Designer Launches Gender-Fluid Label with the Same Silhouettes for Men and Women

With no prints or colors, what matters in Beira's designs is shape and texture

Lívia Breves

April 18, 2015 – 7:00 AM / Updated July 27, 2015 – 3:22 PM

RIO DE JANEIRO — Fashion designer Livia Campos, 26, loves the inside of a garment. Her clothes feature carefully constructed interiors, with elegant pleats and hidden pockets. In her new label, Beira, this is precisely where the strength of her designs lies: in their construction.

“At first glance, the clothes seem basic, but they are full of details on the inside. You gradually discover the garment, finding pockets and slits,” Livia explains.

With no prints or colors, the focus is on shape and texture (everything is made from 100% silk). The cuts are generous and play with masculine and feminine codes: Livia creates clothing without gender distinctions.

“That’s where the name Beira comes from: clothing that sits on the boundary between what is considered menswear and womenswear. Until halfway through the project, I described the collection as unisex, but I don’t like that term. I prefer ‘plurisex’ or ‘multi-sex,’” she says. Of the ten designs, only two were created exclusively for women. “With a pair of trousers, for example, a man wears the crotch low, while a woman wears them belted at the waist. It’s more about how you wear the piece than the design itself.”

To construct a garment, her first step is to place an oversized shape on a dress form (“I always use a male one”) and gradually give it structure. Livia begins by adding many elements and then removing them.

“I don’t want the clothes to look strange. My idea isn’t to shout, but to whisper,” she explains.

To create Beira, Livia spent a year and a half planning. She explored questions of personal fulfillment and market opportunities to envision a fulfilling future.

“I started with questions like ‘What inspires us?’ and ‘What makes us move?’ I concluded that people were increasingly drawn to design-focused pieces rather than prominent designer labels, and that menswear was expanding,” she recalls. After completing this research, she had six months to design her debut collection. “I wanted to present it at Paralela Gift, a design fair held last August. At the fair, the Tomie Ohtake Institute purchased my pieces for its shop.”

Later, in December, Livia won a competition for emerging fashion entrepreneurs organized by ABIT (the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association). She was selected to present her designs in Paris at the 2015/16 trend forum organized by Martine Leherpeur Conseil and at the Who’s Next Paris trade show.

“In May, I’ll travel to Japan for an exchange program. I’ll visit Bunka Fashion College (where Kenzo and Yamamoto studied), as well as factories and ateliers of brands such as Uniqlo and Issey Miyake,” she says. In Rio, her pieces are sold at Dona Coisa. “I’m setting up an e-commerce platform. My goal is to make clothes for the world. I want to export.”

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZANFdLoyq0pTKkLAS_EhYjCiqucRtb1Z/view