La Vida started in 1999 with a £10,000 loan on a credit card, a second-hand rail from H&M Brighton, a tiny shop in the Carfax, and a 20-something Donna with no business plan but a serious eye for fashion. Twenty-six years later, we're still here. Still independent. Still handpicking every single piece. And still proudly, deliberately, doing things differently.
La Vida has always been a proper family business. Donna set the boutique up with her mum Katy, who came on board within a year and stayed running the shop floor until she retired in 2004. Katy still pops in for guest appearances on social media Lives and photoshoots, which our loyal customers absolutely love.
These days the family involvement looks different but it's just as full-on. Donna's two teenage children help behind the scenes with online uploads, newsletters and steaming new stock. Her husband Scott is the unofficial tech support, helping with IT, jumping in on Facebook and Instagram Lives, building product links, and delivering local orders.
Many of the people who've worked with us over the years are still very much part of the "La Vida family" too, often coming back to cover holidays and busy seasons. We're not a faceless chain. We're a small, independent business built on actual relationships.
Over the years La Vida has picked up a few nice nods:
Mostly though, the awards we care about are the customers who come back week after week, year after year.
Donna is the founder, owner, buyer, stylist, and the person customers come to see. Before La Vida, she worked at River Island, Allders International and Tie Rack, gaining a proper grounding in fashion retail and customer service. Her mum had run her own fashion and homewares shop in Sussex for years, so independent retail has been in Donna's blood since she was knee-high to a clothes rail.
Thirty years in retail has given her a properly strong commercial eye and an instinct for spotting brands before they hit the mainstream. She knows her customers inside out: their lifestyles, their holidays, their events, their insecurities, their confidence wins. She buys for them, not for an algorithm.
What she loves most: the moment a customer comes back to say someone stopped them in the street to ask where their outfit was from. That feeling never gets old.
Fashion should feel joyful. Getting dressed should be exciting. Not invisible. Not sensible. Not like you've been dressed by an accountant with a fear of sequins.
Carefully curated. We deliberately buy in small quantities. Limited drops. Pieces you genuinely get excited about, not stuff four other women at the party will also be wearing.
Personal service still matters. Our customers aren't transactions. Donna actually knows them. What they're wearing it for, where they're going, what makes them feel confident.
Independent retail should feel special. Beautiful displays, honest styling advice, conversation, laughter, and warmth. Shopping should feel inspiring, not clinical.
Affordable style with impact. You should be able to treat yourself regularly without sacrificing quality or sourcing 14 identical beige tops online.
Confidence is the goal. Always.
Where to find us
We're based at 5 The Courtyard, Stans Way (just off East Street) in Horsham, West Sussex. Our customers travel from across Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and beyond, and our online shop ships UK-wide and internationally.
Visit us in store for the full experience, or browse the latest collections online.