Color Statements with Claudia Cándano

What is happening in the world of fashion, what colors prevail and where does Mexican fashion stand in all of this? Claudia Cándano talks about her passion for fashion and how she incorporates color at ELLE while she is key on taking fashion to a broader audience. 

With more than 14 years of experience in the world of fashion and lifestyle journalism, Claudia Cándano began her career at InStyle Mexico as Fashion Editor, where she headed one of the most successful and proactive fashion teams in the Mexican publishing industry. This experience and the consolidation of her own iconoclastic style led her to the direction of the fashion area of ELLE Mexico, and later, as Editor in Chief of ELLE Mexico, as well as ELLE Decoration and ELLE Man where she has given an important turn to the communication of the media. She has built a team recognized as one of the best in the Mexican publishing industry. Claudia has also excelled as a stylist for various celebrities and has given creative advice to designers for the creation of their collections. She studied Graphic Design at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and her unmistakable signature has been continuously perfected with renowned courses, such as Fashion Studies at Parsons The New School for Design, in New York. Art Direction for Fashion and Fashion Journalism, at The University of the Arts, London Central Saint Martins, in England.
Claudia led for 4 years the efforts of the successful project Mexico Diseña by ELLE, as project director and jury leader of the TV series with the same name. From her efforts in different platforms, she created Hablemos de moda #ELLEPodcast, the first fashion podcast in Mexico.

Thanks to her trajectory, she continues as Editor in Chief of ELLE, but also serves as Editorial Director of Grupo Expansión's soft news brands, being in charge of media such as Quién, ELLE, ELLE Decoration, ELLE Man, Aire and Life & Style. She is also in charge of the group's Branded Content area.

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Transcript

Judith van Vliet: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to the Color Authority. Today I'm going to be interviewing Claudia Candano. She has more than 14 years of experience in the world of fashion and lifestyle journalism. Claudia began her career at Instyle Mexico as Fashion editor, where she headed one of the most successful and proactive fashion teams in the Mexican publishing industry. This experience and the most consolidation of her own iconic classic style led her to the direction of the fashion area of ELLE Mexico, and later as Editor in chief of ElLE Mexico, as well as ELLE Decoration and El LEMan, where she has been given an important turn to the communication of the media. She has built a team recognized as one of the best in the Mexican publishing industry. Claudia has also excelled as a stylist for various celebrities and has given creative advice to designers for the creation of their collections. She studied graphic design at the IbericoAmericana in Mexico City. And her unmistakable signature has been continuously perfected with renowned courses such as fashion studies at Parsons, the New School for Design in New York art Direction for Fashion and fashion Journalism at the University of the Arts, London Central St. Martin's in England. Claudia led for four years the efforts of the successful Project Mexico Disena by Elle as project director and jury leader of the TV series with the same name from her efforts in different platforms, she created Hablemos de Moda, an Elle podcast, the first fashion podcast in Mexico. Good morning, Claudia. Welcome to the color authority. How are you today?

Claudia Candano: Hi. How are you, Judith? I'm fine, thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Judith van Vliet: You're calling in from Mexico, right?

Claudia Candano: Yeah, I'm in Mexico City right now. Cool.

Judith van Vliet: I miss Mexico. I think most listeners know how much I like Mexico, so every time I have a Mexican, a podcast, they're like, oh, there she goes again. She's going to talk about Mexico again.

Claudia Candano: We should be recording here together in Mexico.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, maybe we should do that next time or maybe in October when I'm coming over.

Claudia Candano: That would be really cool.

Judith van Vliet: So just a little bit. In a while, I'm just going to ask you a little bit to tell the audience a little bit about yourself, your journey, how you got where you are. But the first question is the same for everybody, and that is what is color? So what is color to you, Claudia?

Claudia Candano: I think color, for me, it's a mood. If you're in a certain mood, I would pair it with a color. If you're happy. Maybe like today I'm in a red T shirt because I was happy and it's a little cloudy outside, so it's nice to be in a color. And yeah, I think color is what stages your mood in a day.

