What it means to be a woman is something we not only embrace on International Women’s day, but deserves to be celebrated daily and honored by each of us. We are surrounded by women who embody the things that define us as women: strength and wit, courage, class, style, sophistication, and true intelligence.
St. Andrews is lucky to meet Velvet Victoria, owner, entrepreneur, creator, and visionary behind homeware brand Velvet Victoria. Embodying beautiful simplicity and carefully crafted curation, Velvet Victoria Home is more than just a brand—it is an expression of how meaningful it is to create something for oneself. Velvet Victoria hand selects each piece in her store. From linens designed in Holland to china from Portugal, each piece speaks volumes to the personality of the brand and the deliberate and purposeful choices it communicates. I was lucky enough to sit down with Velvet Victoria to ask her anything and everything—from her time spent in Vogue, law school, and her experiences as a women entrepreneur, my time with Velvet Victoria was truly a conversation that confirmed how valuable it is to spend time honoring the women we empower and the pricelessness of learning from one another.
Her Campus: To start off, What inspired you to start your own business, and how did you approach challenges?
Velvet Victoria: The brand is called velvet Victoria Home, which is myself and it’s my home brand. My background is quite varied, both creative and business. When I left school, I went to university and studied law because I wanted to be a corporate lawyer and very much in the business side of law. But at the same time, I also knew that I was really interested in creative things. I loved fashion. I used to go with my mom to Paris fashion week every year. I was very much immersed in that world as well, which is quite a juxtaposition from the legal world, which is very kind of black and white. As I went through my university training, I would take internships in London in PR houses.
I spent about four years completing my law degree, and another post grad year. That time in between my diploma and going into a legal training ship, I went down to London and studied at the Cancondinas College of Fashion and Design for a year. The people there at that time were amazing. I met a plethora, a melting part of these lovely women doing these incredible things. I have friends now who work for Italian Vogue, who are creative directors of couture brands in the Middle East.
I did that for a year [and I] loved it. It kind of confused me whether I wanted to go into fashion journalism or start my own brand. I didn’t really know where I wanted to fit then, and I still had these two years [left] of legal training. So I did my two years of training with a local firm. The funny thing about that time was I actually kind of took all my holiday time at once, and I went back down to London and I interned with Vogue.
On one hand, I’m doing this internship in London for Vogue, but then on the other I’m going back home to sit at a desk doing a legal traineeship. But it was important to me to finish my legal training and I didn’t think I wanted to be a fashion journalist. I wanted to do something more in business.
I came home and I became a qualified lawyer. I still had this uncertainty whether or not this was really for me. A law traineeship in Scotland kind of put a cage around me and I wasn’t really able to fly. So I then decided, I’m really just going to start my own company. At that time, I was really veering towards the fashion aspect. So I launched a sunglass line. It was called Velvet Victoria London, inspired by my time in London. I went to Italy and I sourced an amazing factory who created for me a range of I think eight pairs of luxury sunglasses. My selling point was monogramming the side of the sunglasses with your initials, which got a lot of traction.
I think I hit a ceiling where I thought, I want to do more than sunglasses, but I don’t know what to do. Then COVID hit. I was on social media at the time. I had like my own little personal following, nothing major, but I always had a sort of following just from the little things that I was doing. I started to notice people would ask me more about how I put tables together or where I got my homeware, rather than what I was wearing or what I was doing. Probably because of COVID, people were looking at their homes. And I was like, gosh, this is really interesting. And it was this kind of light bulb movement that I realised, this curation, this is my talent. Even though we’re selling products, [it stems from] the curator putting all these things together. I thought, okay, I’m going to do homeworks. And that’s how I started Velvet Victoria Home. I started with my first couple of products at that time. At that time it was just me, the English brand Mrs. Alice, and three or four of us doing tablescaping things online.
Now, we’ve opened the store and essentially relaunched the online store. That’s where my full focus is. This is my baby. This is where my full energy is going.
HC: What are some exciting things that have happened since launching the site?
VV: We’ve had some really good stuff happen over the last couple of months. We have supplied now to three of the royal palaces. We’ve supplied Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court Palace, and Blenheim Palace. One morning, I got an email from the ‘Master of the Royal Household’, and they essentially shop for the king. King Charles selected blue and white chinoiserie planters, as he is an avid gardener. Also we’ve had English influencer and creator Lydia Millen purchase from us a woven basket wagon, and I’m hopeful that she’s gonna be doing loads of things with it in the summertime.
HC: Do you feel there’s enough support for women entrepreneurs? What improvements would you like to see?
