Interview with LookVine: exploring business casual
Last week I gave an interview for www.lookvine.com about the Young Professionals and Fashion in general. Now you can read it all here:
1. What is One fashion rule you never break? Hi! My name is Helena Gandra, I was born in Porto (Portugal) and I am currently living in Brussels (Belgium). After Portugal, I lived in London (UK), Hamburg and Kiel (Germany) and Wroclaw (Poland) and I have just recently created my international brand “Young Professionals”, a brand that explores what “business casual” is all about. What really fascinated me while living abroad was the realisation that not only you grow as a person, but also your style and fashion trends tend to evolve accordingly, having in consideration the places where you have lived and the environment that surrounded you. However, if there is a rule that never changes for me no matter where I live and what I do is to “Never be underdressed!”
2. What interests you in Makeup? I tend to go for natural/ classy makeup most of the time, which pretty much goes in accordance to my clothing style and my brand. Since I am pretty much a career-person and most of my days are spent in the office, this basically means ‘business casual’. So, foundation, cat-eyeliner and mascara are the typical office routine and to spicy things a little bit, I enjoy very much different coloured lipsticks every day matching with my clothing.
3. What styling advice would you give to your younger self?? When I was younger I was always scared of what other people might have thought about me. My main ambition was to be like everybody else, to blend in the crowd and to try to dress like everybody else. Of course, then I grew up and realized that was ridiculous. Why should I try to blend in when everybody is trying to stick out? Why to wear something that I don’t feel comfortable in or is not my style, just because others wear it? The most important advice I could ever give to my younger self or to anyone else is to just find your own style and don’t let anyone tell you what it should look like.
4. How would you describe a perfect Makeup look and is there a person who is an inspiration to you for this? For me a perfect makeup look is the one that is in perfect harmony with the clothing and the context that surrounds it. As previously mentioned I generally prefer to go for classy/natural makeup styles, with a ‘sticking-out-lipstick’ and If I had to choose a person as a makeup inspiration I would definitely go for Shay Mitchell. Her youtube tutorials and style is great!
5. One tip you would like to give to our readers? Never try to be someone else. As Oscar Wilde once said “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. It’s great to look for inspiration, but at the end of the day, only you can decide how your style should look like, and you should be comfortable with it. I have no doubts it is great!
Instagram: @gandrahelena and @shopyoung_professionals