Pretty frocks in pastel shades of papaya, grey, or cream and in bold, sensuous heathers; light, flowy fabrics for summer. Pants and skirts layered like petals. Filmy hand dyed wraps to ward off the night chill. Romantic wool capes and 1950s style jackets for cold weather. Happy bowler hats handcrafted by an artisan from Quebradillas using the roots of the Cupey tree. Welcome to Auralís Herrero-Lugo's winning fashions.
The fashion aesthetic of this young Puerto Rican designer who is making her way in the competitive world of fashion, is a breezy, stylish minimalism that aims to give women a feminine look without fussiness, or cuteness. Her easygoing clothes are built around "a sustainable relationship with the planet." Auralís uses organic cotton, hemp and silk fabrics or recycled textiles which she likes to dye by hand using natural substances, such as tea or iron oxide ("My forte is playing with colors," she says.). Even the paper label for her clothes is kind to the environment: embedded with seeds, you can plant it in earth and voilá, the next thing you know you have a little potted plant.
It's a thoughtful touch for this enterprising 30-year-old designer who is finding success in New York's big fashion world. Fashion has been on Auralís' mind since she was very young and her mother, who saved all of her designs-crammed notebooks for posterity, can't wait for her daughter to hit the big time so she can show them off. At Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, where she studied design on a scholarship, Auralís was the only Latino in her graduating class. Degree in hand, it was off to New York to gain fashion experience. Five years later, she jumped into the fray as a full-fledged designer by launching her first collection at The GreenShows held during New York Fashion Week in Sept. 2010.
Her most recent collection draws for inspiration on Puerto Rican sex icon Iris Chacón. Auralis imagined an ideal woman, much like la Chacón, traveling "to Scotland, wining and dining and leaving the men in kilts speechless." The collection includes sexy evening frocks in silk habotai and a marvelous, and very practical, jacket made of Harris Tweed with big sleeves, broad lapels and a 50s sensibility (Harran jacket made to order; $560).
Auralís' designs are currently available in San Juan at Concalma store in old San Juan and Love is You and Me on del Parque street. In New York, they can be found at Kaight, a boutique on the lower East Side. She even has a presence in Europe following the presentation of her 2012 Summer and Autumn collections at Amsterdam's MINT Modefabriek. Her fashions can be found at Blossom Echo Boutique in Oisterwijk, Netherlands. Clothes are also available online and range in price between $90 and $365.
www.auralistudio.com
Concalma, 207 Calle San Francisco, 787.729.0800
Love is You and Me, 110 Calle del Parque
Kaight Inc., 83 Orchard Street, N.Y. 212.680.5630
Blossom Echo Boutique, Spoorlaan 44, Oisterwijk, the Netherlands
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Photography by Denise Blasor
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☞ © 2013 Lorraine Blasor All Rights Reserved
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