POWERHOUSE BRASIL
Category: Apparel
Competitions: Brazil, International
The look is grounded in Brazil as a multifaceted territory shaped by social, cultural, and productive contrasts. It acknowledges the coexistence of large-scale industry and ancestral craftsmanship, rural economies and urban expression, tradition and reinvention. Rather than presenting a singular narrative, the project embraces Brazil’s layered complexity as its central framework. Genuine leather is established as the core material, chosen not only for its durability and structural qualities, but also for its symbolic weight within the south Brazilian context. It represents the economic strength of agribusiness and its historical role in the national production chain, particularly in the livestock sector. In the look, leather is explored through tailoring, construction techniques, and surface treatments that emphasize both its robustness and its capacity for refinement. In contrast, Northeastern bobbin lace is incorporated as an expression of traditional craftsmanship deeply rooted in regional communities. This technique highlights the value of manual labor, collective knowledge, and cultural preservation passed down through generations. By integrating lace with leather, the collection creates a material dialogue between delicacy and resistance, transparency and density, ornament and structure. Street style functions as a contemporary connector, grounding the collection in present-day Brazil. References from urban life, informal dressing practices, and self-styled identity construction inform proportions, layering, and styling choices. The street becomes a space of negotiation and visibility, where social codes are constantly rewritten. Through these intersections, the collection proposes a dialogue between production scales, territories, and aesthetic languages. It reflects a complex, hybrid Brazil in constant transformation — a country defined not by uniformity, but by the tension and coexistence of its differences.
