You might recognize Ali Landry as the “Doritos girl” from the popular 1998 Super Bowl commercial, or from her pageantry days when she was crowned Miss USA in 1996. She has since gone on to make appearances on popular TV series, such as Clueless, Fear Factor, and Felicity, and co-starred in the movie Bella in 2006. However, her biggest role came in 2007 when her daughter Estela entered her world. Although Landry now lives in LA, fond memories of her Louisiana hometown led her to create BelleParish, an online children’s boutique. Landry explains her entrepreneurial inspiration on the website:

“During my pregnancy I started to really think about my roots, my heritage, my childhood, and the women in my family.  I quickly realized that I wanted for her what I had as a child and living in LA, a few thousand miles from Louisiana, it didn't seem possible!  Shortly after her birth, my mother Renella would send me boxes of clothes neatly packed away from my childhood.  When I told her how much I loved them and that I couldn't find anything like that in LA, she quickly took up a love for sewing.  Every few months, 'grandmama' would send a box of beautifully sewn clothes for Estela.  I was so inspired to share what I loved with other moms….”

Recently she shared plans for the future of BelleParish on CelebrityBabyScoop:

“[The clothing line] is based upon a girl named Belle who lives in Belle Parish. She travels each season. For the spring 2010 collection Belle visited Paris and the South, for fall she will be traveling to the United Kingdom and then for the 2011 Spring and Summer line she will be traveling to Latin America and we will have a "Cha Cha Cha" collection. Next it will evolve into play sets for fall, party dresses, Christmas pajamas (which have always been a favorite of mine growing up), robes, etc. The plan for the future is to include a book for everywhere Belle travels and then eventually, a doll. We will have one outfit per collection for Belle and her wardrobe will grow accordingly.”

It’s refreshing to see someone reviving such beautiful traditions and making them trendy again. The clothing is beautiful and the doll that will accompany the line is such a neat idea. What do you think of BelleParish?