Calestra Website Redesign for Narrative Commerce
Hedvig Brekke
💼 Project: Calestra – Website Redesign for Narrative Commerce
Overview
Calestra is a Paris-born fashion house shaped by symbolism, softness, and storytelling. I redesigned its homepage to evolve beyond an atmospheric teaser and email capture, transforming it into a functional, pre-ecommerce experience. This new version combines poetic UX with subtle lead capture and a future-ready product architecture.
This project reflects my approach to building early-stage digital experiences that feel like a brand story but act like a growth funnel, ideal for pre-launch fashion, lifestyle, or DTC brands looking to balance aesthetic mystique with conversion intent.
✨ My Role
Homepage UX structure & scroll flow
Narrative copywriting and tone design
Brand-first layout strategy in Canva (prototype)
Emotional CTA development for pre-launch email + product
Light e-commerce framing & storytelling for product launch prep
🧠 Outcome
A scroll-based homepage that preserves the romanticism of the brand while laying the groundwork for launch. The site builds anticipation, introduces key symbolism and product storytelling, and smoothly transitions users toward pre-orders, without breaking the brand’s poetic world.
The final result blends immersive storytelling with clear hierarchy and soft, conversion-driven logic, designed to grow with the brand.
📸 Links
🌐 bycalestra.com (V1)
📍 Redesigned V2not live yet, available on request
📸 Visual Breakdown
Framed as the minimalist “Chapter Zero”, the original site was designed to validate early brand interest and collect emails through cinematic teaser content and symbolic tone. No product, just pure mood and mystery.
Current live version
Calestra’s original website, designed as “Chapter Zero”, introduced the brand through tone, not product. It captured intrigue with cinematic minimalism and a single invitation to join.
Redesigned homepage layout (desktop)
The new homepage introduces a layered scroll structure with narrative flow, combining storytelling blocks, brand manifesto, product hints, and pre-ecom logic. It expands the universe while keeping the elegance and air intact.
A formal invitation into the House of Calestra. The redesigned homepage sets the tone for an immersive pre-launch, evoking the feeling of being personally welcomed into a private fashion salon, elegant, intimate, and full of promise.
This manifesto block introduces the values behind Calestra, positioning the brand as a quiet resistance to fast fashion. Rooted in permanence, craftsmanship, and care, it invites the viewer into a deeper philosophy before any product is shown, grounding the experience in emotional clarity and brand conviction.
A slower moment in the scroll flow, designed to anchor the brand’s emotional positioning. This editorial block introduces the philosophy behind Calestra: a Paris-born house shaped by memory, femininity, and timeless silhouettes, before any product is revealed.
Email + CTA experience
This section reframes opt-in as a personal invitation to “Enter the House of Calestra.” The CTA feels like part of the story, gently guiding users to subscribe through emotion, not urgency.
This section transforms email capture into an elegant narrative moment, a formal invitation to Enter the House of Calestra. The CTA is designed to feel intimate and cinematic, evoking exclusivity without urgency. Visually anchored in the world of the brand, it sets the tone for a pre-launch rooted in story, emotion, and slow anticipation.
Future-ready product sections (preorder flow)
The redesigned layout includes space for introducing Calestra’s first product, a symbolic lace scarf, with emotional CTA structure, brand-aligned copy, and thoughtful pacing to support pre-orders and product storytelling.
A symbolic first release. The product page is designed to feel like an extension of the brand world, blending quiet luxury with clarity. From poetic material language to a soft preorder CTA, the structure supports desire without pressure.
This early pre-order layout showcases how Calestra’s first product will be positioned as a collectible object. While currently shown with one visual, the structure is designed to support a full suite of imagery at launch, preserving elegance, enabling scale, and reinforcing the brand’s storytelling-first approach. Note: the final site will feature more than one product.
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Posted Jun 18, 2025
Redesigned Calestra’s homepage with poetic UX, visual storytelling, and a brand-first layout to support pre-launch engagement and clarity.
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Calestra – Visual Worldbuilding via Pinterest
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