VienSo: Style with purpose

Made in Spain from responsibly sourced fabrics and hand finished with intricate artisanal details, the unique yet wearable pieces epitomise affordable luxury for the modern woman. We meet co-founder Virginia to talk us through the start-up brand already make a lasting impact – in every way.

Virginia met best friend and co-founder Sol while at university in Spain (where she originally went to study psychology and communication), but they only became close when she moved to London for her fashion degree. Virginia explains how they started to see a “synergy in their aesthetic approach”. She now says: “Sol is water, I am fire.” As for their muse, they name their grandmothers, to whom they both owe their sense of style. “They are our icons,” Virginia enthuses.

VienSo was dreamt up from their living room, back when they were students on a budget and reluctantly resorting to fast fashion. Since then, it’s been their mission to create timeless, transitional pieces that are attainable, but that also teach women to appreciate the craftsmanship behind their clothes. The brand was sparked by the duo’s love of going out, which is evident from their first collection: The Two – it comprises styles named after cocktails that ignite confidence. Styles are strong enough to wear alone but are equally potent when combined.

The duo believe in a personal touch and have close relationships with all their suppliers. Virginia and Sol travelled to Marrakesh to meet the female artisan who designs their intricate buttons, while their French and Greek fabric makers have even visited VienSo’s showroom in London. “Everything is relationship based,” Virginia enthuses. “These people bring our vision to life; we value that so much as founders and as a part of our company ethos.”

The limited-edition designs are also imbued with juxtaposing tones of black, blue, spice-red and sand that play into the pair’s Mediterranean roots and love for transitioning from late nights to early mornings.

VienSo is a solution to the ‘I have nothing to wear’ dilemma that faces women when they’re going out. It provides women with long-lasting options as an alternative to quick fixes found at fast fashion chains like Zara and Mango. “We’re tired of that because, if you do the maths, you end up spending £5,000 on fast fashion pieces. And next season you throw them away or put them to the back of your closet – you don’t care about them.” With VienSo, they believe in doing the reverse: “Spend £300 one time,” she says, highlighting the “charm” of receiving a special custom-made piece.

They want to be “100% sustainable in every way,” but aren’t claiming full sustainability just yet. “We are on a trajectory of sustainability; it’s a roadmap,” Virginia says: “Sustainability is something you achieve slowly – by changing, by adapting, by growing.” It’s safe to say that they’re on the right track. As well as producing limited pieces, which help them work really closely with their atelier, they are now only buying dead stock fabrics.

“Luxury for us today, and what we’re trying to teach through our brand, is not ‘I’m wearing a logo’ or ‘I’m wearing a £3k jacket’. It’s more about who is making our clothes, what kind of relationship we have with them, why we make limited quantities and why we buy that stock.”

It certainly helps that they know who their customer is: “It’s not the woman who comes to the party wearing sequins. It’s the woman next door; it’s about her character, how she moves, how she talks, her energy,” Virginia explains. “She’s definitely the career woman, she gets inspired by other women, she’s a real woman; she loves fashion, has a fun life, but has real problems.” Virginia highlights she’s very different to the women of her grandmother’s generation, whose lives revolved around getting dressed for parties.

Talking specifically about VienSo’s clothes, she says, “Whenever you see a rack, the clothes are very eye-catching,” but in an effortless way. “We don’t design to turn heads,” she asserts. Part of the reason Virginia and Sol dreamt up VienSo was on the premise that it would encourage women to stay true to their individual style. “We dress for ourselves; we are confident that we have our own style, but a lot of other women don’t, and it’s not their fault. If all you see on social media is the same thing, you are going to become like these women,” Virginia insists. VienSo is all about designing with meaning and purpose, which means negating trends and stereotypes and changing people’s outlook. “We’re not trying to sell you a woman that does not exist, we’re trying to make you feel more confident in who you are,” Virginia explains.

She says that, nowadays, considering women’s dynamic lifestyles, they dress according to their moods. “When you have a dinner date with your boyfriend’s parents, you want something a bit more elegant; when you have a concert, you want the patchwork jeans because they’re cool but still wearable on a daily basis. When you have something more glam [to attend], you want the top with the belt. [If it’s] a date, something that’s a bit sexy but not revealing too much.”

As for signature styles? Suits are their strong point. Luckily, they have Barcelona-based designer Cristina, who is able to translate their vision perfectly. “Every time I think of her, I feel really blessed,” Virginia says. Cristina, who was referred through a friend, studied at the prestigious Istituto Marangoni. Before VienSo, she worked for eyewear brand Linda Farrow. Virginia and Sol met no less than 25 different designers before finding the right fit in her. “Finding a designer is like finding a house. You need to have a feeling,” she says. This slow and considered approach to sourcing the best talent applies to everything that they do. It took them three years before finding the right atelier that “guarantees quality is met”. They also postponed their launch twice; when they did eventually debut their collection, this involved temporary pop-ups, as a way of telling their story and being present. They held them in Madrid, London and Paris for three days each, and Virginia recalls how nice it was, not only to mix with other brands but to challenge herself by working alongside established designers. It paid off as they sold out of stock within three months, amid the pandemic.

