Tarina Tarantino:
Queen of Hair Jewels |
| Karen Marie Shelton - Copyright 1999 |
| Revised Date: 04/16/08 - Original
Publication Date: 8/9/99 |
Introduction
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Tarina
Tarantino |
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Photo of Tarina Tarantino
Courtesy of National Enquirer
August 9, 1999
All Rights Reserved |
If you see someone sporting a gorgeous hair gem in the shape of a beautiful bee, wasp or ladybug, there is a good chance you may have been lucky to spot a Tarina Tarantino original hair jewel creation.
One of the biggest crazes to sweep the fashion world in the last ten years is hair accessories and ornaments. Everywhere you go you see hair adorned with sparkly gems, gorgeous silk flowers and an array of clips and headbands. What many people don't realize is that the beautiful and talented Tarina Tarantino is the key reason that jewels for the hair have become a major fashion commodity. Tarina's inspiration for her gorgeous gems actually started in the strangest of places, the backyard of the house where she grew up. Tarina's had a special fascination with bugs and spent a lot of time studying them over the years. Her interest in bugs inspired Tarina's brilliant
hair and fashion accessory designs.
Tarinas began designing and selling her jewelry in her late teens when she was working as a model in Germany. By the time she was in her early 20s (she is now in her early 30s) Tarina had a growing business selling her hand-made hair accessory items out of her home.
She discovered when she wore her own handmade hair clips to work every day, complete strangers would buy the gorgeous designs right off her head. She realized that she was on to something and decided to pull out all the stops and pursue her dreams. From $5,000 to 5 Million
When Tarina's showed her stunning designs to various
stores, she instantly received a stack of orders. Unfortunately the banks were not willing to loan her the money to buy the supplies that she needed to fill all the orders. Tarina's boyfriend and ultimately her business partner...Alfonso Campos-Porta.... believed so strongly in her designs that he sold his car.
Alfonso received $5,000 from the sale of his automobile to start Tarina's jewelry business. He also worked with her side by side, 7 days a week, for two years helping Tarina's fill all the jewelry orders. Tarina's and Alfonso worked out of their small apartment in very cramped quarters until they could eventually move to a studio. The rest is history. By 1999 Tarina's jewelry sales were looming at the $5 million mark. When you have as much talent and ambition as Tarina's and Alfonso, the
sky's the limit.
Tarina's hair accessories and jewelry was so popular that her line eventually expanded to include rings, necklaces, bracelets and sparkling chokers.
Although her hair gems are my personal favorite, I have had very close calls with some of her bracelets. I could hear those little beauties calling my name from across the store.
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Jennie
Garth
Slimfast 'Style Your Slim' Party
01-08-08 |
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DailyCeleb.com
All Rights Reserved |
Customers go crazy over her gorgeous designs. It has been reported by some boutique owners that customers will spend several thousands of dollars at a time on a few of Tarina's designs. Several movie and television stars have gotten bit by her jeweled bugs.
If you look closely at many of the celebrities appearing at the awards, you will see the gorgeous sparkle of a Tarantino jewel. Minnie Driver and Jennie Garth have both been photographed wearing the gorgeous buggy hair jewels. Lillith Fair musician Sarah Mc Lachlan is never without her friend Tarina Tarantino's jeweled hair clips. An Ant For Julia As reported by Soapdish (who has all the direct scoops on Tarina) Julia Louis-Dreyfus was a very lucky lady last year when she was the recipient of custom-made lavender ant-shaped clips to wear in her hair for the Disney premiere of A Bug's Life". Tarantino whipped up the gorgeous jeweled ants in a matter of four days by special request. Tarina's reward was an invite to the premiere, a hug from Julia and a new design for her collection. I'm A Big Fan Of Hair Bugs
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Tarina
Tarantino |
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Courtesy of Tarina Tarantino
August 9, 1999
All Rights Reserved |
I personally have been following Tarina's jewelry designs for many years now. An acquaintance kept mailing me pages ripped out of various fashion magazines that had photos of Tarina's incredible designs circled for my attention. As I read about this talented designer I was very impressed with her ambition and drive to make her lifelong love of designing jewelry a reality.
I can really relate to Tarina and Alfonso. As the owner of my own start-p business, I understand the passion that can drive a person to sell their car to make their business dreams come true. I know if push came to shove I would do the same thing. From everything I have seen, Tarina and Alfonso are only getting started with realizing all of their dreams.
They are incredibly talented and passionate people who love what they create. I predict that more great things are yet to come from Tarina and Alfonso. Where To Find These Little Gems If you think the gems look gorgeous in the photos, you should see them sparkling under glass at the nearest Barneys. They will take your breath away. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am a big fan of Tarina and her partner Alfonso.
Tarina continues to design her trademark deigns using her own life as her inspiration. It is rumored that the inspiration for her current bug collection comes from bugs that hang out around her current Hollywood studio. Where can you find these gorgeous original jewels
and accessories? You can buy them right online at
HairBoutique.com in the Marketplace where you can see all the latest
accessories that Tarina has designed and made available.
Tarina incorporates Swarovski crystals with many of her designs. Of course
these sparkly beauties are also available at Barneys, Fred Segal and Jennifer Kaufman in Los Angeles, to name a few of the brick and mortar locations.
Many celebrities wear the stunning designs including the lovely Neve Campbell
who in the past was photographed showing off some of her own Tarantino hair jewel collection. Note: For additional information on Tarina, read Gwen Carden's feature in the National Enquirer for August 9, 1999.
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