Latin celebrity going home

MIAMI — Latin television personality Lucy Pereda, who hosts the Spanish-language program "En Casa De Lucy" on weekends on the Galavision channel, is creating a signature home collection, with an emphasis on home textiles, she told HTT.

The line is expected to be in place by next year or early 2005.

Pereda recently announced the debut of her exclusive apparel line at Sears. Titled The Lucy Pereda Collection, it is slated to initially hit 227 stores in Hispanic markets nationwide and in Puerto Rico later this month, with additional roll outs in general markets next year to 450 units total by spring 2004.

Pereda said a home line of various home textiles categories would complement her TV program and her growing reputation as an Hispanic version of Martha Stewart. Before becoming a TV and radio celebrity, Pereda, a Cuban-American based here, was a couture and ready-to-wear designer and owned and operated a boutique in Puerto Rico.

"I have always worked in design and am very involved in all design concepts of my collections, she said. "My apparel collection with Sears is elegant, modern and feminine. I will make my home line the same. It will definitely borrow from Hispanic culture because that is very innate in most of my designs, and it will be elegant but classic."

Pereda's "En Casa De Lucy" (At Lucy's House) show airs on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It is also broadcast to 189 markets throughout Central and South America.

She also hosts a live radio talk show and authors a column in every issue of Revista Nuestra Gente.