to discover where this path would take her. While still at FIDM, she began working for a jewelry company called Sogoli Design where her responsibilities ran the gamut from ordering supplies and coordinating production to sales and shipping. This experience enabled her to fully comprehend and appreciate the nuts and bolts of running a business. Her interaction with various vendors and clients instilled in Layla the importance of building valuable business relationships which she then put to good use when she landed her next job for a handbag manufacturing company. Working with handbags somehow inspired Layla to go one step further. Though she was mainly involved with running production and sales, she began to design handbags as well. She left the company when she realized that she was more than capable of running her own business.
At first, Layla wasn't entirely convinced if she should do handbags or garments so she tested the waters by sketching a few designs and contracting someone to manufacture them. The results were such that she knew this was the right choice. But perhaps more importantly she realized that she truly enjoyed the process - from the subtle beginnings of creation to finding just the right materials and ultimately having a finished sample of a beautiful, functional bag in hand. In 2007 Bella Nova was born. Italian for "beautiful star", Bella Nova is also a truncated part of Layla's last name, which when properly pronounced in Farsi sounds like - nova-in. Launching with only six samples at The Project Trade Show in Las Vegas, Layla was delighted by the resoundingly positive reception from the buyers. Manufactured entirely in the US, Bella Nova handbags are sleek and distinctly shaped while being effortlessly sophisticated.
From the outset, Layla was determined to create handbags that would be versatile enough to wear with denim, dress or pantsuit, for play, work or travel. Each bag is designed to fulfill a modern woman's lifestyle of hectic days that leave little time to worry if she's wearing the right bag. Layla draws her inspirations from an array of sources: the materials she uses - supple, fine quality Italian lamba leather and eye-catching hardware - to current women's fashions that come down the international runways to abstract trends in shape and color. But most importantly, she focuses on what women need in accessories. Her creativity and business savvy ensures that Bella Nova is always as elegant as it is functional. With eight designs in production, Bella Nova will eventually boast of 15 styles per collection and that is merely the beginning. When Layla Nowain followed that lure of fashion so many years ago, little did she realize that she would one day conceive Bella Nova, a line that woman everywhere will also find simply irresistible.