Judith van Vliet: So today you're in a red mood.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, I'm in a red mood.

Judith van Vliet: I read your bio, and I think a lot of people probably know who you are, but you are also somebody that a lot of women look up to. So a lot of people that work in fashion, they look like, what is Claudia Candano going to do? Like, what is she wearing? What is she saying is cool? What is not cool? How did this happen? How did you become this person? And what happened? Where did your passion start for fashion, but also what were important moments in your career that led you to be with Elle?

Claudia Candano: My passion for fashion started when I was, I think, a little girl. But I didn't know this was a passion for fashion because I always did experiments with the clothes and what I was going to wear. My dad used to tell me every time I was going out, like, are you wearing this to go out? And I was like, yes, I am. I don't know if he was concerned, but he knew I was always trying new things and trying to be different from other people wearing different clothes. So when I got older, I studied graphic design. And when I was studying graphic design, I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be. And I started searching what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I decided to apply to Parsons in fashion. I wanted to do a master in fashion, but I also wanted to do something in interior design, so I wasn't sure what was my real passion, so I applied for both and I got accepted for fashion design. So I went to take a course in fashion studies first, and I liked it a lot, and I thought I wasn't going to be a fashion designer then. So I got back to Mexico after six months and a friend of mine called me and told me, like, a friend of mine is searching for an assistant in fashion, so do you want to apply? And I was like, yes, of course. So I went to this interview and she was the fashion editor of InStyle in Mexico. And it had one issue because it was new in Mexico, InStyle. But I always liked InStyle New York. Like, it was a magazine for everyone. And when I applied to Parsons, I said that in my essay that I wanted to make fashion for everyone, not only for a certain type of people, right? And then when I got to this interview, she told me this was something that Insta wanted to do for people that read the magazine. So that's what I liked about it. And I started being her assistant. And then after I started being an assistant, then I was a coordinator in fashion and then the fashion editor of the magazine. And then I moved to ELLE after seven years. Moved to ELLE, and I've been in ELLE eight years now. And yeah, I love it. This is something that it's not work for me, and I have a lot of fun doing it.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, it's needless to say that you're good at what you do. You're very good at your job. But I guess that's because you're passionate and that you're doing something that you love. And when you love something, you can be great in anything you do.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, I agree. And my grandfather used to say that it doesn't matter what you do, but you have to do it with passion, because if you don't, then you won't have fun doing your job. And I think it's important to have a little fun in your job. Some days are better than others.

Judith van Vliet: But yeah, I think that's with everybody, no matter what your job is. Why did you know that you were not going to be a fashion designer? Why did you know?

Claudia Candano: Because I realized I liked a lot of fashion designers and they were doing a great job. I wasn't going to do something new as some others did because of the time I was starting to do it or I didn't feel like it was something for me. I wanted to make their clothes look more cooler or more appealing to people, but they already did it, so that's why I didn't want it to start being a fashion designer.

Judith van Vliet: So you've been with Elle now for already eight years. That's indeed a long time. So when you work on a piece for your magazine, for Elle magazine, where is color? Like, is it the beginning? Is it in a certain point in this clothes that you're selecting or the accessories? What role does color play when you work on the magazine?

Claudia Candano: It depends a little bit on the story. If we are doing a color story, for example, we did this story all red, and this story was planned to be red because we knew every designer in fashion had a piece red. So we wanted to make this beautiful red story. So in that issue that was February this year, and in this issue, we made red our main color in the whole magazine. Like, we had two or three stories that had red on it. And in the graphic design, the art director decided to have these red pages, full red pages. And, yeah, red was like this important color in the issue. But there are some other issues that are not a color inspired issue. But we have always color. Yellow is one of the colors that we use a lot in different pages. We also do a lot of blue and blue, red, yellow and green. Those are kind of our colors in El, Mexico. And we always try to make a point that it's color. I don't know how to say it in English. Hilo conductor yeah, like a thread from the beginning to the end. So it makes sense for people that it's reading that if we want to make a point about a color in fashion being the trend, for example, we want to make the reader feel it, not only read about it, but feel it in the whole magazine. And we also use color as a pointer or gets your eye in the story. For example, sometimes we put, like, pink typography, so you have to read that because you are like, what is this? I need to know. So this is what we like about color. Color makes you understand a story in a better way or yeah, we always work with color.

