Brazilians on the catwalks of London Fashion Week
20 Sep, 2013
Read in English below | Leia em Português aqui
by Schirley Amaral
By Kamilla Fernandes
Translation by Harriet Batey
From the 13th to 17th September, Somerset House hosted London Fashion Week, organised by the British Fashion Council. The event is considered one of the four major fashion weeks in the world, and featured a Brazilian presence within the sponsors, showrooms and on the runways. This edition, which showed the Summer 2014 collections, had an audience of 5,000 people, including the press and buyers.
The brand Beauty’in, created by Crisitana Arcangeli, debuted as a sponsor of the event, and this should continue for at least another three years in its responsibility as the official drink of fashion week. The nutritional drinks brand was present at every event, including distribution at the entrance to every runway show.
The Showroom
In the showroom, Brazilians Fernando Jorge and Amanda Gerbasi, from the brand Kattri, presented their new collection of fine jewellery. Culturart spoke with Amanda, who was showing her first collection, for the first time at the event.
Amanda is a gradute of architecture from Florianópolis, Santa Catarina and Modern Languages and European Studies at the University of Bath. She now lices in Oxford, having been in England for nine years. The jewellery collection from Kattri are all made in São Paulo, using brazilian stones such as rose, black and citrus quartz.
Before London Fashion Week, Amanda exihibited her collection at International Jewellery London. “My intention is to become a global brand, so being here is great exposure, as well as being my first collection”, said Amanda.
The ‘Geometry Collection’ includes pieces inspired by minimalist architecture, and are available in yellow, white and rose gold, contrasting with the stones. Amanda has plans to put the pieces on sale in Brazil as quickly as possible, however she says that bureaucracy surrounding opening a business in the country is delaying the materialisation of these plans.
The Catwalk
Lucas Nascimento showed his collection for the first time as part of Topshop’s Newgen, which has been part of London Fashion Week since the Summer 2012 edition. The collection recieved high praise from the world’s press, and was inspired by from a cinematic scene in which Brigitte Bardot appears wearing only a towel in the filme ‘Le Mepris’ by Jean Luc Goddard.
The palette is sobre, with mint green, blue, black, white and some orange and yellow pieces to contrast. In summary, the collection is minimalist, chic and has sensual touches, particularly with the straps on the tops and dress which seemed like bra straps. The necklines, the transparent materials and stomach showing pieces also are not discounted. The modern touch came with the asymmetric shapes and material glued to the model’s bodies.
Gaúcha, Barbara Casassola has already feature at London Fashion Week. The designer has had her own brand for two years and has worked in the studios of Roberto Cavalli and Gabriele Greiss. For the first time, the designer showed separate pieces, but did not forget the midi dresses which are her speciality.
Her collection was inspired by modernism and by metal pieces by the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. On the runway, there were many contrasts between opaque, transparent and fluid material against geometric shapes. The palette included black, fuschias, oranges, nudes, yellows and reds. The catwalk was backed by a soundtrack of the Brazilian group Os Mutantes, and the models all wore Manolo Blahnik shoes.
The final Brazilian participant on the runways was the brand 1205, by another first-timer Paula Gerbase. The collection maintained the utilitarian nature to the brand, but did not cease to be chic. The label works with both women and men’s clothing, but both collections have an air of unisex to them. In particular, the tailoring work and choice of materials should be highlighted. The were sober, with blacks, whites, blues and greys with the silhouette not being fitted to the body.
