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Backstage at BUZINA SS24 at ModaLisboa à la carte

Beauty in the midst of chaos

People learn by associating experiences with their outcomes, as if these memories serve as a warning so that we don’t have to go through it again. Perhaps this is partly to blame for the fact that the beautiful, positive things are almost always ignored when we’re going through a bad day. Vera Fernandes shows us in her BUZINA SS24 “Babel” collection that it is still possible to see and create beauty in the midst of chaos.

Beauty Antonia Rosa and team with Clarins

Hair Helena Vaz Pereira and team at Griffe Hair Style

Founded in 2016 by Vera Fernandes, BUZINA is dedicated to empowering women to express their unique sense of femininity and style. Rooted in psychology and inspired by her maternal grandmother, who was a pattern maker, from an early age Vera was surrounded by fabrics, textures and artistic creation. It led her to express her identity through style, but also to realize Fashion’s potential in creating different characters. Buzina embodies the vision of a creative director committed to the world around her and to her female clientele.

The collection Vera presented now at the 61st edition of Moda Lisboa is called Babel, and very different of what we have seen from her so far.

Here a quick Wikipedia sum-up knowledge to catch up on Babel and to put the “Babel” collection into context:
Babylon or Babel was the capital of Babylonia and one of the most important cities of antiquity. It was located on the Euphrates, about 90 kilometres south of Baghdad in what is now Iraq (Babil province). The ruins of the city were partially excavated by Robert Koldewey and others at the beginning of the 20th century. The city was the capital of the city-state of the same name, which at times ruled over large parts of southern Mesopotamia.The heyday of the ancient “cosmopolitan city” of Babylon was between 1800 and 140 BC . The city was the centre of Babylonia and is also known for the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Originally, the mighty city wall was also one of the wonders of the world.
In the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament, the Hebrew name Babel is used for ancient Babylon, interpreted as derived from bâlal’ “to overflow, mix, confuse”. A mighty tower of Babel is mentioned . In order to limit the power of the people, God confused them and gave them different languages. Due to this communication disruption, they then had to stop building. This story is the origin of the expression “Babylonian confusion of languages” or “Babylonian confusion”.

Inspired by her own challenges and conflicts, Vera shows in this collection that even in the most turbulent times we can find and create something beautiful. Looking at “Babel” as a reference to the ancient city of Babylon we see she takes true inspiration in “Hanging Gardens of Semiramis“. The models come across nearly archaic and with a strong sense of exotic tribal energy with the “Garden Eden”-like flower decoration dangling voluptuous from their ears and hair and sensuous slightly worn off red lips, created by Antonia Rosa and her team with Clarins.

Body tight corset tops are combined not only with fluid and hanging fabrics but with strong geometrics shapes – nearly cubistic as in a Pablo Picasso painting, emphasising the hips and shoulders, partly reminding us of ancient Chinese warrior amours.

Kieza from Central Models in a flower-print velvet body top combined with a soft tulle fabric skirt-pants in lepard print.

This collection shows another side of the Buzina brand, with the combination of heavy rich and delicate soft fabrics not only such as velvet and tulle, that Vera has never worked with before before, but also with satin and tafetta we are used seeing from her. The flowing, feminine silhouettes with glamour and boldness, bring out Buzana’s proposal, to give women a way to express and explore their femininity in a very personal way.

Apart of flower and lepard prints, the fabrics are plain but with structure. The colour palette focuses pretty much on browns and different shades of gold, sage, rosé, and a vibrant turquise blue colour, reminding us of the Ishtar-Gate, the blue wall of Babylon.