I love a brand name with a home address inside it. Bella is Taylor Pardee's middle name, and Venice is the California town where she grew up, so the label is quite literally her. She started it in spring 2021 after finding a deadstock fabric warehouse in Downtown LA, and that find led her to the production team and pattern maker behind her first lounge set.

Everything still happens close to home. Design and production are local, in small batches, often with deadstock, and the About page adds that the factories are female-founded and female-led with fair living wages. I like that this is part of the clothes and not a slogan stuck on afterward.

The pieces carry the same sun-warmed ease: slip dresses, printed skirts, tops you can mix without looking costumed. It feels like a young label figuring out its own California, one print at a time.

The dresses show two sides of Bella Venice. The Jordan Slip Dress and The Jordan Dress are both easy slip shapes in different color stories, one navy and white, the other striped tan. The Emerson Tube Dress brings the cheetah print, and The Maya Dress keeps things simple in black. The Blair Dress and The Devon Dress lean into brown checks and pinstripes, a little old-photo romantic without tipping into costume.

Picture her at a late-summer dinner in The Devon Dress with flat sandals and a small shoulder bag. For a night out, I would let the Emerson Tube Dress carry the print and keep the jewelry quiet. Try the length with the shoes you actually plan to wear, because a few inches change the whole proportion.

The skirts are where the label plays with animal print and color. The Roxy Skirt is the bolder leopard starting point, and The Lawson Skirt has a micro-cheetah pattern that is a smaller way in. The Harley Skirt shows up in a chocolate-brown pattern and a pink stripe, so one name goes in two directions.

I would wear The Roxy Skirt with a plain black tank and a low heel, or The Harley Skirt in pink stripe with a cream tee and flat sandals on a daytime errand run. The Lawson Skirt is my pick when I want the texture of a print without a full pattern story. Look at the scale of the print next to your top: a quiet solid gives the skirt room, and a second pattern only works when the colors overlap.

The Elsa Top comes in gold and olive, two colors that change the mood without changing the outfit formula. The Sadie Top adds a cheetah print, and The Claire Top in black is the calm anchor of the bunch. I like the bright ones against a simple, dark bottom.

Picture her heading to a small gallery opening in the gold Elsa Top, straight dark trousers and a narrow belt. On a quieter day, The Claire Top is the one I would reach for under a light jacket, and The Sadie Top can be the only print in the outfit. Choose the top first, then decide whether the rest of the look echoes its color or gives it space.

The Caroline Romper is the easy one-piece, and in black it feels cleaner than a print would. The Olive Flannel and The Olive Short share a black-and-white pattern, so they can be worn together or split into two outfits. The Paris Pant in brown is the grounded finish.

I would wear The Olive Flannel open over a simple tank with the matching short for a relaxed set, then pull the shirt out again with denim. The Paris Pant takes that same tank toward dinner, and The Caroline Romper is for the mornings when I want one decision to do all the work. What I would skip: wearing the matching pair with no break at all. A solid shoe or bag stops the pattern from taking over.

Bella Venice feels most like itself where its two ideas meet: the slow pace of California and the care of making a garment properly. Taylor Pardee's story gives the label an intimate start, and the local, small-batch choices carry that feeling into the clothes. I would begin with a print or shape that already feels familiar, then let one unexpected detail make it new. Although I will admit the cheetah print usually wins the argument.