The ultimate bachelorete pad

It has always been a dream of mine to design a feminine space. So this project was envisioned for 2 single ladies with an eye for fashion and exquisite taste. Hope you enjoy it!

...plan B

So this weekend my lovely sister Virgínia and her husband wanted to take me to Búzios and Arraial do Cabo - two beach resort towns that I love so much but our plans were ruined when it started pouring rain...

So we decided to postpone out lit trip and instead of me getting upset I actually will try to enjoy the fact that I am trapped home. So the plan B is:

1. get cozy

2. drink tea

3. work on my sketchbook

4. practise what I am learning at photograph class (taking classes with Fabio Kotinda)

5. watch movie(s) from bed

6. eat brigadeiro (learn how to make my favorite desert here)...

7. miss my boyfriend

8. and think a lot about where life is taking me... (do I want to go back to LA? Is it time to give a shot to the east coast? Will NY treat me well? And what about Miami? What job should I take next? Should I go back to school? etc etc etc)

I wish you all a lovely weekend!

Much love from a raining Rio de Janeiro...

photo credit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Velvet dream

Dear velvet, I love you! I am aware that a lot of people don't like you or they judge you for being too luxurious, but I get you. I will be forever your number 1 fan and hope that one day I can decorate a room entirely covered with your plush touch. Until then... you will live on my dreams...

Now seriously: I have been working with vendors to produce my textiles and soon they will be available for purchase on organic cotton, linen and silk but I am hoping to find a source that can produce my prints on velvet as well. Here is the inspiration...

And let me add here how happy I am with all the support and encouragement you all have given me with my collection - promise to share with you once it is ready! Thank you all for being so lovely and supportive!

Almost time to say goodbye...

I have 3 more weekends left in Rio de Janeiro before I move back to L.A. so I was thrilled that today it finally stopped raining and I got to experience some nice weather. My brother and I took Fanny to walk on the beach and it was just so beautiful... and so relaxing to get out of my computer desk for a change!

 The past few days were really cold and who would thing I was actually wearing a poncho and cowboy boots just yesterday! But today I got to wear my favorite things in life: a comfy maxi dress (and yes it is pleated!) and flip flops.

Remember when I wrote this? I guess I got what I asked for...

I will miss Rio de Janeiro and my family immensely...

Hoping you are having a lovely weekend!

Pleats please...

Pleated dresses and skirts: a runway staple that has been ever-present in fashion history, fashion icons and fashion blogs across the globe.

Full and knee-length, preppy or boho, winter or summer - the demand is for Pleats Please!

15 ways to rock your pleated skirt this summer:

Here is some inspiration for my friends over North Hemisphere...

Images Source: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

15 ways to rock your pleated skirt this winter!

For my friends over South Hemisphere (it is already cold and rainy in Rio de Janeiro!)...

Images Source: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

And That's a Wrap...

A sneak peek into my textile collection...

I have been non-stop creating textiles for my soon-to-be-launched online store and also a tradeshow in June where I will exhibit my designs in Las Vegas. So I decided to share with you one of my prints - this one is black and white, very organic and it is called Fogareu.

How do you like it?

I prefer to show my designs applied on clothing or on upholstery so the image above is my own sketch of a kimono - it is pretty much my dream dress right now! Well I happen to be obsessed about kimono-inspired dresses... and I am actually developing a whole collection of prints that are very asian inspired - they will be available as fabrics, pillow covers and wallpapers - to be done and revealed soon!

And here is some of my inspiration...

It has always been a dream of mine to visit Japan and India but everytime I have money for a trip I come home to see my family in Brazil so now I am dwelling if instead of going to Paris maybe I should book a visit to Japan and India - not only because it is a dream trip but also to get inspiration for my designs. Well not to mention that I also want to meditate at my ashram in Bangalore (see it here). Not sure if it is a good idea with all the sad happenings of the past months, I wonder how it is safe or even appropriate to book a trip right now... but I was thinking maybe on the first quarter of 2012...

Anyone has any tips? Have you been to Japan or India?

My mom, my wonder woman & my fashion icon

I know this post is one day late, I couldn't find the time to go through all the family albums until this morning. As you may have noticed this is a tribute to my mom - isn't she beautiful?

