August 26, 2021
MEET THE DESIGNER
Emily wears the Aria Ruffle Cover Up in Animal, and the Fresia High Waist Pant in Black, size 10
What's your background?
I was born and raised in Australia. My Family and background are of Italian heritage, and so I look, speak, dress and eat the Italian way. It’s how I was raised and what I love!
Coming from a humble home with a big family meant lots of noise, big personalities and commotion all the time. There was never a dull moment in the Luvara household.
Clothing was always important to us. Mum always made sure my brother and sister and I were pristinely outfitted. Matching headbands and scrunchies and all that. I still seek mum's approval for outfits before I leave the house.
My Nonna initially taught me how to sew, I refined this in my later years at RMIT however she was still by my side until the end of my degree helping me hem my final collection. My Nonno also used to write poetry so I have always been around people who like to express themselves through a creative form.
What I love so much about working in Fashion is that you can have an idea and a skill set which you can fully execute into a refined end product. From drawing to making the sample, right through to the marketing. I also love seeing how something you create can elevate someone's mood. Hearing all our Novella customers' feedback moves me.
It’s like making dreams come to life just using your bare hands. I love this concept and have a large tattoo on my arm of an angel sprinkling stars from her hands down on to earth…that’s how I feel when creating beautiful clothing.
Michelle, our co-founder, also studied at RMIT before my time and she lived in Italy for a few years after she graduated. So we meet eye to eye on how to work the Italian way. Our mission is to only create beautiful things that are exceptionally high quality. We labor over the fine details for hours or sometimes days, (consult your consigliere before making grand decisions). We believe in only pursuing things you are 100% passionate about.
Emily and co-founder Michelle.
What made you want to start your own label?
The world shut. We went from travelling internationally every few weeks to being in lockdown. Without being able to travel anymore, we wanted to create something to put our feelings into and to connect with a greater community.
In addition to this, all of a sudden we also had the time to stop and nurture something new that we really believed in.
We loved the idea that we could speak to the customer directly. We wanted to be able to mould our designs based on customer feedback. For the first time we had an open dialogue with our customers, thanks to social media. Creating a community and getting to know our customers has been instrumental in developing our latest collection.
The other component to starting our own brand was that we didn’t always see what we liked when shopping, and also wanted to bring some fun European inspired flavour to AU.
When we were sent home to stay for many months we couldn’t bear the idea of living in our track pants everyday. We have always loved playing dress ups each day for the office, or for external meetings as well as our carefully packed travel wardrobe. So, the concept behind Novella was to create a reliable, failsafe wardrobe. Replacing the yoga/track pant uniform with comfortable peacock dressing.
Emily wears the Aria Ruffle Cover Up in Confetti print, size 10 with the Rose Ruched Kit Dress size 10
What has inspired this collection?
Some prints and shapes came from customer suggestions while other shapes I drew up and checked in with my close family and friends for their opinion as well. Flattering a curvy body is always top of mind for us, as well as comfort; being able to wear normal bras and underwear under dresses that make you look va-va-voom! The prints are a little exotic, I am vibing Cleopatra when she lived in Rome at the moment so it’s all about exotic florals, kitch italian prints which you can see in our new animal print and just being an outrageous Queen of your Villa!
This collection is also a bit of a re-fresh. To start from a more basic line for shape which our customer can build on, as well as mix and match with the following collections in regards to new prints.
Emily wears the Rose Ruched Knit Dress in Black, size 10
What’s your design process?
Chaos, coffee and then at some point some clarity.
Listening to lots of Christine and the Queens along the way whom I adore and aspire to.
It always starts with the prints, we have meetings with our lovely print designer friends Canvas in London for all our amazing floral prints. Once we find a print we like, I then decide on the styles that they will look best in. It’s a bit of me and what I am feeling for and a bit about the customer demand.
I try everything on myself and swan around the office or home in it for a while before deciding if it makes the cut. It’s equally important to gauge how the garment makes me feel and look...and also how many complements I get while wearing. Instead of cost per wear, its compliments per wear.
Emily wears Rose Ruched Knit Dress - Confetti, in size 10
What do you love most about the new collection?
It’s much more edited and sophisticated than the previous collection. I love that we have found customers that have become like friends. They tell me their stories or as you say in Italian their Novelle and we are actually very similar. The brand is resonating with the intended audience and we love that.
I also love the beautiful new prints, the exoticness of the floral but the simple spot print that reminds me of confetti. It’s a true celebration. We love the head to toe animal print … its tiger king but in a good way.
We love how all the pieces work together, you can create unique looks by mixing and matching prints. So you could have 4 or 5 pieces on rotation all week but each day it’s a totally new look.
Emily wears the Aria Ruffle Cover Up and Fresia High Waist Pant both in Confetti print, size 10
Which is your favourite piece and why?
The knit dresses are my personal favorites and I will be living in them. When I wear them I love that the compliments flow and I feel beautiful on the inside and out. We will be doing much more of these in the future. The fabric is super luxe and perfect for flattering curves. I am currently having a lot of fun coming up with new concepts for this part of the next collection.
