SAO PAULO, Brazil — It’s a tale of two fashion cities.
While designer collections at last month’s São Paulo Fashion Week offered edgier, less-commercial styles in a bid to be more internationally relevant, Fashion Rio, in Rio de Janeiro, went the commercial route — in part because some of its more innovative designers have migrated to SPFW.
Case in point: Four top Fashion Rio stylists who moved to SPFW were Maria Bonita, the high-end sister brand of the casual Maria Bonita Extra label; Patricia Viera, Brazil’s top leatherwear designer; Zigfreda, with retro-romantic attire, and Karlla Girotto, an edgy conceptualist.
Still, both biannual events attracted large numbers — they are open to the public — to their latest editions, featuring 2006 winter collections. Fashion Rio, in Brazil’s tourist mecca, focused on causalwear with 31 designers and boasted 70,000 attendees.
SPFW, featuring the collections of 43 more upscale, established designers and held in the nation’s fashion hub, drew 72,000 visitors. Around 20 international buyers, distributors and consultants attended, and nearly all were new to the show.
Among the boutiques at SPFW were Opening Ceremony and Madame Killer in New York; Sbaiz Spazio Moda in Lignano Sabbiadoro, near Venice, and Dot Store in Buenos Aires. Distributors included Robert Dodd, Paris, which sells to French shops. Among buying consultants was the London-based Boutiqueye, a rep for three upscale retailers — Lounge in New York, Cactus Jam in Australia and That’s It in Johannesburg.
Fashion Rio drew a larger international contingent — more than 70 foreign buyers, mostly South American and European boutiques, distributors and buying consultants. Virtually no foreign buyers attended both events, staged over one week apart.
“The SPFW’s 2006 winter collections showed a forward-edged attempt to make the edition more internationally relevant in the way the New York, Paris, London and Milan fashion weeks are,” said fashion consultant Erika Palomino. “Fashion Rio’s collections were less innovative, not just because four creative stylists migrated to the SPFW, but because Fashion Rio’s forte is swimwear, shown by most stylists only at its June [summer] edition.”
Key houses at Fashion Rio were Maria Bonita Extra, Colcce, Santa Ephigenia, Mara Mac, TNG and Walter Rodrigues, a top São Paulo designer who also takes part in Paris Fashion Week. Other ready-to-wear labels included Drosófila, Tessuti, Animale and Redley.
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SPFW included key designers Alexandre Herchcovitch, who showed at 7th on Sixth in New York on Feb. 5; Fause Haten; Reinaldo Lourenço; Lino Villaventura; Patachou, whose export line is Tereza Santos, and Tufi Duek’s signature Forum line. Other labels were Zoomp, Zapping, André Lima, Uma, Gloria Coelho, Ellus, Triton, Iodice, Osklen, Isabela Capeto, Cori, Huis Clos, Ronaldo Fraga, Vide Bula and Rosa Chá, Brazil’s premier beach brand.
“While Fashion Rio stylists stuck to more traditional, romantic themes,” Palomino said, “most SPFW designers took a more minimal approach, involving much less ornamentation, for example, less layering and detailing and more plain but voluminous fabric.”
On the minimal side, Herchcovitch showcased wide-belted, black, voluminous, puff-sleeve dresses; black A-shape skirts and Italian Renaissance-inspired full silk dresses, while Lorenzo Merlino featured simple black and gray off-the-shoulder satin blouses and dresses. Palomino pointed out, however, that “a few SPFW stylists added diversity, from ethnically inspired attire to in-your-face prints,” such as Isabela Capeto’s Peruvian-inspired, printed, embroidered and sequined dresses and coats, and Neon’s vibrant, pop-optical printed bikinis and after-beach, long jersey kimonos and silk caftans.
Fashion Rio’s romance could be seen in Maria Bonita Extra’s lavender-colored silk dresses with lacings; Colcce’s short, ruffled, cotton and chiffon folk dresses with lacings, and Santa Ephigenia’s big, cashmere, Eighties-style sweaters.
Carol Lim, from Opening Ceremony in Manhattan’s SoHo, which carries Herchcovitch, Patachou, Merlino and Neon, planned to buy these stylists’ collections again. “I was particularly taken by Herchcovitch’s long, black wool overcoats with fake-fur, shoulder-trim detailing,” said Lim, “with Patachou’s Parisan-schoolgirl, long, chunky, wool sweater dresses in black and gray and her long, camel-colored cardigans, and with Neon’s rainbow-colored, geometric-print caftans. Our clients are loyal to these designers and expect to see their latest creations.”
