The main concept of “Spagnolita” blog is to explore and talk about new exceptional Italian and international talents in the fashion world. This is how I discovered this Gallic designer, through a popular Spanish fashion portal. This article is about “Maria Casero Viamonde” and her collection of particular turbans.
I have decided to talk about her because my connection with the concept of her products, was love at first sight. Turbans are unusual accessories that have lost prestige and value over time. To recover their importance by adding to them some new sense of fashion styling and creativity has stoked me as a very inspiring aspiration for a young Spanish designer. For whom I will attempt to write with all my heart and passion.
She has the face of a porcelain doll, and doe eyes, a face that speaks for itself. Giving you the impression that she comes from a place lost in time :
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“Vintage Caprice”, is created out of her passion to revive this very uncommon piece of head accessories. The idea comes from her childhood and grows with so much nostalgia. Her memories are filled with the image of her father in his room decorated with old portraits of different cultures, picturing women wearing turbans.
“Maria Casero”,studied antique furniture restoration at the “Pablo Picasso” college in Galicia (Spain). And right after that she takes sewing classes. At the age of 21 she creates her first small collection of “ fabrics put together” (she is not yet ready to name “ turbans”) for a small Spanish fashion company. This experimental collaboration, without her even knowing, had such an unexpected success that she decided to take that road “solo”
In the meantime she had to make some money (before investing in herself) so for a while she travels in Barcelona and does a completely different job: Creative art applied in cuisine.
We laugh when she tells me this story on “Skype” ( this is how we did our interview) because cooking was not her profession and she doesn’t like at all to define herself as a cook. She nevertheless adds in cooking her artistic talent by creating truly original dishes. Culinary works of art, that combine the traditional cuisine of her area together with the modernity in the paintings of artists that inspire her. Not for long, she soon after that starts her journey in the fashion world.
With the help and the support of her husband she creates and produces her still small, line of turbans which you can see in her face book page https://Los turbantes de Maria.
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This is how the story of the “los turbantes de Maria” starts and it expands its collections with new amazing ideas every day.
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About those early days she talks with enthusiasm: “I didn’t really think I could possibly aspire such a success to my future clients that expanded in number in a stunning way. Due to this positive feedback I realized that I had to do my absolute best to follow this path that I chose: Make my dream come true! Create and stake all I have in a firm that draws its inspiration in history and the sweet nostalgia of the past. This is my vintage world”.
Maria carries out her work in an outbuilding of her own house but she is certain that soon enough, she will find the ideal working place for her. In fact she confesses that she is already looking for a space that will allow her to expand her collection so that she will be able to respond to the continuous growing demands in orders from her clients.
Finding a new working place lately, has become a real necessity for her since her house is flooded with every kind of materials and fabrics, shipping boxes, sewing machines, mannequins and wigs to test her products!!
She tells us, that she mostly draws her inspiration in the Galician nature. With is sunsets and this constant characteristic rain of her land. She is also inspired by this flower “Ocaso” that colors the Galician nature green, the color that she loves the most.
By the way she describes her land, it gives away a feeling of a region “protected” by its own natural barriers that surround it. This is a magical place for her and for many other young fashion artists that are now coming out of the womb.
When it comes to fabrics Maria tells us that they are all “made in Spain” and that she buys them from many different suppliers.
She works with different fabrics depending on the season. She prefers velvet and warm and downy chenille for the winter season, silk and linen more “flashy” and colorful, for cooler summers. The fabrics are of vital importance to her. She researches details in depth looking for how the materials feel and how durable they are.
All her choices are made to bring out the feminine details of her accessories. It is also essential that the fabrics contain a certain elasticity so that they can fit better on the head of each woman.
All her creations have a common denominator: they are exclusive and of limited edition which makes her to be always in a designing vigilance and a constant creativity.
She has also introduced the “Swarovski” crystals on some of her turbans to embellish them even more.
Her goal is that the turbans become small jewels for the head. Trying to give to them more purpose than the classic concept of this accessory. Gradually she combines new fabrics even those less commercial and conventional, this results in creating new, more particular products of exclusive design and most of all of a distinctive style.
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Maria has often created unique pieces like small floral tiaras or many different turbans decorated with many different fabrics that she found by “digging” into chests that belonged to elder ladies in her home town, always trying to revive fabrics and materials that have lost their glamour.
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VINTAGE CAPRICE
VINTAGE CAPRICE
VINTAGE CAPRICE
In the same time, to the original concept of “vintage caprice” where the turbans were the sole protagonists, Maria has lately added brand new items for sale: bags made strictly out of ecological materials, ankle bracelets for the summer season, skirts and summer dresses and even a few pieces of swimming suits.
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At the time being she is in the processes of producing merchandise for two famous shops in her area the “vintage and coffee” of Coruna and the “Alma Gemela” shop in Pontevedra. Although soon she will have to increase her production because she has at least 15 new selling points in north Spain that are “flirting” her.
The truth is that ever since Maria has started working on her ideas she just can’t stop! She is expanding so fast that she has now in May 2015 launched her own on-line store.
These are the 3 fundamental concepts on which she bases the “Vintage Caprice” originality, exclusivity, and devotion to the client. Her products are all handmade, designed and boxed one by one manually, all of limited edition mainly the turbans that are ordered for special occasions like weddings, those are all requested to be custom made for her clients..
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if her turbans became so popular that we one day see them figuring on world famous showbiz people’s heads, or on some beach of those popular to the jet-set world islands even in these private parties in Miami.
Let’s launch this style of handmade colorful headbands and turbans!
I’m encouraging all the designers to do it so we can soon see them on the catwalks in the upcoming summer season. If I was to be one of them, I would focus on these accessories.
The prices of the “vintage Caprice” turbans vary from 26 euros (for basic designs) to the 89 euros (for the most sophisticated and particular ones) Maria has lately decided to create a “low-cost” line so that she can make the turban affordable to everyone. Approaching this way, a new potential younger clientele, or those that may have a certain financial hardship.
I have also read, among other things, that “Vintage Caprice” is a company with social responsibilities and supports the less advantaged areas of the Spanish society. Works together with public authorities of her country and with non-profit or non-governmental organizations.
I think it is amazing how this young designer dedicates time out of her job and creativity to help and support these organizations.
For the clients of the “Spagnolita” blog Maria Casero will create a special line. A new collection of exclusive turbans will be designed, made out of the same fabrics that I will use for my “coats” “collection”. You can find this exclusive collection in the “shop online” page under the made “Maria Casero”.
This way any client that chose to buy a “Spagnolita” coat will get the opportunity to refine her purchase only by adding the small cost of the turban made by the same exquisite and sophisticated fabric. And that will make the look even more elegant!!
You will be abler to take a look of the pictures of our coats and turbans in the “gallery” and of course always in “our collections” page.
The time that “Maria Casero” takes to finish a turban depends on the demand. For those more decorated with gems or more detailed ones you will have to wait at least two/three days from the day that you put the order.
I would like to thank Maria for the time that she took for this interview and for our cooperation that we both are so enthusiastic for, but mostly for the trust and affection that she showed me since the very first beginning and which she has also expressed in her own blog. You can find it in www.vintagecaprice.com
I am hoping this is just the beginning of a long term collaboration. In fact, we might also work together for a photo shooting here in Rome. I only wish I will eventually convince her to help me, you never know!!
by Mayura Malenotti
This post is also available in: Italian
English
