history.
With little knowledge of the fashion industry, husband and wife team, River and Serena, took a chance and started their own importing business back in 1973. Importing clothes turned out to be a much tougher job than expected, and after 1 year of chasing after shop owners for payment, they decided they’d had enough. Rather than quitting the fashion business all together, they decided to give it one more try and opened up a retail store.
In 1975, the first Serena Fashions store opened on Pender Street in downtown Vancouver. In 1981, they joined up with Serena’s sister, Viviana, and expanded to Alberta. Over the years, Serena Fashions has grown from one store with 4 staff members to 22 stores throughout BC and Alberta, with over 200 employees.
intent.
Through the years, our philosophy has remained the same: to provide women with quality fashion that not only compliments her figure, personality, and lifestyle, but also empowers her to feel confident and to love herself and her beauty. By combining updated designs with fabrics that provide comfort without compromising fit and style, we aim to provide clothes that are in harmony with our client’s life as an active and contemporary woman.
It is also our goal, both at the Corporate and Store level, to foster an environment of appreciation and respect for everyone we work with. We hope to make all your experiences with us fun and enjoyable ones.
Bellissima isn't just your mother's store anymore, and we don't just do grad dresses. We do current designer fashion. In fact, we have an in-house designer that creates the contemporary fashion that we carry as our private label and we manufacture most of our women's apparel right here in Western Canada. This ensures local designed and fabricated ladies fashion that is current and on-trend with a short turnaround from development to distribution.
Our buying strategy has shifted to include several exclusive European clothing brands that we believe embody our vision towards elegance, sophistication, class and confidence. From modern cocktail dresses to the classic "black dress", our women's clothing is innovative in its tailoring and fabric choice while maintaining a classic aesthetic and a timeless respect for craftsmanship.
Ladies clothing, fashion trends and designer fashion research is what Bellissima is all about. We look at ladies clothing from around the world, we examine current breaking trends on runways specializing in women's apparel, and we buy and develop the best ladies fashion from what we learn. Our prom dresses, cocktail dresses, mother of the bride dresses and our contemporary fashion is all born from couture runway trend research and diligent purchases of the latest and most current fashion trends. What we can't buy from exclusive European designers, we build ourselves using local manufacturers and in-house design staff that is well educated in manufacturing and designing quality women's apparel.
Our fantastic sales staff is the best in the business and they are all dedicated to helping you find your own personal style that makes you feel the best about yourself. Our fashion consultants will always greet you with a smile and send you away feeling better about your wardrobe. We are dedicated to finding you the best ladies fashion, fashion trends and contemporary clothing possible. Don't have a little black dress or cocktail dresses? Need a prom dress? Looking for a mother of the bride dress or bridesmaid dresses? Or do you just need the latest fashion trend in women's apparel? Regardless, we are here to help you find exactly what you are looking for.
