South Broadway has made itself known by its unique ensemble of stores, neighborhood taverns, craft shops and art. Recently, a new streetwear brand by the name of NOVL made its home on the streets of South Broadway in hopes to conjure a shopping experience that is both community-focused and unique. NOVL prides itself on its communal space that holds in-store events and is inviting for other artists to collaborate in. Streetwear brands have become equally a force to be reckoned with and a muse in the fashion scene. Adding their finishing touches to the store, Taylor Sandona and Tyler Harwood, the owners of NOVL, caught up with 303 Magazine to discuss NOVL’s genesis and the duo’s journey to the runway for Denver Fashion Week (DFW) Fall ’19.
303 Magazine: What is the concept of NOVL? How can this impact your clients and the community?
NOVL: NOVL is a clothing boutique, as well as an event and creative space. It gives our clients and community a space to come network, shop and vibe through retail experience as well as events and parties that support local brands/artists in our community.
303: What are your goals for the new store opening?
NOVL: Our goals are to bring Denver a community space through fashion and events like it hasn’t previously had. We are making hard to make all of our events unique while creating a shopping experience featuring unique brands both local and national.
303: What was the planning process like in opening NOVL?
NOVL: One of our owners has been building brands and running a different Denver boutique for the last 6 plus years. We wanted to take that experience, combine it between ideas within our partnership and elevate it into something beyond what we’ve seen in Denver in terms of an event space and retail space.
303: You are collaborating with Ruben Cabrera for DFW. What can you tell us about that preparation process?
NOVL: So far, it’s already been a great experience. We’ve worked with Ruben through a series of meetings to combine his art with street fashion and have a great group of models selected that have made the process extremely smooth thus far. Ruben has been excited for the experience which is really cool, and he’s been very on top of the entire process. We’ve got a very unconventional experience planned for our runway show and are excited to show people what we’ve got in store for our November show. We will also be doing a 303 Magazine event.
303: What does street style mean to you?
NOVL: Street style to us kind of means anything goes. We believe everyone should be unique and true to themselves with their own individual style and not worry what anyone else thinks about it.
303: In what ways do you see Denver’s style changing over the next few years?
NOVL: Denver style is hard to categorize, mainly because of so many people from all over the country residing here. From the 9-to-5er’s that hit the mountains every weekend, to hip hop/fashion heads — any type of street style you can imagine — just kind of depends what parts of the city you hang out. It’s cool to see so many different styles in a smaller city like Denver. We see it continuing to grow in every direction.
303: What do you look for in brands that are featured in NOVL?
NOVL: At NOVL, we stock a handful of local brands. Most of our bigger brands are East Coast/West Coast type stuff, along with a vintage wall and of course our in house brand — NOVL. We also work with a lot of local artists on custom apparel and pieces. We try to look for hardworking local brands and artists that we can grow with and hold in-store events and collaborations with.
303: What looks can we all expect to see at fashion week?
NOVL: We’ve got a lot of custom pieces planned with Ruben for Fashion Week, as well as some really unconventional ideas for our runway show — can’t say too much at this time. We’ll be including printed items, embroidered items, along with hand-drawn pieces. A handful of our runway collection will be produced and sold at our 303 Magazine x Denver Fashion Week event at NOVL during Denver Fashion Week in November.
All photography by Danielle Webster.