In the year it opened, and as part of its cultural outreach programme, the Dragão do Mar centre featured the first ever edition of Dragão Fashion Brasil. Organised every year since then by Claudio Silveira with the financial support from commercial partners and local and national government authorities (including the Federal Government of the region of Ceará and the Brazilian Ministry of Culture), the event serves not only as a platform for new and established fashion designers to show their creations, but also entails a public series of lectures, debates, performances, seminars and practical workshops about the importance of fashion and associated creative industries. Anchored by an eclectic creative curatorial intent that is also practical and educational in its purpose, as it celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2014, Dragão Fashion Brasil confirmed its unique role in the global landscape of fashion events.

Between 23 and 27 April, over 45,000 participants made the most of the 2014 Dragão Fashion Brasil by attending at least one of the 40 runway shows where Brazilian and international designers and fashion graduates showed their latest collections, as well as taking part in dozens of presentations and hands-on activities. In addition, the showcase also involved the region’s buoyant manufacturing industry (which includes some of the largest fabric and clothing factories in the world, responsible for employing 115,000 people, producing 116,000 tonnes of fabric, and making 600 million garments a year) in the form of sponsorships and collaborations with emerging designers.

If most fashion creations displayed in the Dragão do Mar complex in the bustling centre of Fortaleza demonstrated interesting treatments of experimental concepts, when it came to their developmental process and direction of execution, proficiency levels unsurprisingly varied. However, a large number of brands stood out for their accomplished results and for demonstrating the benefits of quality and creativity to the betterment of society.
In womenswear, the reinterpretation of a traditional ultra-feminine perspective of fashion could be observed in the collections proposed by Kalil Nepomuceno and Ivanildo Nunes. In their designs, long voluminous evening dresses featured layers of chiffon and lace and the silhouettes were overall accentuated in voluptuous hourglass shapes. Drawing from this principle, but allowing a more dynamic fluidity generated by ornamented fabrics, Lino Villaventura presented a collection with a dramatic colour palette that combined dark earthy tones with off-whites, and print came in the form of ombré gradients, abstract florals and animal skin prints. And, in typical Villaventura fashion, large pleats, bejewelled pins and beaded stitching provided textured contours by manipulating the layering and hanging direction of delicate fabrics such as gauze and silk. 

London-based Italian designer Nico Didonna accepted the invitation made by the organisers of Dragão Fashion Brasil and presented a collection underpinned by the notion of wrapping. Plain off-white, royal blue, red, anthracite or hand-painted dresses made from jersey, viscose, or crepe highlighted the natural curves of the body while adjusting to, rather than shaping, the silhouette. Also playing a key role in this broad category, Mark Greiner and Roberto Dias worked together on a unique contemporary reinterpretation of local folklore that relied on strong original touches such as highly structured shoulders and a good treatment of noble fabrics (including chiffons, soft leathers and jacquards), even if, at stages, the final results were let down by the actual styling of the runway presentation.

However, it was when designers opted for exploring minimal lines and structured silhouettes that womenswear collections were at their most successful during the 2014 edition of Dragão Fashion Brasil. In this sense, Vitorino Campos’s fusion of streetwear tailoring with luxurious fabrics (unveiled just a few weeks earlier during São Paulo Fashion Week), Carol Barreto’s asymmetrically fastened garments and structured cuts (that contrasted with oversized crocheted jewellery pieces), Jefferson Ribeiro’s geometric exercises in an elegant colour palette of white, lemon and crimson, and Gisela Franck’s deconstructed garments made from soft fabrics with applications of collage-like layers all contributed a new vocabulary towards the lexicon of Brazilian women’s fashion.

In menswear, the most accomplished collection was the one that guest designer Nuno Gama presented on the very last day. Well-established in his native Portugal (where he founded his eponymous label in 1991), Gama chose to exhibit and edited version of his Autumn/Winter 2014 collection, where textures and rich materials (including fox fur, snakeskin, astrakhan, leather and thick wools) provided the material frame to extremely fitted cuts.