Judith van Vliet: So with your team, color is part of a daily discussion. You talk about color almost every day.

Claudia Candano: And sometimes it's not a discussion, but it's something that it's understated. Like, we all know we want some color in it, and when we start talking about it, it gets more aware that you're doing this with a certain color. But sometimes it just gets there. When I am checking the articles for print, I see, like, oh, yeah, we did a lot of color in this issue. When you see it all together, you realize that we were in a great mood that month. Maybe.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, clearly. You just mentioned that there are I think I counted five colors for ELLE Mexico. Why there are five colors? Is there a particular reason, or do you think they really represent Mexico?

Claudia Candano: No, I don't think it's something that represents Mexico exactly, but I think it's something that represents these are younger colors, and we want to talk to a younger audience. Every time that we want to get to is a lot about I'm a millennial, almost. I wasn't. But I am. I mean, and we dress a lot in black, and we like black, but the younger generation like color, and I think this is the reason we use a lot of color to make it feel younger.

Judith van Vliet: So it's a way to attract more audience and the younger audience.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: That's interesting, because the colors that you mentioned, they're indeed very bright, but also they really pop. Like, they're pop colors.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. And when we in ELLE Decoration, we had this story published in June, and it's a home from someone I know, and it has a lot of things, a lot of books, a lot of everything. Her house is packed, so we did this yellow frame for a picture, and then we repeated, like, three times in the whole story. And then we put this in a server that all the ELLE's in the world can see it. And this got syndicated several times, like, more than the others. We had this white house that it wasn't popping in your eye. So I think this got to be the most exciting for other people that was looking, searching for a story to publish because it popped your eye. So I think this was important for this story to be the house crowded and also yellow that makes you want to be there. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: Yellow is, of course, optimism. It's hope. It's the sun. It's very radiating. It's like, Here I am, look at me.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, it's hard. When you think about wearing yellow, for example, it gets a little hard. Like, people look at you and so it's intimidating a little bit. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: I did, obviously, some studies on that, and I was told also what yellow? But the reason why not a lot of people wear yellow is because, just like what you say, you draw attention, but also yellow. When you wear yellow, it's, here I am, look at me, I know who I am. So that's a very strong message. And that's why it's not an easy color to wear, I guess.

Claudia Candano: No. And it's a little intimidating because, yeah, as you said, you are there. If you are wearing color, everyone is going to be aware that you are just there. So it's hard.

Judith van Vliet: It's true.

Claudia Candano: Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: So when we talk about fashion, I think today there's a lot of talk about fashion, and especially fast fashion. Like, what are we doing in this world? What is the bigger purpose for fashion in society? What purpose does it have? What is its main objective today? How can fashion support us instead of only being the bad child in the class?

Claudia Candano: Right? It's hard not to be the bad child because of the pollution that the fashion industry is making. But I think the industry is getting aware of what is happening, and it's trying to make better practices, to be better for the planet and not to do such harm in the planet. But I also think it has to do something with the consumer, because we have to think, what are we wearing every time we're buying something? Do we want to wear something that we don't know where it came from? Do we want to wear something that we don't appreciate? I don't think we do, because we are doing that with food. You eat what you feel is good for your body. So you have to do the same with fashion. And I think fashion has to be something that you appreciate and you passionate about. Not in the same way as I am, maybe, but you have to be very careful in what you buy. And also you have to search about the brands that you like to have a purpose. I'm buying this because blah, blah, blah, we all would have several and different ideas of why we are wearing something. But I think we have to be, as consumers, more aware of everything that it's happening in fashion. You talked about fast fashion. I think it's something that we have to start thinking about. We don't need to wear or buy every six months, ten pieces or 15 pieces. You can buy one or maybe you can buy one in a secondhand, maybe something that someone else wore before. And it's new for you, but it is not new. So I think it's something about being careful in what you buy and why.

