Geelong’s creative wonder woman Laura Van Noordenburg has found herself a new creative movement to pioneer with the fresh and inspired boutique clothing label Hera Bloom.
Alongside fellow friend and creative Jess Harrison, Hera Bloom was created late last year by the local mums to offer a point of difference in the curvy fashion world. Specifically, creating a feel good clothing business made to empower women. Catering to women sizes 12-20, it’s aimed at helping curvy ladies to feel beautiful in their clothing and love their bodies at the same time.
“It’s the niche size between the ‘normal’ size and the plus size. We really want women to feel like they can actually find clothes that are fashionable, that they will feel comfortable and still feel cool,” Laura explains.
“Before having Kobe [her son] I was always a 10-12, and now I’m a 16. I went to town and went to all my normal shops that I would usually go to – and nothing fit. It was a horrible feeling,” Laura says, reflecting on her own wardrobe struggles.
“In a nutshell, we just want to cater for the normal size girls, as I’ve been calling it, and now we’ve just cut out the sadness of going into town, and not been able to find anything.”
With Laura and her business partner Jess both juggling three jobs, caring for their children, as well as modelling their own collection, the girls and their ambitious nature are looking forward to the future of Hera Bloom and its place in inspiring a positive message to women.
“Hopefully we can make our own stock in future, and we’re also looking at doing a tall range, a short range, and a range for different breast sizes and different shapes, so this is hopefully in the near future. We’ll get there eventually, but that’s our goal.”
The ladies are also working on widening their offering to include beautiful skincare, accessories and home products, as well as introduce a Hera Bloom ambassador to work alongside Australian plus size model Curvy Amelia, who will be helping the ladies promote positive body image.
As to where you can find these empowering products? Well, while previously only been available online, Laura will now be stocking Hera Bloom products in her new store North of the Hill, replacing what was formally known as the Geelong Creative store, another one of Laura’s avenues. The former store was a collection of the region’s home-grown creative talent (including illustrators, photographers, florists and decorators) and aimed to help small business owners connect, promote and support each other, based on the online model of the business.
“The model of Geelong Creatives didn’t quite work. There was just no growth in the model we had, so I’m changing the name to North of the Hill, because I already had that business name, and it sort of suits,” Laura explains, reflecting on the romantic boho, Scandinavian type theme of Hera Bloom which will be a main part of the store.
While sadly the physical store front of Geelong Creatives is no longer (don’t worry, the online directory is still well and truly running), Laura is positive and enlightened about her new avenue with North of the Hill.
“It is still going to be majority of Geelong Creative products in there, but I’ve just changed the name so I can open it up to Melbourne people, and even Ballarat and Bendigo, or whoever wants to come into it as well – it just broadens it as well and this way I can put my Hera Bloom in there.”
Catering for stunning curvy babes, you’ll find Hera Bloom at Laura’s new store, North of the Hill, which will be open Tuesday to Saturday at the space at 47 Gheringhap Street.
Visit www.herabloom.com to check out the inspiring brand.
Written by Talia Rinaldo
Photos by Tania Fernandes Photography
