Karoline Vitto on Why Brazilian Music Offers Hope in Oppressive Times

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Karoline Vitto
Karoline is wearing a ruched bra top in viscose jersey with metal toggles, long-sleeved top in jersey with metal wire and cut-out detail and trousers in cotton with metal wire and mesh panel by KAROLINE VITTO. Shoes in patent leather by JIMMY CHOOPhotography by Annie Lai, Styling by Jordan Duddy

“Seeing people gather together outside polling stations singing and playing Brazilian music gave me a great sense of hope,” says the young fashion designer

TextEmma Elizabeth Davidson

This article is taken from the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of AnOther Magazine:

“Brazilian music was always playing in our house when I was growing up, so listening to it connects me with home. At my first Fashion East show [last September] we mixed two Brazilian tracks – one by an artist called Elza Soares, in which she sings about the relationship between her art and Carnival. This was symbolic – I wanted something that would represent the relationship between my country and my own work. The other song was by Tati Quebra Barraco, who is a success­ful Brazilian funk artist, a genre that’s dominated by men. The word ‘empow­ered’ is overused, but her music is all about powerful women and it has so much energy. My show took place right before Brazil’s general election, when there was a lot of worry about how it would turn out. I almost cried when the country voted for the [centre­ left] Workers’ Party. Obviously there is work to be done and alliances need to be made, but seeing people gather together outside polling stations singing and playing Brazilian music gave me a great sense of hope that things are going to change.”

Growing up in Brazil, the fashion designer Karoline Vitto felt subjected to narrow ideals of beauty and was hyperconscious of her body from a young age. Now settled in London and part of the Fashion East family, she uses metal frames and cut-outs in her clothing to amplify the soft bulges of flesh and folds that are usually hidden, revealing them as things of beauty. And her body-conscious designs have been championed by the likes of Shygirl, Jojo Todynho and Precious Lee. Vitto’s love for her country runs deep, in unexpected ways – even her use of red symbolises not stereotypical sensuality, but her support for the party of Brazil’s new president.

Make-up: Mattie White using WELEDA. Photographic 110 assistant: Guanhao Wang

This story features in the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of AnOther Magazine, which is on sale now. Order here.

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