By Sole Ainesa

From British Royal Family to Oprah Winfrey wear the designs and accessories created by the ex top- model born in Uruguay whose iconic bags are sold out at luxury stores and who now has a full waiting list of orders.

Gabriela Perezutti left her native Uruguay 20 years ago, fleeing from her family livestock business to break into the fashion world as a model in New York. She decided to stay there and after five years she launched her brand Candela, where she mixed her two worlds, the countryside and the cosmopolitan life she learned to live both in France and in the United States. It was thanks to her brand that she met John Augustine Hearst, now her partner, and manager of Hearst Corporation, one of the most important media companies of the world, which invested in her brand. Together, with a better understanding of fashion industry, they created Hearst in 2013 and now they sell in 75 stores all over the world.

Nowadays the 42-year-old fashion designer who sell her products in the Middle East, Asia, the United States, and Europe divides her time between her three children -who live with her in Manhattan-, the chaotic New York lifestyle, and her weekend trips to her childhood country in Uruguay.

How would you define your brand?

It is committed to high quality. In times of fast fashion, we invest in materials that nowadays are hardly used by other brands; luxury materials such as cashmere or silk. My sales manager sometimes wants to kill me when she sees products’ final prices, but then when you see the silk of our skirts you see they are worth it. That’s why we try to create timeless designs that represent an investment for our clients. I am always dressed with five different collections of my brand that don’t go out of fashion and together make up a whole wardrobe. And that is what encourages me to push forward: knowing that we create a product that is not just mere marketing because what matters is excellence.

How are you handling all this sudden growth?

I haven’t yet realized that we have reached this success. My friends tell me I have to take a breath to enjoy all we have achieved. I work so hard and so many hours that I almost don’t have time to think about what is going on. There is always a new project: we open a store here, and then a showroom in Paris, and so on and on. I am always doing something different and each achievement makes me happy but I just enjoy that feeling one day and then on the next day I am thinking about what’s next.

How much do you involve yourself in the design of each collection?

I involve myself a lot. Not only in the designing process but in everything. It’s hard to say but if this were just about design and it didn’t include business I wouldn’t find so much fun in my job. Now we have a CEO that helps us making the best decisions for the brand because I feel that we are still far from where I would like to be. I love taking part both in the designing process and in the business itself. But of course being close to the products and their quality is one of the most important aspects of my job. If I want to make my brand grow, I must be in the details.

Where are your products made and which are the best sold?

Most of our items are made in Italy: ready-to-wear, knitwear, shoes, and bags. We have just started to create jewelry, but our star items are still our bags, especially our Nina (called after Nina Simone, inspired by Botero sculptures), Demi, and Diana models. Each bag takes a year to be created and that time is the key of our success.

Your bags were immediately sold out at Net-a-porter. Did you expect that?

No I didn’t. But what I enjoyed the most about those sales was that it was the first time we were doing it and the sales were used to help people in Africa. I am really worried about fashion industry because it is not sustainable. No one talks about droughts or poverty in Africa. I studied a little bit about those issues, I traveled to see what it was about because no one talk about that in the United States. I wanted to know about the future of our planet. That journey shocked me and so we called Bergdorf & Goodman and Net-a-Porter to create a campaign so that they could sell our bags to collect US$ 600.000 for more than one thousand African families. And the great thing was that we reached that sum in just three days. I grew up in Uruguay and I know what a drought means and all the problems it causes for families sonI wanted to help in some way.

Are you still working with your first brand, Candela?

We did both things together but now we have put it on hold because Hearst is growing so fast that all the structure of the company has been transformed. Sometimes clients that have been with us for ages ask us to create something special and we do it.

What is fashion industry like in New York?

It is too competitive. But thanks to my former brand Candela I know exactly what matters: delivering orders on time and keeping to department stores deadlines. I am more experienced now and more confident in my vision and in myself and so I am certain about our next steps in business.

Had you practiced philanthropy before?

Yes, but I had never been so involved as I am now. After our campaign, Save the children asked me to be part of their Board and now we are working on a project for its 100 years. That includes all my passions. I feel grateful for doing and living on what I love and I think a lot about our future.

Oprah wore your Demi design at Meghan and Harry wedding, in London. What did you feel when you saw her with your bag?

It was great. Someone told me: “The most influential woman of the United States at the most important wedding of the year wore your bag”. She is cool and she often buys at our stores. We don’t give products for free to celebrities, and I didn’t know she was going to wear the bag at the wedding so it was a great surprise.

As the nomination for CFDA Awards…

Yes! That was a great motivation for our designers. Last year we were nominated as emerging designers and this year we were with designers such as Marc Jacobs and Raf Simons, who are our idols, so we were really happy. Anyway, that excitement lasts just one day and then the following day we are working hard again to keep growing.

Who would you like to dress?

I would like to dress American politicians. But there many that don’t want to be tied to specific brands. I love dressing enterprising women who use their skills and intelligence to do good, and fortunately there are lot. 

What is your relationship with feminism and how is it here in New York?

Trump and his statements like when he said “grab them by their pussies” drove many women angry. And an angry woman is an angry woman here in the States and all over the world. Thanks to that there are more women in politics now than in the whole history of American politics. Now there are 100 representatives and almost 50 senators are woman. It is like yin and yang now. We are very creative, social, intuitive and we have a knack for politics, I like that more women are now into politics.

Do you go to demonstrations?

Of course. It is great to be part of what is happening and my daughters come with me too. To the Women’s March I went  with my daughters, my mother and my husband. You feel your are part of the progress we are living, part of history and that is the best we can show and teach o new generations.

How do you combine New York social life with fashion industry and family life?

It is hard… You have to be sure your family time is quality time. I drive my children to school everyday and my husband helps me a lot. I can’t do everything though, that’s why I hardly go to social events. Luckily this is a family company and John Augustine is the  chairman and cofounder. Just as I grew up in the country, he grew up in the business world and so he is very creative to develop marketing strategies and keep growing.

Your life is full of contrasts. At one moment you are riding a horse and then you are  on the most important catwalks of the world leading one of the most successful international brands.

Yes. But those contrasts help me strike a balance. My mother loves the countryside life and she can’t stand more than a week in the city. Her dream was to give up school and ride horses all day long. When you grow up in the countryside with more animals than people surrounding you you develop a great imagination. I grew up without TV and that freedom I have both in the city and in the countryside let me feel comfortable in Tokyo, in Paris, in New York, and in the middle of nowhere in Uruguay.  

You also work in the livestock business, don’t you?

Yes, when my father died I inherited his lands and fortunately a person that worked all his life with him is now I’m charge of them working for me. He is like a brother for me. I used to go to the countryside more often but now that the brand is doing so well I don’t have so much time for vacations.

How do you get on with social media?

I like them but I eliminated all of them from my cellphone because I love photos and I fell that sometimes Instagram offers too many images and you end up losing time. There is person in the brand that helps me decide which photos will go to the IG feed and I follow some accounts that inspire me such as Prado Museum, Financial Times, Bussiness of Fashion, and Women´s Wear Daily.

Any new project?

Open a store in London and Hong Kong, we are on it.

Le Banana Top 5 by Gabriela Hearst

A city: Madrid. I love that it is just 20 minutes away from the airport. I love its art, Salamanca, everything.

A song: Breaking Bad, by Leiva.

A series: Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

A perfume: L´eau d´hiver, by Frederic Malle.

A sweet: salty chocolate.

Special Thanks: Paola Provato.