Bernales & Goretti's Blog

Dear followers,

Today I will write about a subject that is very close to my heart.    It’s about making the magic happen even when one is penniless.

Well, what to say.   Costa Verde is the first collection that I feel 100% sure about.   I have spent most of the little money I earn as a language teacher in Lima to pay for the manufacturing of this collection.   Marcela Aquije, a seamstress whom I have been working with for five years now, made all fourteen dresses.   Her work is exquisite.   Before Costa Verde I made a collection of skirts that I already sent to my business partner Angeline Stuma, who is currently stationed in New York.  Mind you, in case it wasn’t clear:  I tried to sew these skirts myself.  I quickly realized that although I know how to sew, I am not a seamstress:  those are two very different things.   When I realized I was jeopardizing the quality of our brand I quickly called on my seamstresses.   I view Bernales & Goretti as a luxury brand:  whether ugly or pretty, luxury brands all have one thing in common:  supreme, elegant and clean construction.    Voila.

With Costa Verde, I made no mistake.   I called Marcela on time and she made the dresses beautifully.   As with the skirts, this collection is a fundraising collection that will push us forward.   The outer fabrics are either leftovers from my previous brand or gifts from good friends such as Maria del Pilar Medina.   The Peruvian coin buttons are also vestiges of the previous brand.   Everything else I had to buy:  thread, luxury lining, interfacing, hooks & eyes and ethnic belts.

I did all the draping myself, which means that I did the patternmaking.   The manufacture cost me quite a bit but it was worth every single penny that we don’t have.   What a happy day it was when Marcela brought the dresses.  I saw them and pleasure cursed through my veins.

I knew a photoshoot was in order.   But how?   The most important decision  Angeline and I finally made is that our target market is not an age but a personality: which means that we could use younger models again.   Alas.  I tried to get the only person who looks like a model in my class from my British school, San Silvestre, to model in exchange for clothes, but she cordially ignored my messages.   Great.   I knew I had to look further.   After a very long time of not doing so I looked through all my Facebook “friends”.   I realized I had a couple of other options, including myself, since I successfully modeled for C.S.O.R.K.

The models are Mariella Galliani and I.   Mariella Galliani I met because she is the mother of a very special person whom I met at the Hogar Villa Martha in Pachacamac, where I have done a lot of service work.   This girl was posted to be the doctor for the Hogar for a month or so.   When she arrived at the Hogar, her parents brought her.   I dumbly did not approach or say hi, but even from afar I noticed a drop-dead gorgeous woman walking with her who could be no other than her mother, even though that was quite unbelievable.   I never forgot that moment.  After only a couple of days, this girl and I, who is also named Mariella, bonded.   When I moved to Peru last year I contacted my friend and asked her to please get me in contact with her gorgeous mother.   And so she did.   As destiny would have it, Mariella Galliani had been living abroad for some time but was just coming back to live in Lima!   She is the gorgeousness that you can see modelling in our Santo Domingo collection.

This past weekend I decided to model for this collection.  I haven´t modeled for many years and it was tough making the decision to model again, but I don´t regret it. 

But what about the jewelry?   Many years ago I met Maritza Fabris, who rented a room in Olga Zaferson‘s boutique Ethnias.   Olga Zaferson was a key character in my destiny, and many people linked to her now work for me, help me, or are my friends.    I never forgot Maritza.   When it was time to shoot the Santo Domingo collection I thought I would have to use my own jewelry, until Mariella Galliani told me to get a Peruvian jeweler to sponsor me.   I had no idea why I hadn’t thought of it before.   I instantly remembered Maritza, contacted her, and it went on from there.

But the photoshoot was not yet a done deal.  You can have models, jewelry and clothing, but if you don’t have a photographer then you don’t get photos.

The photographer who photographed everything for the previous brand was and is not available anymore.   The photographer who photographed the second half of

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was not at all satisfactory.    I finally thought of my friend Maria Eugenia Moya, or Checha, for short.   We studied together in San Silvestre and were in the same group of friends.   I knew she owned a professional camera and dabbled in photography.   I contacted her and proposed my idea, which was to pay her in clothing from our previous brand in exchange for her services.   She was game.

Maritza lent me jewelry again and suddenly we have a photoshoot!   This coming Saturday Mariella and Maria Eugenia are coming to my apartment and we will continue the Costa Verde photoshoot which began last Friday.

But who does the hair and make-up?  Yours truly folks.   Cosmetology is one of my favourite hobbies:  I even managed to take a Cosmetology class while studying abroad at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.    Lets just say it was the class that I was most excited about.

I am paying all of these wonderful women with clothing from our previous brand.   It is nice to have it now as currency: people are delighted to work for beautiful clothes and I don’t feel like I am giving nothing in return.   I think it is crucial for this type of affair to be an exchange of talents, even if money is not involved.   Apart from clothing, Maritza gets her beautiful jewelry photographed on beautiful models with beautiful clothing: for free!

I’m starting to feel the magic again folks.  I feel things coming together and am happy to be able to put something great together from nothing.