Since then, Benevenia has worked in both the luxury and mass market fashion sectors, at brands such as Zac Posen’s House of Z. She eventually left the long days of celebrity fittings to draft the initial designs for her handbag collection. “When I left the design houses, I was thinking about making bags. My parents were really pushing me. They always told me, ‘You just keep going and you put your head in, like a bull,’ because I’m a Taurus,” Benevenia says with a smile.
Her self-titled brand is built around family values and careful artistry. Benevenia runs her business from her family home in New Providence, N.J. “I’ve taken over my mother’s dining room,” Benevenia laughs.
MODEL Codou Diallo HANDBAG Cara Benevenia FASHION Marist Fashion Archives
Benevenia tucks her hair behind her ears, revealing a pair of gold hoop earrings that once belonged to her grandmother. “She was a Jersey grandma, who wore so much leopard print and always went down to Atlantic City,” Benevenia says of her late grandmother. “I started looking through all her jewelry for my mom, and I found these, and I wear them every day.”
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