Happy Wednesday and Welcome to this weeks #WCW blog post.  Every week we are hoping to feature a woman that we are "crushing" on for a variety of reasons, their style, their life mission, their business or just because we find them truly inspiring.

This week we are crushing on Lupita Castaneda of the Chicago based Abby Bella Couture, a design house for one of a kind maternity gowns and tulle skirts.

Lupita Castaneda, self taught seamstress and published designer behind AbbyBella Couture, started her business 5 years ago in her upstairs attic. She began with creating hair bows and tulle skirts for young girls. She then learned on her own how to make silk millinery flowers that she would use in custom headpieces, and it was around this time she received a special request to design a maternity gown. This request sparked a new direction for the AbbyBella line as the orders started coming in from expectant mothers, which quickly became a specialty of hers.

Over the last few years, Lupita has not only evolved as a designer, but has added to her list of talents by also styling photo shoots and collaborating with a handful of vintage jewelry sellers, clothing consignors, makeup artists, hair stylists, photographers, models and more. In 2014, she teamed up with two fellow entrepreneurs and opened V’da Studio, a shared space with a makeup artist and photographer, and this holiday season marks the introduction of her “Le Andrea” handmade full circle luxury tulle skirts.

Lupita has been a stylist on a few of our shoots which is how we got to know and love her, here are a few questions that we asked her.

How would you describe your style?

My style depends on my mood. I love to mix vintage with some modern pieces.

We know that being a womanpreneur means we do not get much down time, but when you do what do you like to do?

Spending time with family and if I can get away, thrift shopping.

What is one of your prized possessions?

A stuffed yellow monkey my mother bought it soon after we arrived from Mexico.  He is kept in a drawer in my night stand. I still don’t know how it survived so many years.

Who is your style icon?

My mother, as a single mother who made very little and worked in a factory, she managed to always look stylized and well put together.