Let me warn you that this is a very long post and it couldn't be different when I am talking about my mom and how much I am proud of who she is and everything she has taught me. It is really intriguing to notice how the world has changed around her but she has kept her integrity. Gossip, bad words, violent movies and shallow tv shows were never part of her reality, and they will never be. She is from a generation of values - where education, etiquette and literature were the only things worth of her time.

She came from a family with very little so she learnt how to appreciate things in life. Growing up she would look through fashion magazines, sketch her own clothes and then a local seamstress would make them for her. She is from an era where clothing meant luxury fabrics and tailored finishes. It wasn't about quantity, but high quality was top priority. Some of her clothes are now hanging in my closet - things were meant to last forever!

When she started shopping for clothes in a store, the retail experience was another reality from what we see today. She would sit on a comfy chair, people would serve her tea and then multiple sales reps would bring to her all the latest fashion. From her comfy chair she would decide what to try. Totally royalty treatment... Fancy like that!

And then she met my father... so she then became the wife of an army colonel.

When she got married she had a custom made dress that fit her like a glove. Oh and the hat... dying over the hat!

They head to their honeymoon and she was wearing velvet from top to bottom - another favorite of mine! Wishing she would have kept that one... and the wedding gown...

They had some fun times as marriage couple, always going out for dances and enjoying Carnaval time. This particular Hawaiian costume she is wearing on the picture below I was wearing on Halloween 2008 when I met my boyfriend!

All the furniture in my parents home was bought 39 years ago, made of solid wood and also built to last. I am now planning a design for their master bedroom and keeping her precious furniture is my main goal because there is nothing like it in the market today. She has amazing taste and she is the most perfectionist person I have ever met! This ad below is her original bedroom set, she has kept the magazine ad for 39 years!

After a few years trying... she got pregnant of my lovely sister Virginia...

...and 2 years later she got pregnant of my awesome brother Fred!

And then 2 years later... here I come to crash the party... a surprise baby!

I really admire how my mom managed to look impeccable in a hot and humid weather like Rio de Janeiro... while taking care of her asthmatic 3 kids and having a full time job. And again they didn't have much money, but whatever was spent was invested in high quality pieces. She was always tanned and she enjoyed a lot of prints, silk, animal prints and tailored suits - gosh I so wish she had kept all of her clothes...My mom is from another era in fashion, and in design in general. Nowadays she finds quite challenging to go shopping when stores offer not much more than loud music, lack of seating options and lazy sales reps. Even harder when she turns the clothes inside out to only notice poorly made construction. Even much harder when the prices are so high for something that is not so unique or not even that special.

I fell like my mom is trapped in a society that aside from the technology progress (she loves her apple computer and digital camera) a lot of things have changed for the worst and she was not prepared for it. Furniture is now produced with crap materials and even worst finishes, and this fast fashion and mass produced pieces are below her standards. She can not absorb the concept of fabrics that will not last a couple of washes...

I see now that most of my illustrations and textiles were inspired by the decor around the house while I was growing up. It was all full of dark wood furniture, african american masks and tapestry from Bahia. I can pretty much say that all my design and fashion sense came from my mom's taste, style, magazines and books.

What is also so amazing about her is that even thou she was always so beautiful she was never too vain neither shallow. And even thou she was so intelligent and she got accepted to work at the brazilian senate she quit to follow her dream to be a high school teacher. She always felt her calling was to inspire young ones and what she teaches goes way beyond what is her duty. She teaches about life, etiquette, manners, discipline, responsibility and commitment.

I am proud I got to learn it all from her (well at least she tried!) and I am proud for growing up in a house full of books. She made me read for 1 hour daily and she also gave us only healthy foods - which I didn't appreciate at the time but now I am very grateful for it! 

My mom is now 66 years old, she still works as a Portuguese teacher at the school I went to and she is often recognized on the streets by former students! We were in Hollywood and she bumped into some of them, then at Disney in Orlando she met another ones, and even when she was on vacation in Paris she met a bunch of them! The pictures below are from my brother's wedding just a few months ago, doesn't she still looks stunning?

Let me emphasize: no plastic surgery!

I am very grateful for my mom and the fact that when I came into her life - by being a surprise baby and a high risk pregnancy - she never even considered abortion. She embraced me in her life, went through a rough c-section followed by a rough surgery... all with grace, all with style, all with faith... - yep she is my rock star, my wonder woman!

Thank you for being so brave and giving me the opportunity to come to this world and thank you for welcoming me in your life, eu te amo!