VienSo’s pieces take around six to eight months to develop. “We will never sell something we are not happy with. I want to have something that I stand by,” Virginia declares. “We really try to design pieces that you can wear; they’re prêt-à-porter but, at the same time, they’re unique enough, and for that you need time.”

Reflecting on her transition from employee to entrepreneur, Virginia, who previously worked in PR for Italian brand Fabrizio Viti says, “I dropped everything to dive into this dream of ours.” She recalls an earlier conversation with her mum when deciding to leave Spain and pursue fashion in London. “I was like, ‘Look, do you want me to be the last one in the class and continue to have this degree or do you want me to shine and do something I want to do? Because I’m losing time. I’m wasting your money, I’m wasting my time; this is not what I want to do – I want to study fashion!’.”

And so she did, at the London College of Fashion where she specialised in marketing. She also worked for highbrow brands such as Bulgari and Prada. “Fashion is in my DNA – I breathe it. I cannot imagine myself not being in this world.” What she didn’t know was that she would be in it as a brand owner. Reflecting on the moment she realised entrepreneurship was her pathway, 28-year-old Virginia says: “I remember I was 22 and I used to look at girls that were my age. They were so frustrated; they were not happy, and I decided fashion doesn’t have to be this ugly. I don’t want to be competitive; I want to be nice, I want to be helpful.”

And she certainly knows what it means to practice gratitude: “I consider myself lucky that I can wake up every day and have a dream that I can follow, and a vision. It’s something that not many people do or have. I look at every day as a small part of growing my little seed into a flower.”

Virginia talks proudly about not using paid influencer marketing. “We purely have a fanbase of women that believe in what we do.” She says, “They purchase VienSo be-cause they like it – maybe they’ve heard about it or read about it – but not because 200 people are wearing it and it’s an Instagram hype. We want to build heritage.” How? “By growing very slowly, by having a strong vision and making sure we don’t change that vision.”

The reaction to their launch was “overwhelming” and “crazy”, with “people loving the limited exclusivity and wanting more”. Since then, Virginia has been contacted about dressing high-profile women in VienSo, but she is clear about not wanting that to distract her from what’s important. As for what it would mean if she were to fill every PR request: “I’m going to be the same brand with the same formula, and then whatever I’m working on, whatever I believe in, is going to vanish.” She’s also aware that this can lead to burnout, in which case, it’s a good thing she can turn to Sol. “She brings reasoning to what VienSo is, to our decision-making. I’m much more impulsive, she’s much more feet on the ground,” Virginia says of her psychologist business partner, while highlighting her alluring title: “She’s a psychotherapist and a creative director of a fashion house.”

Virginia reflects on how much her and Sol (who couldn’t make our interview due to working at the clinic where she’s based) have grown from this period. It’s something she describes as “the evolution of Sol and I, from little women to women”. And her admiration continues: “People say doing business with friends is risky, but I’m very lucky that I’m doing business with somebody who really understands human minds. There is no competitiveness, there is transparency.” She adds: “I have a temper, I’m Italian.” As for Sol: “She works more quietly, but, nevertheless, we are able to work amazingly, and I think that’s [because] she’s able to understand people.” Virginia also has her “old-fashioned” father to thank for instilling in her the perks of partnering up in business. “He always said, ‘Never start something on your own’.”

Virginia and Sol are now learning how to be more entrepreneurial as they plan to scale the business. “We had the time to step back and think, ‘OK, yes, we have the design, but how can we grow?’” Virginia recalls. This is why they’re bringing on board a new partner: “He comes from a finance background, which is what VienSo is missing,” she reveals. “We know how to sell a product; we’re hard-working but, at the end of the day, we’re a business and you need the right team to bring it to the next level.” She tells me that’s what they’re working on and, thankfully, it’s coming along.

VienSo is currently stocked at luxury concept store Serrano 47 Woman and show-room Maison Esa – both in Spain – as well as RAC in New York. As for whether she’d like to be sold at an e-commerce giant like Net-a-Porter? “We see [VienSo] in small concept stores,” she says, naming Denmark-based Mr. Larkin as one example. She says the future for medium or small brands is to choose the concept store that most represents them and where the working relationship is more personal. In cor-relation to this, they’re planning a series of mini events called ‘Create by VienSo’, where they present their collection and get a chance to network with artists. Not like the usual fashion events, then? “Usually, fashion events are always the same. You are always with your phone and looking at what other people are wearing, but not really interacting.” They want to create the opposite: “We choose our playlist and we carefully choose the mood; we invite young people; everybody is excited to meet. You’re not going there because you have to buy or impress; you’re there because you want to have a good time and discover people as well as fashion.”

As our interview wraps up, Virginia suggests a coffee date to view the collection once the world resumes. I can’t wait; VienSo epitomises the Edit Her woman, so watch this space.