Currently enrolled in Milan’s Istituto Marangoni, young designer Jonathan Scarpari took a break from his fashion studies to return to his native Brazil and show his latest collection during Dragão Fashion Brasil. Entitled ‘B-24’, the collection drew inspiration from the idea of incorporating the genetic code into the design of unique garments in order to highlight the importance of individuality. This was achieved by working fabrics such as softened leather through hand-woven three-dimensional houndstooth patterns. In addition, Brazilian and Italian cool wool and organic silk were used in fitted tops, tailored shirts, jackets, trousers, and overalls that showed the influence of recent menswear designs by the likes of J.W. Anderson while audaciously and confidently attempting to push forward the boundaries of conventional tailoring.

Rather than focussing on a single collection, like most designers opted to do in Fortaleza, renowned Brazilian menswear designer Mario Queiroz showed 27 looks that he had designed throughout his 18-year-old career, ranging from conventional suiting and casual staples to more confidently daring kaftans, sleeveless jumpsuits, gold shorts, and sequined espadrilles. Pushing the boundaries quite a few steps further, Weider Silveiro and Jadson Raniere displayed the collection that they presented to inaugurate their label 2|Dois in October 2013. Both alumni of the São Paulo-based creative platform Casa de Criadores, Silveiro and Raniere investigated the potential of deconstructed tailoring, androgynous identities, and the influence of 1980s Japanese designers in details such as exposed stitching and frayed fabrics, elongated sleeves balancing cropped waist lines, oversized leather biker jackets, and abstract patterns supposedly inspired by the futuristic graphic artwork created by Peter Saville for Joy Division’s 1979 album ‘Unknown Pleasures’.

When asked to describe 2|Dois to Brazilian followers of fashion, Silveiro and Raniere declared that they hoped it would be ‘a breath of fresh air in a market typified by sameness.’ As their runway show finished and the audience applauded with resounding excitement, there was little doubt that their words would also be most suitable to describe what Dragão Fashion Brasil has achieved over 15 years, and the exciting developments that Brazilian fashion has in store for many more years to come.

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The decision to host a runway show in your own home is a brave and yet challenging one on more levels than one can fathom when first contemplating the idea. Technical imperatives aside (good examples including the light and acoustics of any domestic space, which are, ironically enough, not the most suitable to bring out the best in garments), combining personal and familial life with public and professional realms in the same space is not always a good idea. This is particularly true of events that present the finished work made by an artist or fashion designer that, in such contexts, are often accompanied by a build-up of preconceived considerations about the creative influence and process to an audience of friends, relatives, and complete strangers such as journalists and photographers. However, in the case of the event that unveiled Paula Raia’s Spring/Summer 2014/15 creations, the challenge was accepted, resolved and accomplished with undisputable aplomb at all levels to the benefit of the display of one of the best collections presented during the latest edition of São Paulo Fashion Week.

Designed by celebrated Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld, Raia’s house is a rare peaceful and green oasis in the centre of a city of towering concrete blocks that house a metropolitan population currently exceeding 20 million people. After taking my seat to watch the show in a room with limestone floors and a wood-panelled central wall surrounded by wide glass sliding windows, I paused to observe the lush garden surrounding the house and the elements that, only after the show, I realised had undoubtedly influenced Paula Raia when developing her collection’s identity: a carefully manicured grass lawn framed a discreet swimming pool designed to look like a natural lake, and a couple of majestic wide and tall trees stood on grounds adjusted across generations around their longstanding existence, in a reverence to nature adroitly illustrated by Raia in her latest fashion range.

