SAO PAULO–Gloria Coelho is one of the doyenne’s of Brazil’s fashion scene (also the ex-wife of Reinaldo Lourenço and mother of Pedro Lourenço). She presented her spring 2012 collection yesterday which she called “Spiritual Psychedelic.”

Before I get into the clothes, Coelho’s line sheet merits quoting:
“After 184 years Neptune enters Pisces upon returning to its home, the deep sea, resstablishing the universal love, compassion, solidarity and fantasies dissolving the rigidness of concrete and infinite. By shuffling the mind and giving a lysergic air to everything it touches, we created clothes with energy of love and healing intension, clothes that heal.” Coelho says she looked to “1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 2011 and X-Men” for inspiration (yes, X-Men is a year). As for colors, the collection uses “colors from the sixties,” and “Pokemon colors.”

As you can imagine, after reading Coelho’s line sheet (and I had plenty of time to do so seeing as how her show was nearly two hours late), I was intrigued to see the clothes. And despite the wacky descriptions and inspiration, the clothes were pretty great.

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SAO PAULO–We usually see Alexander Herchcovitch‘s shows in New York–he’s been showing in the city since the early oughts. But the Sao Paulo native also shows in his hometown, so we got an early look at what we’ll be seeing from him in a few months.

For spring, the always bold designer (remember that football-inspired collection?) sent out a surprisingly subdued, ultra-feminine collection of ladylike silk dresses embroidered and printed with flowers. His color palate may well have been taken from an Easter egg basket. Waists were nipped and tied up in bows. But this is Herchcovitch after all, and the collection stopped short of saccharin. Flouncy silk day dresses got a sporty kick when paired with matching embroidered silk baseball caps, and flashes of poppy livened up the Easter basket. So did the cleavage on display in bustier tops and one-piece swimsuits. Oh, and a lone black dress closed the show.

Click through for photos and video of the show.

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SAO PAULO–For Spring 2012 (yes, we’re already thinking about spring in Sao Paulo), designer Tufi Duek infused his collection with tribal motifs: metal bands around models’ arms and thighs framed quirky paneled mini dresses done in couch-upholstery-thick fabrics. Some dresses were printed and had flouncy skirts, while others were stark white and had cleaner shift-like silhouettes with contrast black seams to create chevron-esque patterns.

The collection verged on Pocahontas at times–models’ hair was styled pin straight and parted down the middle and leggings were laced up in leather–but it never crossed the line into over-the-top schtick. And despite the thick heavy fabrics, the collection had an overall light, fresh feel. Heavy beaded tunic tops were rendered delicate, held together with dainty straps across the back.

Take a look:

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