Launched in the 90’s, São Paulo Fashion Week occupies the 5th place at the rank of most important fashion weeks in the world, and it’s the most important fashion event in Latin America. SPFW presents an unusual history and distinct features from the others fashion capitals, turning Brazil a fashion reference, releasing bold brands, beautiful models and creative designers, bringing tropicality and sensuality to their creations.
We know that the textile sector for itself it’s giant, the billing of the textile Industry in Brazil, according to ABIT, was 215 billion in 2024. It’s estimated that in total, each edition of SPFW brings in 1.5 billion, moving areas such as infrastructure, tourism, support services, creates opportunities for future business between buyers and brands; and also generates jobs.
Discovered talents
Iconic names of the Brazilian fashion scene were “born” at São Paulo Fashion Week. One of them was the designer Alexandre Herchcovitch, who paraded in the first edition in 1993, turned into a consecrated name in the fashion industry known for his skull pattern, and even made an international career opening a store in Tokyo.
Piet, a brand founded in 2012 by the creative director Pedro Andrade, consolidated itself on SPFW. Being a solid name in streetwear, Piet showed their last collection about brazilian craziness for soccer, “Farmers League Collection”, at Pacaembu stadium, with a live soundtrack by Marcelo D2, collaboration with Puma and Levi’s, and also opened the event for the fans, making history by offering 4.000 free invitations.
The plus size model, Rita Carreira, started her career in 2011, but she paraded in SPFW for the first time in 2017, then in 2019, following in 2022, and then pregnant in 2024. She broke her own record by being the first plus size model to parade for seven brands at the same edition.
Best moments OF THE SHOW
SPFW has served beautiful and important moments for fashion, check some of them!
One of the most remarkable fashion shows is “A Costura do Invisível” (Sewing the Invisible), paraded in 2004, by Jum Nakao. He criticized globalization taken over by the fast fashion industry by making paper clothes, which the models tore at the end of the event, showing the ephemerality of clothes.
Artemisi collection “Into the High” presented at SPFW N58, by the creative director Mayari Jubini, combining technology and craftsmanship.
In SPFW N54, Bold Strap showed their collection “Bold Invasion”, the walkway was full of sand. Known for fetishized clothes, in this fashion show they risked and mixed “doll aesthetic” with fetish, but in the alien world.
Culture, Ancestry and Craftsmanship
Before São Paulo Fashion Week, clothes in Brazil were very easily influenced by European and American fashion, but still much less than before, SPFW came to create an identity and unify the national fashion.
In other big Fashion Weeks, like PFW (Paris Fashion Week) or NYFW (New York Fashion Week), it seems like the brands are concerned about representing themselves. While brands in SPFW seems concerned about representing brazilian’s culture from their point of view. Brazil’s size is continental, so each state has their own culture and habits, and consequently each creative director has their perspective about what and how Brazil is. It’s that popular phrase: “There isn’t a Brazil, exist Brazil’s”.
One thing that it’s essential in our culture is the craftsmanship that we learned from our ancestors, and must teach the next generations. And that’s something that the most Brazilian brands make sure to do.
In Walério Araújo fashion show, the brazilian fashion influencer Isadora Ramalho, graduated in Fashion, gave an exclusive interview for Her Campus Casper Libero. She says that SPFW is important for both international and national fashion, because it honors the manual techniques and brings up debates such as the excessive consumption, sustainability and maximalism; and finishes by saying that even those who don’t understand about the theme end up falling in love with fashion when watching a parade live.
“I think many brazilian designers manage to capture the essence of Brazil, they get it right when it comes to modeling, fabrics, and telling wonderful storytelling. But I also think that many people just want to show beauty and nothing else, that’s where representation ends; we still need much more”.
Isadora Ramalho for Her Campus Cásper Líbero
We can conclude that São Paulo Fashion Week is really important for representing our country outside Brazil, but inside we still have a long path to take when it comes to fully representing all the faces of Brazil (if it’s even possible); but our journey doesn’t stop here, I’m sure many designers out there are fighting for it, and our job is to give visibility to this many faces country.
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The article above was edited by Mariana De Oliver.