Fashion and memory: the work of Rui Spohr

Abstract

In this paper, I present aspects of my research based in Rui Spohr´s professional path. The first brazilian designer in studying fashion in France in the early 1950s, Rui has gained notoriety in Porto Alegre, south Brazil, where he lives and developped his activities. He became widely known
in the 1960s by integrating Rhodia’s team of dressmakers in the shows that took place during Fenit. His trajectory helps to understand some peculiarities of Brazilian fashion: the idea of its international quality – following the French model –, the searching for cultural elements to express an identity through fashion and the resumption of its past to build a memory.