Judith van Vliet: You buy it and buying things that you really like.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, sometimes you really need them as well. For example, if your underwear is broke, it has a hole in it, you need a new one. This is something that you need. But if you don't need it, why would you buy it? You have to ask these questions every time you're going to buy something that you don't really need, or if you really want it, then why don't you save a little more money and wait a little longer and buy it for a brand that has a purpose? Helping the planet, for example?

Judith van Vliet: No, that's very I mean, you're on my podcast now, and I'm very grateful for that. But you created the first podcast in Mexico talking about fashion. Why was it so important for you to create this platform? Besides the magazines and other pressures that you have? Why is the podcast so important for you?

Claudia Candano: When we started the podcast, it was because the two people that I started the podcast with was Jordi and Raul, and they were the digital editor and the fashion editor of the magazine in that wanted to we always talked about fashion when we were in the car together or going to Fashion Week together. We were always talking about fashion, and we laughed about it, and we didn't take it as these really important subjects. We did take it like something we like and we like to talk about. So we decided we were saying one day in the car, like, we should have a podcast talking about fashion. And then we started doing research about what was in podcast about fashion in Mexico, and there wasn't any. So we decided to be the first one and also to take the tone and the way we do the magazine in another platform. And the idea was to have more to expand our point of view and our knowledge to different audiences. So podcast was a good one. And also, podcast was getting more important for people in Mexico, because you listen to a podcast when you're going from your house to your job and going back, it's easy to do it's.

Judith van Vliet: A lot of traffic in Mexico as well.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. And we wanted to make it fun for the people that was in the Uber or in their cars going to work. So we wanted to make it a little fun and distracting and yeah, we did this podcast. And the tone of our podcast is to have fun and to make fashion a little easier for people to hear about. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: To lower a little bit the threshold, everybody's a little bit. Like with art, a lot of people, they don't go to museum or they don't go to art galleries because they think they have to understand it or to know the art. It's the same with fashion. People are just like, yeah, well, I don't know much about it. I don't know what to choose. But this is good because you created a platform for everybody. Not everybody buys ELLE magazine, but they perhaps will listen to. So it's officially an L podcast or is it your podcast?

Claudia Candano: No, it's an ELLE podcast. It's from the magazine and it's ours because we are in it. But it's know and it's nice because now we are there. But maybe in a few years someone else is doing this podcast and it's fun to listen to other point of views.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, no, that's true. What do you think is interesting currently in the world of fashion, when you talk about color, where do you see color in fashion that you're like, wow, that's new, or something that's inspiring you?

Claudia Candano: Something that was new. Last year especially was Valentino doing a hot pink collection and wrong way. And everything was hot pink. And even the store in Paris was outside, it was hot pink as well. And everything in the store was hot pink as well. So I think this was a huge statement from Valentino to the world to say, the pandemic is over and then we have to wear pink. And it was a fall winter collection, so that was even bigger. So stop wearing black and white or black and gray and start wearing pink. And this went through everyone. Everyone was wearing hot pink at carpets and events. And now this year, we have Barbie going huge in the world. So it's something that just happened from like fashion had it first and then it went out there for everyone. So I think this is the huge statement in fashion. And also brands are aware of what color represents them. So, for example, bottega Veneta, now it's represented by green, hot green, like this green that you cannot if you are into fashion, you know, this is a green from bottega Veneta. And also Hermes is orange, and Hermes has always been orange. So I think these brands are aware that a color can define them. And also Ferragamo in their last collection, made this red runway with a red carpet, a huge red carpet, and everything was red. And also they had not all their collection was red, but they had several looks in red. So I think this is something that designers are starting to use in their favor to be in the top of mind of people. So if you're wearing red, people would say, is this from Ferragamo or is this know? Yeah. So I think that's fun to get in your mind, like, try to know what are the colors of the brands. This is something that it's fun for me, at least. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: It becomes an identity in certain form.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, exactly.

