Vulnerable couturiers display creativity at 52nd Sao Paulo Fashion Week

Seamstresses from a vulnerable neighbourhood in Sao Paulo showcased their creations Wednesday at the 52nd Fashion Week (SPFW), launched the day before in a hybrid format with face-to-face fashion shows, after two years of virtual events.

Twenty women and two men, residents of the Cidade Tirandentes neighbourhood on the outskirts of the megalopolis, opened the second day of the show where they strut runway in garments they designed themselves as part of their social project.

Coordinator of the Cria Costura project, Jefferson de Assis shed more light on the project in its entirety.

"The students themselves wear the clothes, the seamstresses themselves are going to present the product they made…The opening of the Pavilion is done by them, nobody opens a showroom until they enter the Pavilion, and as soon as they open the Pavilion, dressed in their clothes, and enter the catwalk, then the fashion week begins."

Members of the project's pilot programme received vocational training and other personal development tools over 10 weeks. Some participants believe this programme has helped give them the exposure they need for their business.

"I think it's wonderful because people usually know the stylist, the designer, but nobody knows the seamstress, she's the person at the end of the line, so for me it's an honor." A seamstress, Rosangela De Moraes stated.

Another seamstress, Doralis Dos Santos also added "It's necessary that seamstresses learn and can be here in the fashion world, because Fashion Week is something that expands all over the world and we know that doors are opening for each one of us."

In addition to basic creation and design techniques, the training process followed a sustainable 'zero waste' methodology, which aims to reduce the amount of textile waste.

The audience consisted of influencers, fashion lovers, Mayor Ricardo and other authorities of the city of Sao Paulo.

The Sao Paulo fashion week began on Tuesday with a fashion show at the Pinacoteca paulista, and will run until next Sunday with a programme of 27 face-to-face and 24 virtual exhibitions by more than 50 brands.

The last two editions of SPFW were exclusively online exhibitions due to the pandemic.