Finding inspiration in the universal idea of woman as a resilient tree (and in the indigenous mythological traits that it acquired within Brazilian folklore), Paula Raia resorted to natural fabrics and handicraft techniques to create a collection that is also an empowering celebration of womanhood and motherhood. Hers is a woman stoically and pragmatically grounded to life who, like a tree firmly rooted to the earth, steadfastly battles forces of nature to stand tall and strong for her children (the branches that reach upwards and outwards as physical and metaphorical extended manifestations of body and soul). If the description of woman as a living plant deeply connected to the soil and nature could have resulted in a condescending and commonplace social construction of women, under Raia’s command it managed to straddle the sensitive social line that divides Brazilian women with delicate consideration.

To a soundtrack of African tribal chants (some of which are at the root of Brazil’s folklore music owing to the slave trade during the country’s colonial foundation by the Portuguese in the 16th century), the models descended through a sculptural spiral staircase on the outside of the house and walked in and through two connected large rooms. The result was a parade of 22 looks presented in a gentle cadence through a gradient colour palette of earthy tones ranging from off-white and ecru to straw and ochre in textured natural fabrics such as raffia and straw, as well as in woven silk and cotton organza in some cases meticulously layered to create patterns such as fish scales. 

Elongated silhouettes were prevalent throughout the collection in the form of floor-length column skirts and dresses with sharp angular designs crafted around the shoulder lines. In a number of dresses, stacked layers of contrasting fabrics conjured the geometric designs that were made popular in the fashion and architecture of the 1930s as well as in the bulbous volumetries of Christian Dior’s garments of the late 1940s. Nevertheless, if Raia’s conic structures and pleated details revealed influences of the New Look, they also benefitted from Raia’s own reinterpretation by replacing Dior’s heavy wools with the lightness of cotton lace and of woven or plaited straw. And as the last model exited the house wearing a fitted top made of geometrically layered blocks of ecru and ochre fabrics over a long flowing skirt, and stood in formation with the other models in the garden facing the audience through the glass walls, the sense of communion with nature as the anchoring concept for the collection could not have been reinforced any further.

After the show ended and I began to formulate questions about the collection in my head in case I was able to have a few minutes alone with Paula Raia, I realised how, in spite of all the commotion that always ensues a runway show, the designer remained serenely happy. As I waited my turn to speak to her, I noticed that Raia kept holding her two children’s hands and paid attention to everything they said or did, even when her attention was requested by several people for the most diverse reasons. And when her mother congratulated her by giving her a long, silent embrace with tears running down her face, I quickly came to the conclusion that interviewing her would have been a redundant exercise. Against a hectic and noisy scene, that dignified and unstudied emotional portrait of generational ties and family love had provided all the answers to my questions about the origins of Paula Raia’s confidence, professional reliance, and the foundations for the personal and social awareness of womanhood and motherhood that she so consummately distilled into her sartorial creations.

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While introducing the collection to me, Pombal referred to the images of the mood board to explain his process: “After an incredibly hot summer in Brazil, I just kept wishing for light breezy things. And what came to me was the images of these beautiful changing room pavilions in Miami’s iconic Art Deco hotels and their architectural swimming pools. It was very much about the luxury of the beach resort atmosphere in the 1950s and 1960s and how glamorous women aspired to be at the time.”

To achieve his intention, and in addition to incorporating his trademark fitted silhouettes, Pombal ventured into the realm of the little summer dress featuring bustier cuts, sleeveless and backless tops, and high-waist micro skirts with ballooned or pleated structures that came in a colour palette of silver, black, whites, pinks, and blues. The collection’s fabrics were also carefully chosen to highlight the concept: “This season, I tried to source quality fabrics from all over the world to make sure I got the results I wanted, including an iridescent chiffon made in Switzerland that perfectly conjures my vision of the glistening colour refraction found in floating soap bubbles” stressed Pombal. In contrast to the weightlessness of these materials, the collection also included highly textured fabrics such as jacquards combining cotton with woven raffia, neoprenes, thin memory foams that reshape after being touched, laces, and laser-cut tricoline flowers designed to resemble adornments from 1960s women’s swimming caps. Unsurprisingly, after the collection was presented, the references that kept being suggested by viewers included the Barbarella aesthetic and the disappointing low-key looks in comparison to Pombal’s previous endeavours. Understandable as those interpretations may be, Tufi Duek’s latest fashion offering deserves to be appreciated beyond its apparent simplicity: in spite of its illusive superficial softness, this is a collection whose richness and depth lie in a subtle attention to detail. And for that alone, Tufi Duek’s Spring/Summer 2014/15 deserves a closer examination and reassessment if one is to understand and appreciate its accomplished qualities.

