Somewhere off the grid, in the middle of nowhere, at a bushdoof with no permission to be there, NOVA was born, long before it had a name.
We sat down with Hannah, founder of NOVA, to talk about the night that started it all: a borrowed sequin outfit, a festival in the bush, and the strange, electric feeling of pulling on sequins for the first time and becoming someone just a little more magical.
That same stretch of land would, years later, become the setting for NOVA's first ever photoshoot, the OG launch for our Summer 25 collection. Full circle doesn't feel like a big enough phrase for it.
Read on as Hannah tells the story in her own words.
Take us back to the beginning. What sparked NOVA?
"I remember buying a sequin outfit and pulling it on for a festival, one of those off the grid bushdoof style parties in the middle of nowhere, with no permission to be there. And it's funny, because full circle, that exact spot is where I held my first photoshoot for my Summer 25 launch, the OG launch.
The moment I put those sequins on, I felt this amazing transformation. I felt invincible. I felt magical. I felt beautiful. I felt incredible. It genuinely was a moment of transformation. Whenever I wore my sequins, people would come up to me and tell me I was the best dressed at the festival. Every single time. It amped up my confidence in a way I wasn't expecting from a piece of clothing.
Then a while later, I was in Bali with my sister, who is also my best friend, for my 40th birthday. We came across this little roadside shop in Canggu selling sequin festival clothing, and I bought this incredible lime green jumpsuit covered in leopard print shaped dots. I went back to our pool villa that night and dreamt up NOVA right there.
By the end of that holiday I already had designs sketched out and a meeting booked with a manufacturer. I went to see Aliyya on my way to the airport, before flying home. And just like that, the plan was in place."