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"Every day is a success," declares fashion designer Anel Verna. Easy to say for una dominicana whose design was named the best dress at last year's Latin Grammys. But in spite of her recent achievement it becomes quite clear from speaking to Verna that she doesn't let praise balloon her head. Verna's elegant dresses make women want to get all dolled up, go out somewhere fancy, and command attention. Yet, even with her upcoming spring line keeping her busy, Verna still makes it a priority to give back to her community. They're perfect dresses from a brilliant and generous Latina who's completely down to earth. Sounds like the perfect fit.

You had something called "shirt for a cause." Could you tell us more about that?
Anel Verna: It was actually a summer item which is now offline because we're coming up with another campaign. These inner city girls were sent to camp off percentages of this shirt I designed. It's so nice to have something else for them to do and to spend your time with all the girls in a healthy environment. I thought it was a great cause to help those girls from New York that can't really afford to go to camp.

Why is it important for you as a high end fashion designer to give back?
AV: I'm very grateful to be doing what I'm doing and I think if it weren't for other people helping me and joining forces with me, I wouldn't be here. So, I think it's important to continue that. I think I will always find a way to help, even if it's just one girl a year or somebody close to me. It helps you when you have someone telling you how valuable you are, that's how my parents were, they were always telling me, "I can do it," some girls don't have that kind of family or those kinds of friends.

What is your company presently working on?
AV: We just finished doing the photo shoot for the spring 2008 collection. It has very strong influences from the Dominican Republic. I will always take a small part of the island and create from there. I'm working very hard on the website because it takes some work and I want to keep promoting [my website] so people can find items on there that they would feel comfortable wearing. Sometimes you see things that don't have that much detail for a regular customer who's willing to spend a little, so I want to build that in the website. I also added a bridal line [editor's note: see homepage image].

How do you find all this time?
AV: I balance my life a lot. I don't do one thing too much more than the other. Some people ask me how I can get home to cook and I'm like, "I have to, because I want to feel normal!" (Laughs). I try to balance; that's the only way for me to be happy. Sometimes I draw my inspiration from when I go out. Like, I'll be sitting in a restaurant and look at the tiles on the floor and see the colors and think, "Wow I like the way those colors work together."

How does being a Latina influence your designs?
AV: It's the roots of how I started. My mom was a seamstress all her life and I was influenced with the way people thought back then. It was all about the fit with bodies, how to go along with Latina bodies. Seeing my mom do that her whole life was really inspiring. I've been growing with all of that in mind and for me it's so great that I understand all of that, and there's that spice when it comes to fashion by being a Latina. When I came to New York and started working for a dress company, I didn't know it was such an important thing [to be Latina] but my head designer would always ask me, "What do you think of this or that, everything is so sexy and intriguing about you guys?" To grow up on an island where everyone really takes the time to dress a lot and to go out [it] somehow always comes across.

That's the first thing that comes to mind when I see your designs: elegant and sexy.
AV: It's about having a dress for four or five years and it still looks good. I think the fit is the most important thing. You can wear any dress, the simplest dress, but if it doesn't fit right it won't work.

Check out Anel's website

originally appeared on Sí Tv