An Interview with Georgia Larsen - Founder of Dora Larsen

Founded by Georgia Larsen in 2016, UK based brand Dora Larsen is redefining everyday lingerie with bold colour combinations and contemporary, responsible designs.

Frustrated by uninspiring options, Georgia left her career in fashion retail to create a brand that celebrates comfort, individuality, and empowerment. Dora Larsen offers lingerie and sleepwear that blends elevated style with wearability.
Now run by Georgia and her husband Jake, the brand reflects their commitment to sustainability and slow fashion. Dora Larsen isn’t just lingerie - it’s a movement for women dressing for themselves and embracing mindful consumption.

Hi Georgia! For anyone who doesn’t know, please could you introduce yourself and the brand?

My name is Georgia Larsen, and I set up the lingerie brand Dora Larsen (named after my childhood dog, a little Bichon Frisé) in 2016. About 2 years ago I moved from south east London to a little hamlet in Somerset, and now run the company from our office in Bath, alongside my husband, Jake. I’ve been working in lingerie since I got my first job at Topshop HQ around 14 years ago in the lingerie buying department. While I was working at Topshop, I noticed there was an obvious gap in the market for a lingerie brand that had more to it than just super-sexy, or at the opposite end, basic and functional lingerie. It felt like the market was screaming for a fun, colourful and empowering brand that made wearing lingerie feel exciting, that was subtly sexy AND functional. So I set up Dora Larsen, and the rest is history!

What initially inspired you to enter the world of lingerie? Was it perhaps a particular designer, a gap in the market, or a personal passion?

Funnily enough, I’d never wanted to work in lingerie, and lingerie in general wasn’t an area I was particularly interested in. I was a bit gutted when I started at Topshop and lingerie was the department that management had put me on, I wanted to be on the dresses department. But I believe now that it wasn’t an accident at all, and it was the universe just working out how it should be! Working on lingerie, I realised how well suited I was to it, as the focus was on combining different colours and textures (which is something I’m hugely drawn to). I did end up working in clothing for a while after this, and I just didn’t like it. I missed working with lingerie, I didn’t like how fleeting and trend-driven clothing was. Lingerie is about beauty, fit and quality. It’s timeless.

What was your biggest challenge when starting out, and how did you overcome it?

There are honestly too many to name! It was such a roller coaster when I started. There were insane highs, but equally as insane lows. It’s tough when you don’t have experience, which I now realise I certainly didn’t have at the beginning. I thought I knew it all, but really I didn’t know a thing! I was forced into learning pretty quickly, though, so while tough, I feel grateful for the learning experience. I think the hardest part was finding a group of suppliers we really trust and can rely on to support us. When you’re a tiny brand just starting out, not many people want to work with you as the quantity of products or materials you want to buy are so small. So it’s hard to build relationships in this area, and at a reasonable cost. Once we’d reached a bigger scale as a business after the first couple of years, I was able to work with suppliers that I really loved and this felt like the real starting point for Dora Larsen, where we could fully achieve our vision and create the designs we were yearning to create.

What are the key factors you consider when creating a new collection? We’d love to know how comfort, aesthetic, and trends play into your choices?

It’s impossible to name one as the most important, it’s about achieving a perfect unity of comfort, cut, detail and colour. I start by planning how many different shapes we need within each collection, then I choose the colours by making sure each one is offering a different mood to the other. We often repeat shapes each season, but each season we also launch something completely new. When developing a new shape, the focus is always on choosing fabrics that are super soft, malleable and unique. Then we have multiple rounds of fits on a model, in a process that usually lasts around a year, in perfecting the cut on different types of body shapes. 

How has your approach to business evolved since you launched your brand? Looking back, is there anything you would do differently now?

Oh absolutely! It’s been an enormous learning experience for me. The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is to not say ‘yes’ to everything and not be so worried about pleasing everyone. You have to trust your instincts and say ‘no’ when something doesn’t feel right. You have to stay true to yourself in order to be an effective leader, even when the decision to do so is a difficult one, and doesn’t please all involved.

What skills or qualities do you think are most important for a female entrepreneur to have?

Courage and the ability to take risks is a huge one. You have to be ok with the idea of failure, or at least, realise that the risk is worth taking even if you’d struggle with the failure itself. Similarly to what I said before, you need to feel confident in your own decisions and have a strong connection to gut feelings. It’s important to be someone who’s very aware of the market you’re in, what’s going on socially and culturally, and have a constant yearning to learn and to grow as a person. You also need to be a people person, and know how to adapt towards different personalities and situations. I’m a bit of an introvert, so I’ve struggled with this from time to time, but I’ve really learnt that the ability to build and grow relationships with people in all aspects of what you do is at the heart of a successful business. 

The SS25 collection looks incredible! What else is in the pipeline for 2025? We’d love to know what you’re excited for!

Thank you! We’re very excited for 2025 as there’s a lot of brand new designs we’re launching (more so than any year or season previously!). We have Valentine’s at the start of the year and potentially a couple of very exciting collaborations, which we can’t talk about just yet but lots is in the works!

Have you ever faced burnout in your journey as a founder, and if so, how did you recognise and address it?

Definitely. I experienced this the most when I was pregnant, and in the first few months of having a baby. It was such an unlucky time as we were navigating through a difficult issue within the business and I just so happened to be in the final stages of pregnancy. It was also a period of fast growth for us and we just didn’t have the team or structure in place. I didn’t really end up taking a maternity leave, although I still managed to look after my daughter most days, it was so much juggling that I really burnt myself out and I feel sad about the fact that a time that was meant to be special with my daughter was taken up with the stress of juggling. But you live and learn, and I just know not to allow a situation like that to arise again. Granted, you can’t control difficult things from coming up at work and clashing with what’s going on in your personal life at the time, but I think I’ve learnt now that when they do, I have to just ‘let go’ and learn to be ok with the idea that things won’t be perfect.

In your day to day life, how do you practice self-care while managing the intense demands of entrepreneurship?

I’m a massive bath time person. I honestly can’t miss my bath time! Every evening I give myself around half an hour in the bath and listen to a podcast. It’s pure escapism. I also bought myself a work phone a few years ago and that was a game-changer. It’s definitely prevented me from checking emails on evenings and weekends, at least as much as I used to, which is otherwise too tempting to do if everything is on one phone. I also ‘check out’ from social media on the evenings and weekends (when possible!), which massively helps.

Do you have any rituals or habits that help you unwind after a particularly stressful day?

We live right next to a forest so from time to time I go on a mindfulness focussed walk in nature and try to be ‘in the moment’. Most evenings my husband and I get cosy on the sofa with a cup of herbal tea, some dark chocolate and watch a good, wholesome documentary, which is a real healer!

We heard you're a fan of bathing, what’s your recipe for the perfect bath?

Either some bath salts or a bath oil, plenty of time to do all the pampering, a good podcast and no interruptions from my family! :)

What practices help you reconnect with your creative side if you’re feeling uninspired?

I love going on Pinterest to get a good injection of ideas, there’s always interesting and unique things on there you just don’t see in other places online or in the media. I also try and get into a place of calm and relaxation, which helps the ideas and creativity flow through me more easily. When you’re stressed, you never come up with good solutions or ideas for anything. Creativity comes from a place of love, not from a place of fear.

Finally, describe your dream day off...

A morning at a spa to get some time in the steam room and sauna, followed by a lunch with my husband and daughter, and finished with an afternoon at our favourite walking spot - around the stone circle Avebury in Somerset. I’m not much of an evening-out type of person, but going for dinner with my husband at our favourite restaurant Oak in Bath is always lovely, too.

Written by
Team MW