DYSTOPIC presents the Camuflagem Rastreada collection at an anti-fashion event in Brazil

The cultural mapping of the Bom Retiro

DYSTOPIC is turning a historic building in São Paulo into an anti-fashion show, launching the Camuflagem Rastreadacollection

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that.

In the pictures: A bold aesthetic at a parade run by trans people, held in Brazil.

The Brazilian brand DYSTOPIC presented its ' Camuflagem Rastreada ' collection in São Paulo, highlighting the resilience and survival of the trans community.

The cultural mapping of the Bom Retiro district, located in São Paulo, Brazil, is renowned for an innovative culture, shaped by migration movements and the textile industry. This unique atmosphere has led the trans-driven brand DYSTOPIC to choose this place as the ideal stage for its parade. At the event, debris, garbage, and elements of urban life were turned into new items and clothing.

The show took place in the historic neoclassical building, Oswald de Andrade Cultural Office. Guests had the opportunity to explore a range of remarkable garments, which juxtaposed the motifs of camouflage with vibrant and shiny shades. Some of the fabrics were made of gray earth tones and stone-like materials, while others were made entirely of elastic materials, printed with various patterns, from tie-dye to leopard fur. They represented the vitality of a fragmented city, which houses an immense diversity of people with convergent stories, identities and backgrounds.

When it comes to cloaked clothing itself

The aesthetics of beauty were just as experimental. Makeup artists Holland, Anddy Willians, Caco Tavares and Matheus Padilha applied lipstick chaotically around the mouths of some models, while others received clown-inspired foundations, with stars painted on their faces or skin colored in blue. The resistance piece was supplemented by mouse prosthetics made by Acauâ Malta and head pieces made from melted phones. The beards also had multiple sources of inspiration. Alikah, Samya, and Kelly worked behind the curtain, offering models all kinds of long bussdownhairstyles or creamy red hairstyles rolled into spaces.

Like species that evolve to survive, our bodies develop strategies to exist and navigate the urban landscape, says Ratzz Daniel, founder and director of DYSTOPIC. According to Daniel, both clothing and makeup symbolize the adaptation, resilience, and the way our bodies transform the spaces they inhabit.

When it comes to cloaked clothing itself, it addresses the theme of survival through the experiences of trans and dissident people, Daniel continues. Marginalized people often felt compelled to hideto survive. The show, created in collaboration with the trans-led production company GELO CC, challenges this norm by exploring those bodies that are allowed to be seen, how they are perceived and what spaces they are allowed to occupy.

Daniel explains that Brazil has been marked by intense political polarisation. Rhetoric of the extreme right has gained popularity, frequently threatening the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. The country's trans population remains subject to a landscape of violence and vulnerability that cannot be separated from wider political struggles, Daniel adds. In a survey conducted by the Brazilian human rights organization ANTRA, researchers found that violence against trans people has become increasingly difficult to monitor. Fewer incidents recorded do not mean less violence, said Bruna Benevides, president of the organization. On the contrary, there is an intense movement to institutionalize transofobia.

Fashion and culture can serve as tools to combat these forms of discrimination and exclusion. They are tools for visibility, autonomy and social change, says Daniel. The public character of DYSTOPIC gives the group a platform to expand the presence of trans stories in Brazil and to demand the recognition, protection and dignity they deserve.