At this year’s Waterside Student Lock-In, Lydia Bright and her boutique Bella Sorella, made a guest appearance at the annual event on Tuesday, October 6.
The boutique owned by her and sister Georgia, had a pop-up stall in the shopping centre for that night only.
The reality star from the hit TV show The Only Way Is Essex was inspired to take the leap into the world of fashion by the women in her family, she told The Linc.
She said: “My main drive to open the store was that all the women in my family worked in fashion. My mum was a fashion buyer for Debenham’s and my nan and actually mum as well, owned a store in East London called Cuba. My aunt was a creative director of a company called Pierre Elegant so it was something that I knew I wanted to go into.”
The sisters came up with the idea and after working on their vision together, it very quickly became their “little baby.” With their cousin working alongside them during the week, Bella Sorella is very much a family business.
Lydia added: “We bicker a lot because we are family but that’s the best way. We argue and then it’s forgotten about. She’s my sister so there are no airs and graces.
“We all have our good points and we are each good at certain things. We’ve all got our areas so nobody treads on each others toes which is good.”
The current favourite of hers from Bella Sorella, is a multicoloured dress she wore on the first episode of TOWIE’s sixteenth series earlier this month.
“I absolutely love it,” she commented. “It is long sleeved, skater and quite vintagey. It has multicoloured polka dots all over it. It’s beautiful.”
Dressed for Autumn at the Lock-In, Lydia wore black skinny jeans and a light grey jumper paired with a bold yellow and black statement necklace.
The Essex girl went on to express her love for all the rich colours that come with this season such as burgundy and plummy purples.
“I love chunky knits when it comes to Autumn,” Lydia said. “It’s always nice to get wrapped up and I love accessories like mittens and wooly snoods.”