Shinichi Kashihara from Madame Killer on New York’s Lower East Side, and an SPFW newcomer, also cited Herchcovitch, Neon and Cavalera.
“Herchcovitch had simple zip-up, hooded cotton jackets, whose shiny linings featured skull prints over plaid,” Kashihara said. “Cavalera offered straightforward flared tutu skirts, and Neon featured after-beachwear with flowing, uncomplicated cuts and pop-optical prints. All three designers offered what our customers like — something not too baroque, but whose style is slightly forward.”
Herchcovitch and Neon were also hits with SPFW newcomer Karen Harris, a buying consultant with Boutiqueye, whose upscale retail clients like fashion-forward wear. “Herchcovitch created a directional look by contrasting fabrics and prints. He mixed a flower-print silk blouse and skinny, cotton twill pants. And if you don’t like their directional look together, you buy only one of the pieces and get a more conservative look,” she said. “Neon’s vibrant energy captures the essence of youth and, while it is directional, it’s something anyone will understand, and like or not like, straight away.”
Walter Sbaiz, owner of Italy’s upscale Sbaiz Spazio Moda boutique, also at the SPFW for the first time, was buying Neon for a different reason. “My clients want something that looks bright and Brazilian to wear at the beach, and Neon fits the bill perfectly,” said Sbaiz. “They’ll buy Rosa Chá’s beige bikinis because the lingerie look is a sexy, original one.”
Dot carries 12 Brazilian labels that account for 80 percent of its merchandise; Argentine brands make up the rest. Owner Laurencio Adot plans to buy Rosa Chá, even though he will sell the bikinis during mid-year, the South American winter. “Rosa Chá has been a huge success and I plan to sell its new bikinis, which feature neutral winter colors and lots of lacing, as loungewear,” said Adot. “I’m also going to buy Forum’s jeans, whose low waists, straight legs and no details will appeal to women not looking for trendy denim.”
Most foreign buyers concurred that while Brazilian brands could be expensive, the prices and products were competitive with those of many U.S. and European designers. As Kashihara put it, “While Brazilian fashion comes with a high dollar price tag, my clients are willing to pay the price to get creative, quality product.”
One exception was Maria Kehrling, a buyer for Robert Dodd, who represents and distributes Ellus and Maria Bonita Extra to French retailers. “Ellus’ slim and sexy-fitting jeans come at a competitive price, but Maria Bonita, unlike her low-end sister brand Maria Bonita Extra, is just too expensive for our clients,” she said. “At the SPFW, her dresses, which mixed silk, satin and velvet, were stunning but pricy. And if I can’t buy an evening dress for [wholesale] 300 euros [$358 at current exchange] or less, our retail clients can’t move it.”
Buyers and distributors at Fashion Rio weren’t complaining about prices, mainly because the apparel offered was more downscale than at SPFW. Many bought from the nearly 80 exhibitors featured at Fashion Business, a Fashion Rio venue that features showrooms, mainly for lesser-known designers and retailers not staging runway shows.
At Fashion Business, Alicia Ramos, a Caracas, Venezuela-based wholesaler who sells to several dozen Venezuelan retailers, said, “I found Fifties- and Sixties-inspired synthetic chiffon corset tops made by Cholet that I can buy for around $45 and sell to Venezuelan retailers for $80, who will retail the tops at $140 to $150, which, considering their quality, is within their clients’ price range. I found a ruffled top from Abusiva, which I can buy for $25, sell for $50 and which retailers can move for an affordable $75 price.”
Verbana Roscalla, an Italian importer who sells to Middle Eastern clients, agreed. “I’m buying Indian-frilled and embroidered bikinis from Pera [at Fashion Business] for $20, will sell them to stores for $25 to $30, and they will retail them for $50, a very competitive price for a Brazilian bikini bought by a European tourist at a Dubai boutique,” said Roscalla.
Turet Knuefermann, owner of the TK boutique in Auckland, New Zealand, also found prices at Fashion Rio competitive, but only because their designs were so fresh. “I am buying vintage-look, high-waisted viscose rayon Maria Bonita Extra dresses with stylish batwing sleeves for $60 to $70, which I’ll be able to sell for double that price, not because our customers will find the price cheap, but because they will find that the design justifies the price,” said Knuefermann. “And I am buying Mara Mac’s mixed cashmere-angora cardigans because their classic and elegant design is far superior to that of cheaper cashmere cardigans I can buy in China.”