So.... I was supposed to be in Sao Paolo right now attending their fashion week but due to personal reasons which I won't bore on about here, in the end I couldn't make it. That said, I'll still be going taking a gander at what's going on, to obviously torture myself with what I'm missing because I masochistic like that and also because some things coming through from Fashion Rio (which someone tells me is not half as exciting as Sao Paolo's fashion week...good authority or not?) last week is already brimming with promise.
Lucas Nascimento, though Brazilian is actually based in London and may even end up showing here in London next season, despite the fact he's only just shown his first collection in Rio. That said, Nascimento has been cutting his teeth (or yarns...) designing knitwear for Basso & Brooke and Brazilian labels like Ellus and Amapo (see his brilliant freelance archive on his blog) and so he has experience aplenty and it seems like with his own label, he's focused on a very specific 'strand' of knitwear.
I really thought that with the slew of knitwear designers we've been getting these past few years, that boundaries within knitwear had been pushed in most directions but Nascimento proves me wrong with his particular take on moulded shapes and multi-texture knitwear. His debut solo collection is simultaneously restrictive and freeing. These fluid knitted straight jackets are created by a mix of manual and machine knitting, as well as experimentations with different yarns that create an oversized rib in lurex. Mohair adds another textural contrast and before you ask, it's definitely a big FAT yes to the crinkly metallic lurex shorts. In any other medium, the elongated sleeves that restrict the arms would look too much like fabric imprisonment but somehow, in the ribbed knit, I'm convinced that daily movement wouldn't be hampered too much... unless you like dramatic arm waving or have a penchant for traversing the streets doing pirouettes. Klaus Jurgen Schmidt's specially sculpted footwear for the show are similarly unique and totally apt accompaniments.
Even if London doesn't claim Nascimento as their own during fashion week, my eyes will definitely head towards Brazil next season. Even if the body doesn't make it.
