Pedro Lourenço on His Collaboration With Melissa, His First Comme des Garçons Show (He Was 7) and His Biggest Challenge

Melissa, the Brazilian-based brand that churns out candy-colored mold-injected plastic shoes, is no stranger to collaborating with artists, architects and designers--it's part of who they are. Past design collaborators include Vivienne Westwood, Jason Wu and Gareth Pugh, just to name a few. Their latest collaboration is a fitting one, as it's with fellow Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenço. A much buzzed-about name to watch, Lourenço showed his first ready-to-wear collection in Paris to critical acclaim when he was just 19.
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PARIS--Pedro Lourenco is 20. He's Brazilian. His parents are designers. And he says that he's been designing professionally since age 12. There is plenty of hype around this wunderkind, but not as much as one would expect, given the extreme skill it takes to create what he creates. As I waited in the Beax Arts building on Paris's left bank for the show to begin, I got a taste of what Lourenco is capable of. Several of the organizers--either his personal PRs or sales people--were wearing Fall 2010 Lourenco creations. In camel and black, the heavy wool pieces were made of blocks of fabrics that looked as though they had been fused together, some molded into curvy pleats.

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