The Sartorialist: Nilou Ghodsi Reflects on 20 Years of Heist Boutique

Nilou Ghodsi has the Los Angeles style scene wrapped firmly around her elegantly-ringed finger. The owner of Heist boutique and designer of A Shirt Thing, to name only two of her numerous ventures, dictates the designers du jour for the city’s best-dressed women, all from the comfort of her closet— or, rather, the supersized, super-successful, fantastical version of it she’s nestled in Venice Beach.

“Heist was opened with one very simple vision: to cultivate a bigger version of my closet. Buying for the store is so fun. I buy what I would wear, and six other people want to, as well.”

The serial entrepreneur mother of two has built two decades of a business on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, arguably Los Angeles’ most lauded retail avenue (on which most other businesses experience a constant turnover, dictated by the ruthless zeitgeist of even the most profitable seasons). Ghodsi’s business acumen and finance background, coupled with her endemic instinct to trend toward what is timeless has ensured Heist boutique’s reign of westside style, brought worldwide. Without plans to franchise fresh brick-and-mortars (when asked of any potential physical expansions, Ghodsi gasped, ‘Oh my god, no.’), in the interest of keeping her hand firmly on the pulse of her carefully curated collection and its audience, Ghodsi opts to branch out into every possible arm of the fashion sector, spreading sartorial seed from her rhinestoned Venice roost.

“At some point, I was a buyer seeing all of these brands, and I detected holes in the market, specifically for versatile shirting. I started making a few styles for my own store. Lo and behold, before I knew it, there were buyers coming in from other stores. I was constantly recutting shapes to send to boutiques that weren’t my own. The proof of concept was there, but I wasn’t yet set up for wholesale. Though, I have this knack for coming up with names. I woke up one day, in the middle of the night, and screamed ‘A Shirt Thing!’ And thus it was named! My husband at the time tried to talk me out of it, claiming I had everything I could want (any my hands already full) with the boutique, but I knew the name was too fucking good. I launched A Shirt Thing full-force in 2017.”

While Ghodsi maintains several lucrative businesses, from the lens of both the retail and design sectors, she rightfully shies from putting a singular moniker on her multifaceted talents.

“I don’t call myself a designer. I’m a serial entrepreneur,” Ghodsi clarifies. “I can’t help myself. I keep coming up with stuff and I need an outlet. The nice part of having a store and a brand is that it is full circle.”

The boutique, which opened in 2004 and recently celebrated 20 years in business (an anomaly in any market, much less in Los Angeles’ hyperspeed streetwear haven), has always been Ghodsi’s pipe dream, realized through a confluence of fates.

“It’s a funny story. My origins had absolutely nothing to do with fashion, besides dressing well my entire life. I loved buying clothes. I was raised in a middle-class Persian family, and they did not regard the arts as any kind of occupation. Everyone in my family is an engineer, basically (laughs). I went to Pepperdine, got a business degree, and began working in investments for a decade, all the while dreaming of opening my own store. I just didn’t know where or when or how. After my second daughter’s birth, I tried being a stay-at-home mom, but my boutique had finally found me. The whole story of how I found my store’s location is so serendipitous. It was orchestrated by the universe. I knew from day one that was my destiny. I was 34 at the time.”

It didn’t take long for Ghodsi to recognize that her dexterity within the creative and logistic realms of the fashion business created an adaptive anomaly that few of her peers possessed.

“I launched wholesale, and took it to New York Market, where we immediately had plenty of orders. There’s nothing in my business that I haven’t done or I don’t do. I don’t need to know how to sew shit myself to be a designer. The fact that I am a fellow retailer gives me credibility. Other buyers know my store, and they know I know what I’m talking about when I’m carrying a certain piece. It’s such an advantage, and a unique perspective.”

While designing may be more of an outlet and an impulse for Ghodsi, juggling the creative process alongside operational duties of a brand and a boutique is anything but effortless. Inspiration may be everywhere for the wunderkind, but Nilou’s everyday is a constant competition with her previous best.

“To be an entrepreneur, you are literally doing everything yourself. You have to find a way. ‘I don’t know’ is not an option. I’m still baffled every single day how amazing women are. Every single woman is a superwoman. For me, it’s a matter of necessity, of getting done what needs to be done— inspo or no inspo. There are times when the double-edged sword of having a successful brand is you have to keep it up. It’s not a one-time thing. You have to consistently wow your customer. It’s not easy. If I knew where these ideas came from, I’d go looking for it.”

Often, Ghodsi’s greatest gift is her unwavering enchantment with the elbow grease of business ownership. Each triumph warrants a celebration, though ultimately presents a new challenge, a steeper hill to surmount. The treachery of exponential improvement is at once an albatross and the primary catalyst of Nilou’s bottomless well of invention.

“At times, as creatives, we suffer— knowing that we need to come up with more and better, continually improving. It’s unnerving, because you never know where you’re pulling that next thing out of. You know that it comes to you. You just really don’t know when, and it’s super frustrating. When you stop and think about it, I’ll find myself being like ‘Why am I doing that? What do I need to prove at 55?’ As long as it’s fun, and it still excites me, I will continue to try to best myself.”

Ultimately, any tribulation of Ghodsi’s is a soul-nourishing privilege, a reminder of this mirage-turned-materiality that formerly inhabited her daydreams, shuffled away for a decade alongside the files on her desk. Not only did the imagined become (quite literally) concrete, but the empire Nilou has built spans dozens of years and multiple ventures, proving the tireless commitment to one’s passion pays in spades, if only you maintain the vision to see it through.

“I’ve had the past twenty years to be able to play out my creativity that, perhaps in my youth, was quieting down. It was like, ‘You can design clothes on the side.’ But no. This newfound freedom or outlet has allowed that to pour out of me. I don’t have the discipline or the patience to streamline this inspiration.

In terms of commerciality, if I were just designing, I could do whatever I want. Though, don’t forget, I’m still a money person. I have a business degree, so I’m all about profitability. I have to focus on my audience and what’s selling. There’s still ego at play, and I ultimately want it to be a successful brand. That, I’ll tell you, is pretty pleasurable. Selling my own brand and witnessing its success, that is the pinnacle of validation. And, to be shot by Ellen [von Unwerth] (laughs). That was definitely bucketlist material.”

When considering the big picture, Ghodsi references her daughters as the ultimate inspiration, the driving forces initially sparking her pursuit of a dream.

“Having the opportunity to empower the next generation of women, that way would really feed me. I’m a mother of two girls, so I’m definitely biased. Whether through mentorship, or some sort of entrepreneurial mentorship, I know to give back in that way would be incredibly gratifying, and I plan on finding a way to do so.”

Written by Delaney Willet