Judith van Vliet: And to be very honest, me as a color designer, this has not happened for many years. And this is exactly what I do with my clients. So this is what I do with mainly products, automotive. And it's super that fashion is there right. They're just doing it. And I remember we having a very hot discussion on red somewhere in February, March, for, I think, a few hours. Red is hot currently.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, it's very hot currently. And I think it has something to do with what I just said about ferragamo and things that were happening in February. Exactly.

Judith van Vliet: Rihanna.

Claudia Candano: Rihanna was a huge statement because she was pregnant and she was wearing red, and she was being seen for a lot of people, and this was huge. I remember my instagram was everything and Rihanna red. So I think also designers have acknowledged that this is something that you can make about color. If you have a pop of color in your collection, then people is going to talk about it. I remember 2021, we were all talking about this. No, last year, we were all talking about pink. Now this year, we are all talking about red. And maybe next year we will be talking about yellow. We don't know. But it's something that it's already happening in fashion.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, it's super.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: You work a lot with fashion designers, obviously around the world, but in Pacific, obviously, in Makes. What do you think? Does a Mexican or any designer need to stand out? How can you be different today? Because you're also a former judge. You know what to look at. You know how somebody can be new or classic. What does a future designer who's now working, what do they need to be different? What would make them stand out?

Claudia Candano: I think what makes them stand out, it's being truth to what they think and what they want and their aesthetic, because their aesthetic is going to make them different, because not everyone has the same aesthetic. And if you have a brand and if you're a fashion designer, you would work on your own aesthetic. And I think this has happened to a lot of designers. Like theresbanoten, for example, he has always worked with color and print and a lot of things that you can remember that this is from if you see a piece, you know this is from Vanoten. You have to make this identity, as you said before, not only with color, but only maybe with cuts and shapes and things that make your brand yours and different from others. Because, as I said before, designing something, it's very hard because we have a lot of information right now. Maybe when Cristian Dior was a designer, he didn't have this input from other countries because he couldn't see it unless he traveled. So he knew what he knew and what he made was different and very new in that moment. And I think people is expecting this from designers in this era, but it's not going to happen. Designers in this era have a lot of information. They have Instagram, they have TikTok, they have everything. So they have a lot of information to digest and make their own brand. So they have to go inside, not go outside and understand what is happening to make a collection or a brand new and different from what we're seeing outside. And I think also something that they have to think about is what are people wearing? Because we used to wear more elegant and sophisticated clothes before, and now we want to wear jeans and T shirts and comfort. Comfort, yeah. So I think this is something that people have to or designers have to understand to make things different. And Mexican designers are very into our culture and trying to make things that are very Mexican to other people. But also, Mexicans don't feel that they're wearing a custom they're wearing something that it's made in Mexico, but not a custom or something that you would buy in a souvenir store, for example.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, no, exactly. You may want to avoid that. Indeed.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, exactly.

Judith van Vliet: Because you are indeed a great supporter of Mexican design. Mexican fashion. What is happening in the world of Mexican design today that really makes you excited?

