A New Downtown Boutique Mixes High Fashion with Santa Cruz Style

After years working in some of the highest-end fashion departments in the world, Jo Minola wants her new store, Moda Bellissima, to be a place where women can find one-of-a kind fashions and be guided by a skilled personal shopper.

She is the face behind the store at 107 Locust St. and her goal is to steer women to what looks best on them, and give them a bargain as well.

"There are plenty of stores downtown for UCSC students," she says. "But not many for their parents or teachers. Too many women have to travel over the hill to find the kind of style they want. We want to give that to them here."

Jo, born Josephine, Minola opened two months ago in what was the former home of Tom Teifer, the upscale women's clothing store. She still carries many of Teifer's popular brands including Equestrian, Karen Klein, Joseph Ribkoff and Zelda and she's got a collection of accessories by local artists such as Ruby Roxanne's leather cuffs and Fran Battendieri's fashion jewelry.

She developed a keen eye for what looks good by studying it most of her life. Her mother was a seamstress, and greatly influenced Minola's eye for fabrics and fashion and pointed out good quality materials and details in apparel. Even before she could read, she was gazing at copies of Vogue and Glamour strewn around the house.

Her career took her to Bullock's Wilshire in Los Angeles and Neiman Marcus at the Stanford Mall, where she watched women who had infinite budgets buy the best. She learned much by going through racks and racks of designers to find what worked with each woman's body type and personality.

"I am not in the business of shoving the product out the door," she says. "It has to be the right sale, it has to be the right piece, and people have to be happy with it. The bottom line is that they have to love it and want to keep it."

Moda means 'style' in Italian and Bellissima means 'very beautiful.' The upscale women's boutique owned by Minola offers high-end clothing pieces for the more classic woman, the sportier woman and the more expressive person, says Minola.

She has also worked in public relations and as a music and fashion photographer, again developing skills that focused on how a woman can best present the image she wants.

Her store is the only one for miles and miles that features designs by Santa Cruz local, , the entrepreneur who was the only American fashion designer for plus-sized women chosen to present this month at London's Fashion Week's show for curvy women.

"I am the only retailer down here that carries her. The only retailer!" says Minola, with more than a little excitement.

Minola's vision for Moda Bellissima is to offer her expertise to help  customers find what they are looking for and perhaps things they might not have expected to see on this side of the hill – or anywhere.

She hopes to be a resource and consultant to help clients find that perfect accent piece or those separate garments that work well collectively. It's the kind of service usually found in the most high-fashion boutiques around the world.

"We appreciate the boutique for women, Santa Cruz does, and we all fight and scream when places like Costco and Ross Dress for Less come in but we don't fight hard enough to keep them away," says customer Katie Larsen, photographed at the right.

Minola also likes natural fibers that will last a decade or more and stay in fashion the whole time. Her sweaters are made of high quality natural fibers that will last and hold color like nothing else, she says. Her URU silk garments are one-size-fits all and she often pairs them with colorful vests handmade by a Watsonville woman with an eye for festive and stylish looks.

"This is one of my favorite stores. If I can find something here this is where I prefer to do it because it's going to be unique. I know it's going to be really good quality and it's going to be something different than what I'd find at a department store," says Barbara Witney, who says shopping here saves a lot of miles on her car.

She adds that she finds at Moda clothes that are fun to have on all day long and not necessarily tailored and mainstream and conventional.

Moda Bellissima also offers body products and candles by Archipelago Botanicals.

Contact moda.bellissima@yahoo.com or friend Moda Bellissima on Facebook.