Bella Doña, a Latina-owned and L.A.-inspired brand, made its big-screen debut in the new “Mean Girls” movie.
The movie is a revamp of Tina Fey’s 2004 film. It follows a similar story line as the original and includes appearances from some of the original cast such as Lindsay Lohan and Tim Meadows.
While the movie deals with high school drama, it features locally owned products such as a gray sweatshirt worn by Reneé Rapp that reads “Dramática.”
The sweatshirt is from Bella Doña’s “Las Dramáticas Club” collection. The collection is aimed at encouraging members of the community to embrace their feelings without the fear of being too dramatic.
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In 2012, best friends LaLa Romero and Natalia Durazo co-founded Bella Doña to celebrate the spirit of sisterhood. The brand is inspired by L.A. and Chicano culture.
“We saw so much beauty in our neighborhood and in the women specifically in our neighborhood, and wanted to tell that story,” Romero said.
The brand posted on its Instagram account that they are not sure how their product ended up being featured in the movie, but they’ve received a lot of support from fans.
“We didn’t know that this was happening,” Romero said. “We were just both excited because we know growing up with ‘Mean Girls’ like it was like an iconic pop culture film.”
Fans responded quickly in the comments section that they recognized the sweatshirt when seeing the movie.
“I KNEW IT! as soon as I saw it I pulled out my phone to show my daughter where I’ve seen the sweater 👏,” one fan commented.
Romero said she found out that a co-director of the movie, Arturo Perez Jr., is Latino. She said she knew there had to be people behind the scenes who spoke up and mentioned the sweatshirt.
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Romero and Durazo credit their childhoods as a big influence on the style and aesthetic of the brand. Things like long acrylic nails, winged eyeliner and big gold hoops are staples in their merchandise.
Bella Doña has had success before being featured in a movie. They recently launched a collaboration with Urban Outfitters, and the gear has already hit shelves in Nordstrom x Nike shops.
“Being a Latina-founded brand and just seeing ourselves being able to take up space like shelf space and infiltrate other spaces as well, like in film and TV, is really exciting,” Romero said.
