One of my greatest gifts in life has been to grow up with, and still be able to enjoy my 2 beautiful grandmothers. One of them, Elia took a leap of faith and started Maheli Heli with me almost 10 years ago. She has taught me everything I know about quality, cutting, sewing and running a factory. The other, Gema taught me resilience and to always add color to my life, value my roots and be original. The love for life and nature instilled in me by my grandmother Gema made this collection come to life. So of course, we shot the this collection in her Miami home which embodies her love of life and her Cuban roots. You can say she took the creative direction for this shoot very seriously :)
The collection process started when I took Gema fabric shopping where she found the Copacabana fabric that set the tone for the rest of the collection. She said. “Ay Rebecca, this is the one. Mira que belllllooooo como Copacabana.” She was made for this, she says :) Next was Red, we needed to have her favorite color in the collection so naturally, we find the most vibrant metallic red to make her proud. Peach Sorbet followed as she is big on strong pastels to bring out our naturally tan skin tone. Then the dreamy Ivory, she lovesencaje, which means knit in Spanish. She wore a floor length knit dress in cream to my wedding and insisted that we find a swim fabric similar, so that we can pair with a matchingpareo,which means beach wrap. The only say I had in this collection aside from the designs was to add Bubble Gum Pink and Ocean Blue which are two of my absolute favorite shades this Summer. She agreed to include them, but made sure I made it known which pieces she was responsible for. Hehe :)
I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I do. It fills my whole heart to be able to experience these moments with her. “Remember life is beautiful. Paint it accordingly.”- Gema Vazquez