CubaPLUS Magazine

Saying coffee in Cuba is to provoke a person’s desire to taste an exquisite cup of this aromatic infusion popular with everyone throughout the centuries. But if you precede it with the noun color, you are describing a design project that arrived seven years ago and has managed to succeed in the complicated world of fashion.

Despite her passion for coffee, Color Cafe’s creator, Loypa Izaguirre, was inspired in her project’s name by the song Couleur Café, composed by French composer, singer, musician and actor Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991), she explained in an interview to CubaPLUS Magazine.

Currently, according to Izaguirre, Color Café has managed to position itself in the market as a reference in Cuban fashion, demonstrated by the project’s star role in different events related to fashion and art.

“The most recent of these events was the reinterpretation of the Cuban guayabera in collaboration with the Marangoni Institute - Italian school, leader in fashion design in Europe with several branches in the world - and although we didn’t win a prize, we are very happy with the result of our take on the current guayabera,” she explained.

For this young professional of haute couture, the expectations she had when the project arose were far exceeded and are currently very high. Every day is a new challenge and dreams are big but, little by little, we are working our way with determination and clear objectives, she said.

Talking about her most recent works, she mentioned two collections: “Estaciones” which was a private event held in the Jardines de la Tropical and a totally public one, where the theme was the relationship between cinema and fashion, developed over a week in collaboration with the ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Art and Film Industry) and other institutions. But the success of Color Café has gone beyond Cuban borders, since its creator was personally selected by the magazine Bloomberg (business publication) for two consecutive years as one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Latin America for her vision and for Color Café, which shows the scope achieved by this project.

 As for upcoming works, the young designer mentioned a new show that under the title “Contrastes” will have as protagonists the people who work behind the designer, the dressmakers or seamstresses. “It will be a production giving value to the work of these craftswomen, and the pieces presented will be a retelling of past Cuban fashion,” she explained.

 “Color Café, she emphasized, continues to grow and with many projects and hope that we provide a lot to talk about.”