Claudia Candano: I think what makes me excited is that designers are getting a history doing fashion. They have been working in fashion for long time now, because when I started, they were very new, some of them. They had five years in the industry doing clothes, and not a lot of people knew them, but now they do. Some people ask when you're wearing something, they are like, this is Julio Renata, this is Cancino. And you're like, yeah, how did you know? And this makes you very happy because this means that they have been working hard and they have been working in what they believe. And people can now understand their aesthetic and get it and be aware of this is what they are doing. So I think fashion in Mexico has become a little not as young as it was 20 years ago. And now we have been working for 40 years, 30 years, 20 years. And also, I think these platforms for ecommerce have been picking a lot of Mexican designers. And this also works for them to be out there in the world because they are presenting their collections maybe not in fashion Week in Paris or Milan, but people in Milan can buy Mexican designers clothes. And I also think something great about Mexican designers is that they are always thinking on our climate situation. And we in Mexico have a great weather all year long. So when you see a Mexican designer clothes, you think about summer in Europe, for example. So you want to wear this in the summer because it's easy to wear, easy to pack, very fresh. And I think this is also something that I've been seeing a lot in fashion design. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: Fashion fibers, natural textiles. Yeah.

Claudia Candano: And this is so great because also the production is not huge. So we have designers that make very few pieces. And so that's also what we were.

Judith van Vliet: Saying before yeah, that's a good thing. Yeah, that's a good thing. I think, personally, what I'm seeing from the Know, going to Mexico very often, but being still, obviously not Mexican, seeing from the outside, there's a lot of attention to what is Mexican design and Mexican fashion. I think it is growing. And then, of course, Dior, being in Mexico with the cruise collection, it helps. Whatever people said about Know, there's always a lot of discussion happening around the theme of doing something, but it gave a lot of attention to what is Mexican fashion.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. And also something is happening to Mexico. Specifically Mexico City. Right now. A lot of people wants to come to Mexico City and want to know, what are we doing? What are we wearing? What are we eating? Everything. So, as you said, Dior being here, presenting their cruise collection was huge for Mexico and for the fashion industry in general. A lot of people were talking about this. Even people that doesn't talk about fashion, usually, they were saying, wow, this show was huge.

Judith van Vliet: Amazing.

Claudia Candano: And this appropriation, I think, also made conversation more interesting because we all had different point of views, and we were discussing this in a different way. Not only fashion. Did you like the collection or not? No, we went more profound. And this was good for fashion in general and also for Mexican designers to be able to, I don't know, be Mexican artisans and Mexican designers to be closer to this collection as well. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: And also, a person that we met yeah. Was there, and that was just knowing that Remijio was there is just amazing. To know that he because, I mean, Remigio is Mexican textile, Mexican fiber. He is Mexico. Mexico. So knowing that he was part of this whole production, that was just amazing. And I think also, the rainfall. You were there, right? The rainfall made it perfect.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, that's what I was saying. I don't know. I was talking to someone, like, three months ago, not two months ago, and I was like, yeah, that made it more beautiful. It was perfect. The timing was perfect because it was raining so hard before the show. And then when the show started, it was raining, but not as much. So it was super beautiful. The pictures are amazing.

Judith van Vliet: It was just amazing.

Claudia Candano: Or drank lady.

Judith van Vliet: Like, how did I miss this?

Claudia Candano: Yeah, it was great. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: What would you say is your personal color style? I think I know it, but I think the audience does not. So I'm curious.

Claudia Candano: Black is my color. I love black. I always want to wear black. But I think I'm very into red. I love red. And I think blue has always been a color that I like. And green, maybe pink sometimes. Now, I didn't like pink before. Not before Valentino. I didn't like pink then. Valentino made me like pink a little bit more, and then now I'm really into pink. Like, I want to paint up wall in my TV room.

Judith van Vliet: You changed your mind again because I thought it was going to be yellow. So you changed again.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, it was going to be yellow, but then I thought I was going to get very stressed about yellow all the time. So now I want pink. So? Yeah. I don't know. I haven't painted it yet. So color has been I always like color, but when I wear something, I always pick black. But nowadays I'm wearing a lot of more colors than I used to. Like, two years ago, I would only wear black, but now I'm interested in trying some other colors.

Judith van Vliet: Okay, good. I'm glad to hear.

Claudia Candano: What is yours?

