With urban concept, Virgilio Couture is promising for eveningwear

06/11/2014
Texbrasil (Brazilian Fashion Industry Internationalization Program, developed by Abit and Apex-Brasil) has a new member. Founded in 2012, Virgilio Couture is a new label, but one that is full of personality. Following the “street party” concept, the idea is to create casual eveningwear looks that can be used day to day. Virgilio Andrade is behind the label, along with Izabela Starling, who partnered with him in 2013. Initially, the label was only aiming to be experimental, focusing on presentations at Casa de Criadores (House of Creators), a fashion event for young designers. After a while, the idea came up to sell the collections, which is how Virgilio Couture took part in its first trade show, at the F/W 2014 edition of Minas Trend Preview.

It was an instant success and, building on the visibility gained with the event, Virgilio Couture opened eighteen points of sale and became part of the Fashion Room, a showroom for premium brands located in Sao Paulo. Among Izabela and Virgilio’s plans are consolidation on the domestic market, tripling the number of points of sale within three years, and entering the international market. “Texbrasil will be a great partner in this process of internationalizing the brand. Without their support in terms of knowledge and financing, it would be practically impossible for participations in major trade shows and international showrooms to be feasible,” says Izabela, who has already begun export processes: “In September, we will launch a S/S collection at FiftyTwo lab, a showroom in New York that focuses on wholesale, and we are very hopeful with this work starting. We first tried to get a feeling for what ‘our space’ is, but for sure the Middle East and Asia are already our biggest focus at the outset.”

Virgilio Couture is part of a segment that has grown substantially and become more competitive. Aimed at a high-end public, eveningwear companies need to reinvent themselves in terms of design and quality to convince their clientele. For Virgilio  partner, the brand has a major edge: “Our apparel has elements of street style and our exclusive prints, with traditional haute couture embroidery and techniques, always with a fund side, without that ‘dramatic’ feeling that eveningwear has, making everything younger and good humored. After all, parties are supposed to be fun, right?” says Izabela.

Find out more about the brand and see the Virgilio Couture fashion show at Casa de Criadores F/W 2013.

abit, Apex-Brasil, texbrasil, Virgilio Couture