THE DESIGNER

California based designer Carmella Weintraub came to the fashion world late, through a long and circuitous route. Carmella, an artist, has designed an apparel and accessories line for the mature woman. By keeping her vision of providing beauty for the world alive, she has now created beautiful and elegant, colorful and vibrant clothing after years of preparation.

Her Northern Italian heritage gave Carmella the innate talents of an artist and craftswoman. Her grandmother sewed meticulously detailed clothing for her as a child, giving her first hand experience of linking beauty with clothing, with memorable dresses that often had names. Learning to sew at age ten gave Carmella the tools for a creative relationship between fabric, patterns and tools. She was in her element!

As a teen she moved to Hawaii, where island life had a strong influence on her aesthetic sensibility. Flowers, color, light and water were everywhere. She read Vogue magazine and sewed for the whole family—leading to a career choice of clothing designer, a goal that was, at the time, thwarted by family financial circumstances.

Moving back to California, getting a Masters Degree in Human Services and raising children kept her busy for 25 years. Then a sudden impulse to train in art and design rekindled her desire to operate professionally in the world of design. In 1988, after a grave illness forced her to stop everything she started to design a line of handpainted scarves, and soon learned a new craft.

Silk-painting became her medium of choice and soon became her passion. Teaching and designing and finally opening a business, Spirit of Silk, and selling her handpainted silk accessories. For ten years, color, silk and clothing became the focus of her life, leading to a considerable collection of designs.

In 1998, she added and entire line of clothing shown in a runway fashion show. Again, family responsibilities intervened, but with her sons both in college, her vision of design radiated a new power and Italy, her long lost ancestral country, beckoned. She flew to Como to arrange for hand-screened production and later to Florence for her beautiful leather jackets. Soon, production capacity was insured and Carmella D’Oro was born in 2003.

Her original vision is being realized, 40 years later, but now she is doing it with a different twist -- designing specifically for women in the rich and beautiful later stages of life. Waiting, it turned out, as a lucky turn of events. Now the mature woman designs for the mature woman in total luxury, color, vitality and beauty.