Candela founder and designer Gabriela Perezutti knows how to make women feel beautiful in her stylish clothes and ultra-chic shoes. Her style incorporates equestrian and traditional gaucho influences and combines them with edgy elements inspired by NYC. Blending all of these diverse elements into a truly unique creative direction applied to all of her collections, I present my interview with Gabriela.
S: How did Candela get started?
G: Having a media degree, being the director of sales at a fashion showroom, drawing, and modeling in the past all led me to understand visions. I wanted to give designing a try and it worked out. Candela is a classic name that means measurement of light and represents South American culture. It has different significances, but the main point is that it’s a colorful word.
S: Not only do you design clothes, but you also design shoes. When did Candela footwear launch?
G: It launched in 2006. It’s funny because people started to know us more for footwear and thought we started it before clothing when it was the other way around. Designing shoes is easier than designing clothes because it’s basically one silhouette where you’re finding different and attractive ways to cover just the foot. For clothing, you’re designing for the entire body and you need many measurements, so it’s more complicated from a design and fit point of view.
S: Where do you gather inspiration for your shoes?
G: Movies, music, the past, places I went when I was growing up, and living in New York.
S: Tell me about your favorite pieces from your Spring 2012 collection.
G: I like the military jacket with the beaded elephant on the back. The elephant came about in a dream that my father had of him in a fight with an elephant in India. He was sick at the time and passed away soon after, so I started designing elephants.
S: Not only am I a huge fan of Candela, but celebrities are too.
G: Celebrities who wear our products have always bought them, such as Fergie and Oprah. We usually find out our celebrity customers when they’re shot in photos!
S: What are we going to see from Candela in the fall?
G: You’re going to knits, a lot of dresses, and the mix of our contrast between feminine and masculine like we always do. There will also be velvet loafers, which have been extremely successful.
S: What does the future hold for Candela?
G: I want Candela to grow into a lifestyle brand. Candela’s been around since 2004 and we work very hard to put products out there that are really specially and mean things to people so that they want to keep them for a long time.