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Access to the house is by a boat that arrives at a private beach and leads to expansive tropical gardens created by landscape architect Gil Fialho. After crossing a metallic bridge over a reflecting pool, residents enter the house, whose decoration was devised by interior designers Diana Radomysler and Carolina Castroviejo. The lower volume of the residence contains a living room, a kitchen and service areaa, all with large glass windows with views of the sea, whereas the upper level holds the bedrooms.

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Located in the town of Arraial d’Ajuda in the south of Bahia, Villa Greda is a stunning seven‐bedroom villa surrounded by tropical vegetation in a 4,000 square-meter plot of land with its own helicopter pad and private access to the nearby beach. Designed by architect Carlos Rodriguez and completed in early 2013, the 1,400 square-meter villa combines traditional regional and modern styles throughout its four buildings, which were decorated by local interior designer Sara Afonso and São Paulo lighting designer Edson Moya.
  The main house includes a ground floor with a large open-plan kitchen and a spacious living room with floor-to-ceiling windows, an outside dining/lounge area with a barbeque/wood-burning pizza oven on one of the verandas and a first floor that hosts a master bedroom suite (with its own bathroom and private terrace) that commands views of the swimming pool, the ocean and the forest. The second building, built along the edge of the property and closer to the sea, comprises three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms underneath a large sundeck area with extensive views.

On a lower level of the plot and built into the hill, the third building consists of two more bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a cinema and a games room. Sitting above this building is an L-shaped 16-meter infinity pool. Leading on from the games room is an additional bedroom that overlooks the forest. A short walk away is the meditation garden, exercise and massage suite and a large sauna area. Hidden behind the main house is the laundry area and the accommodation quarters for staff (a full-time security person, two maids who cook and clean, and a caretaker).

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A case in point of how such preconceptions lead to a partial or inaccurate understanding of a nation can be found in the perception of Brazil as being essentially a land of sun, samba, beaches and football, forgetting that it was also the birthplace of some of the most talented artists, composers and novelists of the twentieth century. For decades, and owing to successive waves of political instability caused by formal and informal dictatorships, and extremely conspicuous social inequity, Brazil’s cultural identity suffered and failed to substantiate its worth to the rest of the world. However, a new award programme that celebrates Brazil’s burgeoning artistic talent under the moniker ‘Movimento HotSpot’ is beginning to realign the interpretative gaze that the rest of the world has of this creative powerhouse.

According to Paulo Borges, president of the National Institute of Fashion and Design (IN-MOD) and founder of the initiative, Movimento HotSpot was founded in March 2012 (with public funds and private sponsorship) with the intention to find and reward new creative minds in Brazil, and generate democratic platforms to showcase their talent. In a country with nearly 200 million people occupying the fifth largest national territory in the world, the ambition to remain open to all manifestations of ingenuity was resolved by running scouting events in numerous locations over a period of 16 months. This touring programme allowed 1,642 applicants the opportunity to present their ideas and fight to continue in the run by showing their worth throughout several elimination stages.