VV: Going back to my lawyer life, I knew it was really a very male dominated industry. Female lawyers in Scotland are quite rare, especially ones in high positions. During that time, I didn’t feel that there was real support. There’s this kind of [cutthroat] aspect. Then there’s this whole thing from men, thinking there’s no place for women in business, which is ridiculous. There is this notion that you have to be hyper-aggressive, everything has to be a competition to make an impact. That’s not the case at all. For me, one of my priorities is speaking with my suppliers on the phone, having coffee with them, and building relationships.
It’s tough to outrun stereotypes. I’m a blonde girl. I’m quite colorful with the clothes that I wear. I love my jewelry. Sometimes because of that people just naturally assume I am not educated or capable, when I know I am. It’s almost like a hurdle you have to jump over. You have to tell yourself ‘I am smart, not in spite of, but because of creating a business out of something which is perhaps inherently feminine’ I worked really hard. It takes a lot of ‘smarts’ to curate a business and also develop connections with other people.
I think, and hope, we’re getting better. I think my experience of social media thus far has been good. [Within] the community of women that I reach out to on social media, I feel like there’s this, “yeah, we’ll help each other” camaraderie. It’s actually so valuable to let what you’re doing speak for itself. You don’t have to hard sell if your product is good and you believe in your product.
Even if you don’t think you have inherent confidence, you do. I feel like as women, we sort of overlook that about ourselves.vAnd sometimes the journey is hard when you’re in it. I remember being at university and constantly thinking, what am I going to do? What are the next steps? My friends are all doing this. But sometimes it’s taking a moment of thinking ‘yeah, okay. I’m doing okay’.
HC: What motivates you each day?
VV: Pleasing aesthetics. I love to live a pretty life. I know it sounds funny, but no matter what I do, whether it’s getting a cup of coffee in the morning, I really enjoy that time of making simple things pretty. It just feeds my soul. It’s a real motivator for what I’m doing to make sure that everyone who comes in thinks, “oh, this is so nice.” It’s just nice that people, when they come in, can appreciate that this is such a pretty space.
Seeing other women do well is a massive motivator. My sister is so motivating because I see this young person who knows what she wants to do and is doing it. It’s just incredible. So feeding off of other women’s energy is definitely [also] a motivator.
HC: There are so many stereotypes that exist today that femininity isn’t powerful, when really, it is! How have you felt balancing career and lifestyle as a woman in business?
VV:It’s quite difficult. When you’re starting a business of any sort, it’s not easy. We live in a generation where influencers and technology are a different world I don’t even understand. So the danger of living in this period is that people, because of social media, have this misconception that starting a business is easy. When you are employed by yourself, it falls on your shoulders. It occupies your whole life, and branches into everything that you do. That’s why it’s really important to love what you do, because if you love what you do, then it’s not really work. I feel like people say that a lot, but it’s so true. It’s so, so true, honestly.
I think creative people have to be creative. The problem that I had with the corporate world is you’re making someone else’s dream come true, you’re not making your own dream come true. I would definitely say the work life balance is difficult. I’m very blessed to have a husband who’s super supportive of me and we work together. I’m definitely the creative, and my husband is more business savvy in that he takes care of the day-to-day that allows me to go out and source products, put things together, and look at what competitors are doing and what we could be doing better and all the stuff that you need time to do. It’s tough, but it’s very rewarding.
HC: If you could leave Her Campus readers a piece of advice, what would it be?
VV: Working hard is important, but [so is] building friendships and building relationships. Throughout my life, I have kept friends from my time in law school, living in London, from university, and it’s amazing when you can connect with people even when you’re doing something completely different to them. It still feeds your mind.
I would definitely say that a piece of advice being at St Andrews would be to really work on your connections because you can find really lasting friends at university. I know that sounds really common, but it really is true, and you’re so lucky to be in such a melting pot of cultures here. It’s not an everyday thing to share a classroom with people from around the world. I think that’s really special about St. Andrews.
My advice would also be to never forget your own power. You’re already winning by showing up and being here. You’re already a success. I don’t don’t think you have to rush either. I really used to feel like that. Enjoy the journey because when you look back, you won’t want to think, ‘actually, that was a really fun time, but I spent a lot of it worrying about this or that’. I feel like these are all things I like I needed to hear when I was in university.
HC: On behalf of Her Campus, hearing a woman speak so passionately about creating an identity, honoring your power, and uplifting yourself alongside other women speaks incredible volumes.
Velvet Victoria’s curation and beauty is poignant in the stories it tells. I encourage any reader to pop by, bring friends, and support a woman in business who has inspired me so much with the brand she has created. International Women’s Day is truly every day when we honor the things we create and the stories we communicate with them.