Judith van Vliet: My color? I'm supposed to wear a lot of yellow because yellow is my color. It's the color that makes me most me because I'm a yellow person. So I radiate sunshine when I wear yellow.

Claudia Candano: Wow.

Judith van Vliet: But I wear a lot of blues as well, and a lot of beiges. So it's still part of the yellow family.

Claudia Candano: Right.

Judith van Vliet: So it's echo beige, sand colors, and blue because of my eyes, of course.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. Nice. Yeah. I don't know what is my color. Do you know?

Judith van Vliet: I know somebody who can help you with that, that's for sure. I did a podcast this morning with somebody who does seasonal color palettes for everybody. The interesting thing is so she explained to me our physical looks, decides 30% of the colors that we should be wearing, but 70% is inside. Like what you said about design, you can only design very well if you know who you are inside. And so she works also with words like, what is your word? Is your words daring or it was very interesting.

Claudia Candano: I'm going to listen to that podcast.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. It will be live in September. But I know my color because of my work and because I've been working with it. But it's not only just like you. I mean, we're both blonde, we both fairly skinned, and I think you have green or blue eyes, right?

Claudia Candano: Green.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, green. So that can already set like a standard, but nobody is standard. Everybody has different character and personalities that they want to show. So it was really interesting.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. It's very usual that people in fashion wear black because I think we are so, like, we have a lot of information in clothing all the time that you want to be a little muted, a little bit more, like to pass unadvised. I don't know if that's the word, but yeah, to be there, but not being there, wearing black. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: You don't want to get the attention because you're like, let's give the attention to the work or the fashion.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, exactly.

Judith van Vliet: When I present colors, trend colors, so color is fine, but when I do trend presentation so then I'm talking about 2025, I don't wear color or I wear muted colors or black or whites because the audience gets confused.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, exactly. Because then you don't know what to see if you see the presentation or the person that it's telling you about it. Yeah, I get it.

Judith van Vliet: Attention goes to the work. Mean, I know you're a very sustainable shopper, probably, but is there a fashion designer right now that you really like to.

Claudia Candano: Mean? I love Dries van Noten. As I said before, he's one of my favorites. I also like Comme de garcons very much. I think Rika Kawaku is a great designer, and she makes beautiful clothes and clothes that you can wear every day, or pieces of art as well. So I admire her, and I love to wear her clothes. And also I love Prada as well. Yeah, those are my favorites. And also, Margiela is one of my favorites. And I always want to wear something from Margiela.

Judith van Vliet: That's my favorite. So I have 5 pairs of  Margiela shoes. My jacket, my skirts. Yeah, everything.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, margiela is amazing. Yeah, I think those four are my favorites right now.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, because that also changes depending on what they're doing. But especially when they're strong designers, they have a strong identity. You almost always like the collection, because if they have a very street it's, it's your know, it fits.

Claudia Candano: And they all have some basics that maybe are not in the collection that they present. But then you go to the store and you have the best black pants ever, are the pants from Dries van Noten. And they're so great because it doesn't matter if you're curvy or not, you're long or not or short. It doesn't matter. They fit perfectly. So I think this is something that I really like about that, because it's the way if you dress with clothes that fits good on you, you feel better and you feel great, and people tells you about your clothing, like, where are these pants from? They look amazing. And then you want to wear them more often, I think.

Judith van Vliet: I think that's also a little know female bodies looking differently in the north of Europe than in Italy, obviously. Trispanoten, I lately bought an outfit from Addy van den Krommenacker. It's the same, and it fits because we're not all the same. Sculpted perfectly.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, exactly.

Judith van Vliet: But I think it's a little bit typical of what I'm seeing currently of Northern European designers, which is different than from the southern and the typical Italian designers.

Claudia Candano: Indeed. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I agree.

Judith van Vliet: So it's difficult to enter the world of fashion. I don't think this has changed. Maybe the fashion world is a little bit more open minded than it was ten years, 1520 years ago, but it's still rather difficult. What advice do you have to young professionals that want to get into fashion?

