Belladonna

Belladonna
Founded	2013
Country	USA
Founder(s)	Michelle Ramon & Rachel Decker
Website	website
Webshop	webshop
Instagram	belladonnalolita
Current status	Active
Lolibrary Link

Belladonna is a US-based sweet & classic lolita brand.

Concept

Belladonna describes themselves as

Belladonna sells Jfashion inspired clothing designed and manufactured in the United States.
Along with our size-inclusive clothing, we also sell handmade and imported accessories, non-medical fabric masks and Jfashion styled press-on nails made by a licensed nail tech.
We are also a licensed distributor of genuine Japanese Brightlele wigs, imported straight from Japan.^[1]

History

Belladonna was founded in 2013 as a partnership between best friends Michelle and Rachel.^[2] Their early work included custom prints like Amelia's Locket, Twilight Twinkle Jelly and Ode to Darwin.

In 2014, Belladonna participated in the first Rufflecon. Due to fabric printing problems, their 2014 collection contained a single piece in a regimental stripe print they had developed. No other pieces have been produced in this print since.

In 2015, Belladonna became a distributor for Brightlele wigs.^[3] Belladonna also participated in Rufflecon's fashion show where they showed a number of classic prints. These prints are currently unreleased and are part of the brand's sample collection.

In 2016, Belladonna also participated in Rufflecon. They showed a new release of Twinkle Jelly, which remains unreleased as well as a handful of disparate classic dresses. The bulk of this collection was sold, with only the Twinkle Jelly pieces becoming part of the brand's sample collection.

In 2018, Belladonna's runway collection was a bridal collection and they took a limited number of MTO dress orders. The originals of the bridal dresses are part of the brand's sample collection.

In 2019, Belladonna's runway collection was a monochromatic gothic them with an emphasis on strong women in history. The originals of this series were put up for sale.

In August 2019, Belladonna Fashions LLC was formed.^[4] In 2020, Belladonna's S/S theme was pride and they did a 50's influenced rainbow runway collection in February followed by a MTO release of Ice Cream Shoppe. Dude to the popularity of Ice Cream Shoppe, they did additional MTO releases through 2021, and added the coodinating Milk Shake Shoppe series.

In February 2021, Belladonna launched a patreon and a tied discord^[5]. Also in 2021, Belladonna partnered with Hoshi Hanazono, offering several pre-made classic items, as well as MTO Ice Cream Shoppe items to consumers in Japan.^[6] Due to the pandemic, Belladonna did not release a 2021 runway collection and instead focused on shop stock and Ice Cream Shoppe items.

Notable Figures

Michelle - Designer / Founder

While Michelle has been wearing lolita since 2011, her love of sewing was sparked in childhood when she learned to saw at age 11. Her first sewing project was a little denim jumper printed in sunflowers and she’s been expressing her creativity through fashion ever since.

Prior to forming Belladonna with her best friend Rachel, Michelle operated independently under the brand name Atelier Enchanteur^[7]^[8].

Michelle is the primary textile designer for Belladonna, creating Belladonna’s custom textile prints, as well as Belladonna’s line of enamel pins. In addition to digital art, she also paints, and plays the violin and piano. She also drafts custom patterns, and designs dress cuts, as well as sourcing trim and materials.

On the accessories front, Michelle creates the items in Belladonna’s jewelry line, and many of the custom one-of-a kind headpieces used in Belladonna’s runway collections.

Outside of designing for Belladonna, Michelle holds a Bachelor’s degree in Bioinformatics and is a licensed nail technician.

Contrary to what one might expect when one looks at the bright and colorful pieces she designs, Michelle enjoys watching true crime and murder she wrote while she designs for Belladonna.

Rachel - Designer / Founder

Rachel is an accomplished seamstress with a background in commercial sewing for interior design and handbag manufacturing. She first got into sewing due to an interest in historical garments, and they continue to inspire her today. She loves taking design elements from the Victorian, Edwardian and sometimes even Baroque fashion eras and reimaging them into the lolita aesthetic.

As a child, when she visited living history museums all she wanted to do was try on the clothes and learn about sewing. She took all the children’s sewing classes they offered. She spent so much time on hand sewing crafts that her mother signed her up for a machine sewing class at the local community center. In 9th grade, she and Michelle started sewing together, and this would eventually lead to the formation of Belladonna several years later.

Rachel primarily does design and sewing work for Belladonna and brings a classic touch to the brand. Rachel also leads the convention boutique team, and is Belladonna’s merchandising expert.

Her hobbies include competitive dance, playing with her daughter and moving her cats out of the way while sewing.

Outside of designing for Belladonna, Rachel is a licensed paralegal and mother.

Sam - Brand Manager

Sam first started staffing conventions in 2014. Through her years working with numerous conventions she has held various roles from Maid Cafe staff and Guest Relations to even serving on the Board of Directors of a large convention.

For Belladonna, Sam holds the roll of the brand manager, handling appearance requests and interfacing with conventions and events staff on the brand’s behalf.

Characters & Design Motifs

Bella

Bella is a bunny who enjoys eating clovers, loves orange soda, and shopping therapy. Her worst fear is forgetting about a pre-order from her favorite brands.^[9]

Donna

Donna is a kitty who is fiercely addicted to auctions, she spends her weekends scrolling lacemarket while enjoying her favorite smoked salmon tea sandwiches.^[9]