Flavia in Sao Paolo – Bellissima Kids

Mixed Kids, Spring/Summer 2016 collection

Mixed Kids, the Brazilian Kid’s Fashion company was born because Ciccy Halpern asked her mom, Riccy Souza Aranha, owner of well-established Brazilian brand Mixed, to have a kid’s line. The women in this family are very talented and Ciccy’s sister, Carol Porto, designs the line. They follow a big trend locally that is the mother / daughter concept collection.
For Mixed Kids, Spring/Summer 16 collection Mixed Kids was inspired by the Mexican culture. This time around, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico and Mixed Kids’ patron saint is the main reference and brings protection and blessings to all children. Continue reading “Mixed Kids, Spring/Summer 2016 collection”

Pistol Star – New Breakout Brand from Brazil

Pistol Star is a blue hyper giant star, 25,000 years light of Earth and near the center of the Milky Way, following the direction of the Sagittarius constellation. It is one of the most massive stars known to us, and it has 10 million times more light than the our sun, producing as much energy in six seconds as the sun produces in one year. What a great name for a kid’s brand!

Lila Colzani, founder of another Brazilian women and men’s brand called Colcci -you know, the one where Gisele sashayed for the last time during SP Fashion Week recently, is the label’s owner and designer. After the birth of her son Pedro in 2007, she and her husband Thiago Volpato realized that there was a gap in the market for children’s street wear designed for urban and active kids.
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Ópera, International Children’s Fashion Tradeshow – São Paulo

Ópera, the international children’s fashion and decor tradeshow, celebrated its 10th anniversary this fall/winter 2015 edition that took place in November. It is a wholesale event, and in the line up you will find the most significant national brands, plus some of the most notably international ones in Brazil.
Despite having some logistics and accommodation issues for being held in a brand new built space that looked somewhat unfinished, the fair is always a success in terms of ideas and design presented by excellent companies.
You will find below some brands I loved in this edition. And this will give you enough of an idea of what lies ahead for next year.
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Babybum – Kid’s Trade Show, São Paulo

Babybum is an open to the public trade show that happens twice a year in São Paulo. Among several cool, indie new kids fashion brands, there are also all kinds of children related products: from food to books and magazines, and from costumes to room decor. This was their Fall/Winter edition and happened at the end of May.
I made a selection below of the brands that are worth keeping an eye on because they have great potential.

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Zig Zag Zaa – Fall-Winter 2015

The only brand of children’s clothing that contributes to the healthy development of children – Zig Zig Zaa – launches its fall/winter 15 collection with the theme ” Circus Show “. This Brazilian brand was created with a twist: the company wanted to have a brand that would attend to the kids’ needs in the first place, and they have a child development expert on call to approve all the designs for all the collections. The colors, shapes and stimuli are thought to please the children, not the grownups.
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Ameise Design – Great Brazilian Kids Furniture

Ameise Design started out when the young Brazilian couple of architects, Luciana Raunaimer and Diego Verri, wanted to give a pregnant friend a crib. They did not find one to their contemporary taste, with lightweight and modern design. Sadly, their friend had to manage with a plain, boring white crib. But the idea of making a better product never left Luciana and Diego’s mind, and a couple of years later, they decide to design their own furniture. And what a success!

Today Ameise Design has a complete nursery line that includes cribs, gliders, accessories, and changing tables and kids dresser. Big kids rooms have toddler beds, chests, cabinets, shelves, table and chairs and accessories. Of course their furniture is made by hand with non-toxic and sustainable wood.

To see more of Ameise work, please visit their website.
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Christmas in São Paulo, 2103!

This is our first in a series of “Christmas in….” All of the Bellissima Correspondents will be showing off their great city in the next week, so stay tuned!

Christmas is to Brazilians what Thanksgiving is to Americans, with the anticipation, family reunions and a big bird for super included. And super never arrives earlier than 10 pm, so we are prepared to snack during the entire day not to ruin the magnificent meal at night.

We do wish for a White Christmas but unfortunately it is summer this time of the year on this side of the Equator. Despite this unfortunate tiny detail, shopping malls are the perfect destination to get that wintery feeling, since there are really no big windows decorations like Saks or Selfridges in town and the weather doesn’t help at all. Every shopping mall erects at least one, if not several, elaborate Christmas diorama like displays and three story high Christmas trees. There are plenty of fake snow, fur-clad Santas, gigantic teddy bears, real sized Rudolphs and Frosty the Snowman plush toys. It’s about 90 degrees out and the AC is blasting inside the malls.

The city comes alive at night with all the buildings in town featuring light displays that simulated snowfall or lights hanging in the shape of snowflakes. The tree trunks around streets and avenues are illuminated as well. Another great destination is Paulista Avenue with its décor and Christmas caroling and Ibirapuera Park that has fountain shows all night long from the lake (think of the Bellagio show in a smaller scale) and yet another big Christmas tree.

I want to wish you all a great time during the holidays and a smashing New Year!

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Panoptes Photography from Brazil

After having Yasmin, an adorable 3-year-old girl, Polish-Brazilian photographer duo from Panoptes changed careers and now dedicates their time to photographing families and children.

The name Panoptes comes from Greek mythology: There was this giant with a hundred eyes, an excellent observer. He served goddess Hera and an act of gratitude, she turned him into a peacock. That’s why these birds have “eyes” in their out-of-this-world tales.

Irmina Walczak and Sávio Freire are based back-and-forth in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, Brazil. The idea of changing careers was to combine three things: be present in Yasmin’s daily routine, to have a flexible work schedule and to exercise their senses and creativity.
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Parque da Agua Branca, Sao Paolo

I was going to write about 3 places to visit in São Paulo, but as I started, I realized this was not going to happen, because Parque da Agua Branca (White Waters Park) has so many cool things to see and do that it wouldn’t be fair to the other 2 places I was going to pick to show you. This park is our very favorite place to get out of the city within the city limits, and you will soon find out why.
The park makes you feel you are in the countryside. To start, there are lots, and I mean lots of chickens, ducks, geese, cats and peacocks free-ranging in the premises as you walk around. My kids are happy to spend hours chasing the chicks and ducklings, trying to catch one with their bare hands.
There is an organic farmer’s market on Tuesdays and Saturdays and some of the turn of the last century buildings house small museums and a little aquarium. Agua Branca also has cute reading nooks for kids and grown-ups when you need to take a break. On the other side of the park there’s a large horseback riding arena and stables where you can visit and feed the horses, as well as a tiny amusement park, complete with a train that goes around the park.
Scattered in the park are several playgrounds and a small walking trail for tree observation. It’s the perfect place to spend the entire day, with a picnic basket and lots of sunscreen.

Check out our slideshow below to see some of these lovely sights!

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