Claudia Candano: Working hard is my advice, always. Because if you work hard, you can work in the industry that you like, because being a hard worker and being focused makes you better every day. I think so. What happened. Fashion is hard because people think it's easy. I think people think they know about fashion because they like to watch. I don't know, they like to see the collections or they think they know about it because they are into fashion. But this is not a real thing. Fashion is complicated. Fashion is hard. And fashion is also something very a lot of competition is there in fashion now because it wasn't before and now it is. So it's very competitive. And people have to stand out to be working in fashion. And you're going to stand out if you work and you understand that fashion is not glamour. It's hard work. If you're in math, you have to work hard. You cannot be someone that or in finance, you have to work hard. So the same in fashion. I think we have to get this stereotype about fashion out of our minds and understand that it's a very competitive industry and very hard industry to work in. So you have to be very aware of who you are and what you do and work hard. This is what I think.

Judith van Vliet: Work hard is definitely part of any job, really, if you want to be successful.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. And if you want to be in fashion industry, you have to send your curriculum to everyone that you want to work with, and someone would be open to interview you. And yeah, you have to be very into fashion and try hard to be in fashion. This trainee that we had before, he went with his curriculum printed to every editorial house in Mexico. And he tried to get to the human resources people to live his curriculum there and everything, but he could do it in some houses, but not in others. When he got to expansion, he tried to go to the human resources person, and the guard outside told him he couldn't come in. So Jordy, the digital editor, was having a secret outside. So he went, oh, sorry, do you know someone from ELLE? And Jordy was like, what do you need? Can you give this to someone that works for ELLE? And he was like, okay, yeah, give it to me. So he gave his curriculum to Jordy, and Jordi was like, okay, thank you. So this guy left. Jordy came in and he was like, this guy have been looking for someone from human resources all day. It was raining, and his curriculum was a little wet. This is like a story, like a TV story, but it's real. And he became our trainee for several years, and he got a scholarship in Paris, and he's working in LVMH in Paris now. He works for us. He writes some articles for us sometimes. But he's been trying very hard to be in this industry. And now he's know he had this idea that he wanted to work in a magazine, and he did everything in his power to work in luck. And he had good luck as well.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, I think it's a mix of luck, but also keep going, keep going. Keep trying. Keep trying until somebody sees you.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, exactly.

Judith van Vliet: I think you've pretty much done everything in this world when it comes to fashion, but I'm still going to ask you, what is next for you? What is even a project that you're already working on or something? That would be like a dream project.

Claudia Candano: I'm writing a book about fashion, and this is a next step. Not everybody knows that I'm writing a book.

Judith van Vliet: They will now, but okay.

Claudia Candano: They will now, but yeah, I'm writing a book, and this is the next step, and I don't know what else. I'm always open and thinking about what is next. We'll see.

Judith van Vliet: Well, writing a book takes a long time.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, it is taking a long time.

Judith van Vliet: It's going to keep you busy for a while.

Claudia Candano: Yeah. And also, sometimes you are like, yeah, I'm inspired. I'm going to write, and you start writing, and then you're blocked. Like, no, I wasn't inspired at all. And then some days you are not inspired and you start writing, and it flows. So it depends on the mood also. But it's fun to write. I will tell you when it's out.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. And I want to read it. Of course.

Claudia Candano: I will.

Judith van Vliet: Claudia, I want to thank you for this conversation about fashion and color and Mexico and everything that you've shared with the audience. I love having you, and I wish you well, and I hope to see you later this year.

Claudia Candano: Yeah, I hope to see you, too. I wish you well as well. And I'm so happy that we had this moment to talk. It was fun. Thank you.

Judith van Vliet: I hope you enjoyed this last episode. If you are a fan of the Color Authority podcast, please let us know by reviewing and rating our show on whichever platform you're listening on. The next episode is coming out next month, and in the meantime, I'm wishing you a wonderful, colorful day.