The last phase of the inaugural Movimento HotSpot was held at the University Anhembi Morumbi in São Paulo under the title ‘Idea Pool’. This consisted of putting the finalists through a creative immersion environment of collaboration with curators and other candidates in the 11 categories that make up the movement: Architecture, Beauty, Design, Fashion, Film, Graphic Design, Illustration, Music, Photography, Scenography and Ideas. After a thorough selection process, the winners received their individual prizes worth R$ 10,000 each at an awards ceremony held in the Memorial da América Latina in São Paulo on 31 July 2013.

The Architecture award went to 28-year old Gustavo Utrabo, a graduate from the Federal University of Paraná who also studied at the University of Barcelona. After completing his degree in 2009, Utrabo returned to his native Curitiba and set up his architecture practice. Since then, his work has garnered praise by his peers and critics, and was featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s ‘Born in Brazil’ issue in May 2010.

In the Fashion category, the award went to sisters Laura and Lorena Andrade Vieira who also won an investment fund worth R$ 150,000 to develop a collection that will be shown during the next São Paulo Fashion Week and become available in the 178 stores of the Riachuelo brand across Brazil.

The youngest winner of the night was 17-year old Gigi Suleiman who charmed the judges in the Music category with songs that she has been composing and singing in Portuguese and in English from an early age.

Manuela Marçal Yamada, a 24-year-old enrolled in the Ideas category, was the grand winner on the night, receiving R$ 200,000 to implement the recycling concepts underpinning her ‘Project Botiá’. Also chosen from the Ideas pool, Argus Caruso Saturnino received a special prize funded by WGSN that will enable him to attend the WGSN Trends Day in London and take part in this influential brainstorming event where cool hunters and scientists from around the world gather to discuss future lifestyle trends.

Other winners of the scheme included Juliana Dadalto (Beauty), Lucas Loff Ferreira Leite (Design), Matheus Mayer Mombelli (Film), Daniel Coronel (Graphic Design), Marina Rebouças Martins (Illustration), Francisco Emidio Contente Pereira dos Santos (Photography), Paul Waisberg (Scenography), and Felipe Zuccoli Rezende and Andre Cruz (Ideas).

Aware of how their own creativity is born in Brazil but can be translated into practical results on a global scale, the winners of the first Movimento HotSpot are graced with possibilities beyond the prize money that fund their dreams. They are the talented makers of promising ingenuity whose work will deserve a reinterpretation of Brazil’s past and present cultural importance by many generations to come.

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Over the last four years, the brand has been diversifying its range of products and for spring/summer 2013 it offers linen beach towels, short-sleeved cotton polo shirts and long-sleeved shirts in either cotton or linen, wood surfboards and sets to play Frescobol (the popular Brazilian beach sport that gave the name to the brand and is best described as a relaxed version of tennis or squash) comprising rubber balls and racquets hand-made from remnants of Brazilian woods used in the industrial production of furniture.

However, the highlight of Frescobol Carioca is undoubtedly its attractive swimwear. Bikini sets for women are offered in three styles of block colours, whereas men’s swimming trunks (named after popular Brazilian beaches) come as sports, tailored and limited edition styles, in a range of block colours or patterned versions.

For the moment, Frescobol Carioca is stocked in a select group of stores, resorts and beach clubs, including Harrods and Selfridges in London; The Conran Shop in London, Paris and Tokyo; Le Bon Marche in Paris; Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing; Neiman Marcus in Miami, Palm Beach, Bal Habour, San Diego and Honolulu; and at the Copabana Palace hotel in its hometown of Rio de Janeiro. However, and as its popularity slowly increases, The Style Examiner expects Frescobol Carioca to garner many more followers worldwide.

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Under the creative direction provided by Rique Gonçalves, R. Groove offered an accomplished collection where traditional tailoring was very subtly deconstructed to augment its creative potential. Appealing to a young male consumer, garments made of wool and cotton fabrics featured a neutral palette of black and white that was highlighted by playful prints of tropical fruits and bamboo leaves and a symbiosis of faded and bright colours, such as beige, khaki, mint, moss green, lemon green, pale pink and orange. The silhouettes were casual yet very sophisticated with relaxed cotton jackets with no shoulder pads, layered sleeves, reinterpreted blazers in sleeveless forms tucked into trousers, blousons with sharp panels and stitching and round-collar jackets.

