David M. Benett
Above Adriana Lima, appearing here for Victoria’s Secret, exemplifies the sensual Brazilian model who commands attention.
With the World Cup round the corner, the focus is on Brazil, including Brazilian models (it is the home of Gisèle Bündchen, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Isabeli Fontana), and Brazilian fashion. Our series of videos from Brazil provide an insight into the country.
The first, with Patrick Lemire, IMG Paris’s director of bookings, analyses what makes Brazilian models special. Lima, Ambrosio and Bündchen regularly take out the top-five spots in earning terms, according to Forbes, and Lemire believes it’s their power of seduction.
In the translation, Lemire says, ‘In Brazil, there are two academies: you have football academy for the boys and modelling school for the girls. When we decide to go to Brazil to find new talent over there, our first impression is that we are quite taken aback, because instantly you are fully immersed in this amazingly relaxed, feel-good atmosphere.
‘She barely has to step into the room and she’s dancing the samba with you and within three seconds you are under her spell, which is great. I have never met a Brazilian who is morose, sad, who lacks passion or that desire to come, to fight and to conquer.’
Twenty-nine-year-old fashion designer Barbara Casasola is the talk of the nation, after serving her earlier years at Roberto Cavalli, Lanvin, Sonia Rykiel and Chloé. Her interview below shows what drives her, how she mixes femininity with modernity, and how Brazil impacts on her design sensibilities.
‘A bikini and a pair of Havaianas’ is how one might describe Brazilian fashion, with a strong beach culture. Casasola and Havaianas France director Hervé Pinot both talk about this culture: how changing a bikini daily is part of the beach scene there, and how Havaianas have become cult. Brazil sells 350 million to 400 million pairs per annum.
Finally, our fourth video examines some of the international labels hailing from Brazil: Osklen, Alexandre Herchcovitch (regularly covered by us at New York Fashion Week), Pedro Lourenço, Barbara Casasola, Filhas de Gaia, Animale, Espaço Fashion and Ausländer.
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