• Submitted by: lena campos
• Society
• 06 / 08 / 2012

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The Cuban designer Isabel Toledo, a favorite of U.S. first lady Michelle Obama has turned her emotions in "Roots of Style", a book that recounts her origins and also her way of understanding art.

"The book is to inspire young people wanting to get into the fashion or business, or live a life full of love. More than anything, she wanted to express the love I have for everything I do", said Toledo during an interview in her studio and residence in Manhattan, full of works with her husband.

Written in first person, is above all, a story that talks about what she loves most, her husband and partner, the famous Cuban graphic designer Ruben Toledo, who made the pictures in the book, like her family, and how was it that passion has led her to be recognized in the fashion industry.

In her opinion, all live situations and "it is important to count not all id so perfect."

In her book she recalls the events that faced her and her husband to break into the world of fashion and art in America, as well as celebrities who met on that journey.

The designer, who presented her first work in 1995 and among whose clients include the first lady, Michelle Obama, or the Duchess of Alba, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, said it was difficult to write because she does not communicate with "words" but ultimately dared to "put their feelings into words," she said.

In "Roots of Style", Toledo, which in 2011 created a line of shoes and handbags for Payless firm, joining other famous designers, recalls her childhood in Cuba, where she learned to see the light, feel and understand the contrasts space, "three important elements" in her work.

Also, review her family's life as immigrants in New Jersey, where she grew up from eight, and met "the love" of his life, "her husband Ruben Toledo.

"Everything that happens in your life, is part of who you are," said the designer, who said that their roots are always present.

"You have to maintain the connection to those roots, because that's your inspiration, the strength to live, who you are. Do not have to start looking outside of yourself, everything is inside," she said.

She recalled that she began writing the story "in small pieces of paper, which often left (at home) and back were full of drawings because Ruben had read. That inspired me more because I saw the words in a picture."

Toledo is defined as a seamstress, a trade she learned in New Jersey as a teenager, rather than as a fashion designer.

"I say I am a seamstress because I love sewing and was what attracted me to this race, not because I wanted to be a fashion designer. I liked to sew, I started doing it for me, offered me a way to express myself as an artist and became a career, "said Toledo.

She evoked the fascination over her sewing machine in the house of her grandmother in Cuba and recalled her childhood in the city of Camajuaní, Las Villas (Cuba).

For her, writing was a process of liberation and used it to express feelings.

"I asked for a book about fashion advice," she told Efe, but that was something she refused and left her to write "without knowing what they do."

"They let me build my way. All they talk her up with what I do," she said.

"It was important to communicate that there is only one way to achieve success. Can come from many small things and this book is full of them," said Toledo, who said it was "absolutely lived with everything" because of all this has learned.

Isabel Toledo said that the most important was having at his side a person with whom to share. "It's a gift from God, love of my life", who said her love "first of its art."

Ruben Toledo concluded that it was easy to make drawings and work with her wife because "there is love. It's cute, two artists working together and when you want that's wonderful."

Source: Qué.es