Welcome to Episode 008 of The Venus Guide with Ieva Elena Feja, Founder of LIA, a womenswear brand made for tall women. “Tall isn’t just about length, it’s about proportion.” Ieva and I met at Another Pop-Up, a gathering of seven brands in a light-flooded loft apartment in Berlin that she co-created with two friends. Funnily enough, her invitation to speak on the panel had ended up in my hidden Instagram requests, never to see the light of day. It took one afternoon in the same room for everything to click. Streaming from Vilnius, where LIA is produced, we talk about building clothes for a body the market keeps telling to crop it, size up, or just change your shoes. Ieva started with a survey sent to every tall woman she knew, and a clear strategic instinct: “In an industry as saturated as fashion, I knew I had to pick my own angle. Otherwise it’s so hard to compete.” As we trace her journey from the first pair of trousers to the moment the online shop went live (and the world, unsurprisingly, didn’t change overnight), one idea kept crystallizing: Fit is a system, not a hemline. A longer leg isn’t extra fabric at the ankle. The knee moves, the waist follows, the whole construction shifts. The same goes for a brand: nothing fits in isolation. From the tiniest details to the big questions of fashion, we talk about why Lithuania’s famous linen didn’t make it into LIA, what sustainability can honestly mean for a young brand, and why a brand born online still needs a physical room: a place to touch, try on, and build trust. We wander through the cities that shaped her style, from the calm nature and perfect cinnamon rolls of Gothenburg to Berlin, where white trousers never stay white and beauty lives in the rough edges: “There’s this raw part of chaos and craziness, but that is also beautiful in some way.” And somewhere along the way, we end up in Japan, by way of two books and a shimmering Burberry trench. As I’m finishing up this little sneak peek, I keep thinking about all the rooms this story lives in: the fitting room where a pair of trousers finally fits, the apartment where seven brands became a community, the garden where we plant a seed and wonder why the flower isn’t there yet. Building something real means making space before you know what will fill it: Building the room makes space for (t)all. Listen to this episode on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. The Venus Guide is an exploration of a new way of being in the world. Traveling through the senses. Mentioned and additional resources from this episode ClothesRay’s favorite picks from LIA:Relaxed Shirt in red oxford cotton BooksButter by Asako YuzukiBefore the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu KawaguchiStart With Yourself: A New Vision for Work & Life by Emma Grede PlacesLIA Studio, made in Lithuania Another Pop-Up at Friends of Friends, BerlinDa Matteo, Gothenburg: the cinnamon rollFashion Fou Vintage, Torstraße, Berlin: home of the Japan-sourced trench Ari’s Berlin: the perfect place for friends and pancakes Disclaimer: no sponsorships. we genuinely talked about these brands and artists. keywords: brand building, tall women, tall fashion, women's wear brand, inclusive sizing, fit, niche brand, sustainability, fabric, pop-up, community, D2C, female-founded, berlin, vilnius, gothenburg, travel, vintage, interview magazine Explore the world through a Venusian lens: Get full access to a story about interconnectedness. at ramonapolitz.substack.com/subscribe
