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Favela Fashion

Looking back on last year, we are throwing back to some of our favorite stories, this one coming straight from Rio. Hot on the heels of Gisele B?ndchen's favela model search, there is a unique style experiment opening doors for creative Cariocans.

Eight years after its creation ?to identify and enable Rio?s fashion talent?, ModaFusion, the association created by Brazilian Andrea Fasanello and Frenchwoman Nadine Gonzalez, set up the Casa Geracao fashion school in Vidigal, once one of the city?s most notorious favelas.

The two former journalists set up the school in 2013 to give favela-born Cariocans the chance to develop their artisanal design talents and actually turn them into fashion goods. Next, these budding couturiers were put in touch with a raft of respected stylists (including S?o Paulo?s own James Cesari) that helped them to market their creations. ?Our goal was... to discover fashion talents in these lesser known incubators which are communities of Rio, and reveal them to the world,? says Andrea.

Establishing partnerships with some of the globe's great fashion academies including IFM, ESMOD, and Central Saint Martin, Fasanello and Gonzalez have established a training centre and creation lab ? free to favela-based students ? producing two collections: Collection Gera??o Vidigal, with a lower price tag that is sold to favela inhabitants, and the high-end Gera??o ModaFusion label, marketed worldwide.

The resulting fashion pieces, which combine French Haute Couture techniques with Brazilian creative flair, have already sold to cult French clothing retailer Colette. With other projects in the pipeline, including a high profile collaboration with ethical style traders Twins for Peace, the groundbreaking favela school with spectacular views over Ipanema beach seems set to rock Rio?s fashion world.