Overall, and amidst the numerous labels that presented during Fashion Rio Spring/Summer 2014, R. Groove proved to have the potential to keep The Style Examiner interested in seeing more. We look forward to Gonçalves’s future collections and to seeing how his talent evolves.

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As a collective noun used to define clothes and accessories generally worn on casual occasions (normally holidays) by the swimming pool and the beach or on a boat or yacht at sea, beachwear is normally (and naturally) a more popular concept in seaside resorts that benefit from frequent warm weather. It follows, then, that the nebulous identity of beachwear as a category within the fashion industry is directly related to the geographical location and weather of the places where most fashion is created: consumers of designs originating from cities like London, Paris, Milan or New York (where cold seasons can be prolonged) may not see the need to purchase many items of beachwear; instead, they may only buy one or two swimsuits a year. As a consequence, very few designers tend to focus exclusively on beachwear and, therefore, it is not unusual for the majority of fashion weeks not to include collections devoted entirely to beachwear.

However, markets such as Latin America, Australia and parts of the USA (namely Florida) have witnessed a significant growth in this area, with prolific designers showcasing their beachwear collections during Miami and Rio de Janeiro fashion weeks. In Brazil, where beachwear is a sartorial force to reckon with and an individual consumer can purchase large quantities of different swimsuits and bikinis per season, many designers have focussed their collections on this fashion specialism. However, very few have attained the popularity and esteemed reputation for creativity achieved by Lenny Niemeyer.

Niemeyer started her career as a designer of bikinis and swimsuits for other brands in 1993. Ten years later, she founded her eponymous label and opened her first store in the affluent neighbourhood of Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, she has developed a network of stockists that comprise 18 freestanding Lenny Niemeyer stores in Brazil and influential international retailers such as Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Au Bon Marche, Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. She started showing her collections on the runway of Fashion Rio in 1997, and has been a regular (and much anticipated) participant ever since.

For her Spring/Summer 2014 collection, shown during Fashion Rio in April 2013, Niemeyer found inspiration in the visual effects that light creates when it reflects on different textures. In addition to single-toned garments where white, black and caramel predominated, the collection featured prints with ombré effects and layers of colours and textures in Lycra fabrics worked across original asymmetric shapes. The result was a highly accomplished range of beachwear pieces with distinctive details such as ruffles on skirts and bikini tops, high collars and voluminous sleeves in swimsuits and dresses. Even though the most common opinion that followed the show was that the pieces displayed had been produced exclusively for the runway and not for her stores, there was no doubt that Lenny Niemeyer’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection went beyond having an advertorial purpose to ultimately confirm her most gifted creative talent as a fashion designer.

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As expected of Alexandre Herchcovitch, undoubtedly one of the most talented fashion designers currently working in Brazil, the collection’s garments stood out for their impeccable tailoring, virtually flawless stitching and attention to detail. However, if for his main line Herchcovitch normally opts for luxurious fabrics, for this label he chose to juxtapose rougher materials such as mixed leather and coated denim against more delicate organza, tricoline and silk chiffon, which on occasion were printed with delicate florals.

Denim was the predominant fabric, providing a youthful connotation to the collection in pieces as diverse as dresses, overalls, trousers and tops, in dark blue denim or in reinterpreted tie dye or stone-washed patterns. In addition to shades of blue, the colour palette also comprised brown, black, white and lemon yellow, whereas details such as patch pockets, metal buttons and a general absence of collars evoked the utilitarian inspiration to the collection (and Herchcovitch’s own approach to fashion) while remaining highly elegant. In addition, bags came in different sizes and shapes, from the ones inspired by lunch or tool boxes to larger leather totes to extra-large travel bags.

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