Made in Brazil

Thairine Garcia, Way Model Management’s Thiago Selasco and his boyfriend Rogério Martinez, Cássia Ávila, Alexandre Herchcovitch and his muse Geanine Marques, Bruno Ventura, Samira Carvalho, Carmelita Mendes, Ronaldo Martins, Rafael Lazzini and Renata Sozzi with their baby Lucca, and Lea T. photographed by Bob Wolfenson and styled by Paulo Martinez for the 25th anniversary issue of Elle Brazil.

Joan Smalls by Kacper Kasprzyk and Carine Roitfeld for Harper’s Bazaar Brazil. How can you go wrong with Joan Smalls in Givenchy? The cover and the accompanying spring 2013 collections story were produced in New York and featured in 26 international editions of Harper’s Bazaar to mark Carine Roitfeld’s appointment as global fashion director of the title. No wonder it is by far the best national cover on newsstands this month.

Alessandra Ambrósio by Fabio Bartelt for Vogue Brazil. I love Alessandra (more than ever after working with her) and I love the choice of the Louis Vuitton look, but the overall styling of the cover feels dated and not exciting. It could have been brilliant had it been done slightly differently, but still it looks much more interesting than the publication did a year ago.

Bruna Tenório by Gui Paganini for Elle Brazil. Sorry, but I don’t get the styling at all and it is one of my least favorite covers of Elle Brazil in a while. Are Brazilian women supposed to want to look like that?

Thairine Garcia by Bob Wolfenson for L’Officiel Brazil. Thairine is back to being a brunette, and delivers the best cover of L’Officiel Brazil since the relaunch of the publication a year ago.

I love the cover of the February issue of Elle Brazil with Aline Weber (it is my favorite on national newsstands this month), but the styling in the accompanying editorial could have used a little more punch to take it to the same level as the cover. Aline’s hair and make up by Henrique Martins looks amazing though.

Ana Claudia Michels by Eduardo Rezende for Elle Brazil. I cannot avoid to think it would have been much stronger if she were wearing a bikini instead of that Versace top we already saw in Gisele in Vogue Paris in May of last year.

Laís Ribeiro by Bob Wolfenson for Harper’s Bazaar Brazil. Love the fluo pink logo and all the pink tones on the cover, but it is a shame that the cover fails to mention that Laís is the star of this issue and is featured in all three fashion editorials. Unfortunately, the three editorials with Laís in this issue can put you to sleep in five seconds, featuring some of the worst styling to ever appear in the pages of the magazine.

Joan Smalls by Henrique Gendre for Vogue Brazil. I am not a fan of the (over)styling and the art direction as usual, but it is the most striking cover out of the three on newsstands. It is just a shame that in this day and age Vogue Brazil has to justify having Joan Smalls on the cover with a Black Issue, and that a Black Issue of Vogue Brazil does not feature a black Brazilian girl (or more) on its cover.

Thairine Garcia, who was still a new face a little over a year ago, closes 2012 with her second cover of Elle Brazil, and an editorial photographed by Bob Wolfenson. The story also features models Natan Machado and Rael Costa, and was shot at L’Hotel Porto Bay in São Paulo.