Buying in Brazil x

Fashion Week in Brazil • Runwayscoop.com •

I’m Brazilian but raised up in Macau, China and every 2 to 3 years I go back ‘home’ to visit my whole family that lives there.

Always founded strange and ridiculous that clothes in Brazil and South America were so expensive. Every time that I go there, people can see that I am definitely not a local (I get to be a 'gringo' in my own country lol) just by the way I dress- and trust me, it is not because I have expensive and fancy clothes…

In general manufactured and imported goods are more expensive in Brazil than in the US/Europe ans specially Asia, because of the high burden imposed by taxes…

Hand labor-intensive goods or services are cheaper compares to the US or Europe, due to the very low average salaries. People that come from the outside might find things cheaper and feel in Heaven.

Sophisticated goods and services are also founded in Brazil but at a price that the average population would never afford.

The local population simply works very hard to have a meal by the end of the day.

In São Paulo for example (most expensive city of Brazil), local people makes R$500-R$1500 (with a degree sometimes) per month (212 to 600 Euros)...

You can see clearly the difference between social classes…Mid-upper classes get to a point of having a nanny and a driver, simply because people do need to work, and work for very low salaries.
 

I see that for example the south of Brazil, people do try to follow the latest fashion trends, but it’s just impossible to purchase it.

Consequently people tend to dress practical, cheap, leading to low quality garments and wasting their precious hard working money.

Not saying that ‘being in fashion’ or ‘have a style’ has to be a priority in life... no! But people need to get dressed, after a certain period of time they need to buy another pair of pants or a shirt for an especial event or go to work…

It seems also like an irony. Everyone knows that Brazil is known for the beautiful people, specially the women. Women do worry about their appearance, especially about their body and consequently do want to put on a beautiful dress or buy a new top to show off their hard work at the gym :P

I want to one day change that…yeah it is a big dream, but not impossible!

People can dress nicely, on an affordable price. Not saying that dressing nice has to be a priority, no… but it helps your self-steam, doesn’t it?

I will somehow make people realize that from one piece of cloth (cheap), they can show their personality and there is no need to pay a huge amount of money!

…How am I going to do that?! You will see.. but keep in mind that a sustainable design approach is always  aware about the social, economical and ecological benefits for the environment (including the people).

Even thou things are not the greatest in such beautiful country, I am so proud of being an Brazilian… because you can see that everything they do, they find the most ingenuous fun of it and by the end of the day thank God for having such job :)

Please post any comments or thoughts about this xxxxx

Amazon in my doorm x

Some of the pattern designs I did x
Materials used: plants, flowers, colorful yarns

Textile design Class

Just wanted do share what I did not long ago.
Had an assignment to use plants and flowers to create a patter design. Apparently this is how Indian kids in primary schools learn in order do start training their brain about colors and patterns...
I basically turned my doorm into a mini-Amazon forest... is has been more than a month and I still got lil bugs and ants every now and then.. lol
The hardest thing was cleaning all this plants in the lil toilet I've got here since I picked almost everything from the ground..sorry for the 'alive ones'... :\

Starting to be aware x

Chun Ka Shek Memorial Park

Ok. It has been a while since my first and only post. Truth to be told, I almost gave up in having a blog. Especially with so much stuff that I have been doing here in Taiwan!

But I have been doing a lot of research and since I am really interested in Textile and Sustainable Design, I realized that there are just way to many blogs that interests me and I do want to follow.

One of my courses is Fashion Seminar and my final project is to present a seminar…I have chosen to research about Sustainable Fashion in Brazil and its natural recourses.

Found some good websites (mentioned on the ‘following’ list).

It’s the first time that I am learning about something like this and I can’t find the right words to express how excited and thrilled this makes me.

For the first time I feel that I can truly help the World (I used to think that yeah, I will help the World…but was more like a hope. Now its like YEAHHH!)

Here are some parts of my assignment paper about Slow Fashion:

Slow fashion can promote sustainability in fashion industry

Urban life emphasizes the need to monitor and update one's self-performance. This imperative to be self-conscious is a distinguishing feature of modernity, and is so naturalized that each of us plays multiple roles and has various styles of appearance on the understanding that the assertion of identity through appearance is a matter of constant urgency. Thus, fashion industries are deeply implicated in the manufacture of ‘personality’ and ‘needs’ to be fast and in constant change to satisfy all different tastes. However, these tastes are constantly being influenced by advertisings, therefore, in constant change.

The World is tending to follow an ambitious attitude where people constantly want more and more. Principles and ideals have been replaced for materialism and individualism, leading the society a want to compete. Compete to ‘look good’ or ‘have the latest item’. This conducts us to a world that produces more, uses more resources and by the end, wastes more (lack of concern for environmental issues).

Cheaper garments are made (human exploration), consequently a low quality is handed and more money is used.

Based on what was just said, the word ‘Slow fashion’, becomes a contradictive term since ‘fashion’ is related to ‘change’ and ‘speed’.

‘Slow fashion’ can be considered as a movement. A movement that redefines the ‘fashion’ ideal. A movement based on the making of clothes and identity instead of ‘image’ and ‘looking good’. Is a slower approach to reconfigure and make people think about things that really matters in the world.

‘Slow fashion’ is a sustainable approach based on new design strategies, production, use and re-use considering environmental issues.

However, since quality is related to accessibility, people have to educate them self’s, search for the essence of whatever they are going to buy. They will need to redefine their needs and priorities in order to have a more emotional connection to each piece they purchase.

It wont be just about physical durability but also about emotional durability.

People will value what they have, and value the work of who made it (with ‘slow fashion’ the re-use of available resources and hand made products it would become a common practice).

Slow Fashion is not just a new design approach. It is also a new strategy to bring the world together, changing ideals and really reconsider what we already have and re-use it.