Creative direction by ZOOT beauty editor Antonia Rosa and ROWE founder Catalina Jaramillo
using ROWE Beauty Europe
Assisted by Frederico Simaõ and Joana Lopes
Hair by Helena Vaz Pereira assisted by Isabel Miller
at Griffe Hair Style using L´Oréal Paris
Photography Frederico Santos
Styling Lis Moulder
Production Michelle Silva
Make-up team Micael Cardoso • Andreia Guimarães • Catarina Veiga • Catarina Mata
Margarida Faria • Raquel Neto
Models Sebastian Hubert • Anna Whittlestone at Elite Lisbon • Frederico Simaõ • Guido Avelino
Raquel Neto • Micael Cardoso • Zuzimo Morato • Antonia Herbert • Beatriz Leirosa • Laura Andrade at Face Models • Unai Deeks at Karacter Agency • Rian Vitor at Face Models • Dante Bernardino • Ana Barroso
Disha Dzham • Maren Zils at Face Models • Felipe Wayne Nocko
Special thanks to
PopUP Lx for Ana Teixeira; Pop Closet for Saintdog Streetwear and to Flamingos Vintage Kilo Lisboa
And to our editor Michaela Doyle
Layout design by Fernanda Russomano
Playlists by Guido Avelino
Words and interviews by Laura Farrajota
Dearest readers,
On the 14th of February many of us are thinking about, talking about and celebrating love. But love has many faces and looks different for every relationship. Love is not necessarily roses and chocolate or Barbie and Ken. Love is anyone we choose, any way we choose. No set rules or requirements, no roles…well, unless that’s your kink, of course.
Today we not only celebrate love, but the freedom to love whomever we want, crave whomever we need and desire whomever we yearn for, with no consent needed from anyone beyond the bounds of the relationship. While there may be no objective truth in any answer to the question “what is love?”, with the help of everyone in this shoot—a Rowe Beauty x ZOOT collaboration—we’re giving you a glimpse into love’s possibilities.
We believe love is the magic life gave us, and so we’re channeling the wonder and enchantment of romance, made possible by our brilliant production team and the gorgeous vegan and cruelty-free makeup from Rowe Beauty, a Colombian makeup brand based in Lisbon. With Rowe’s natural glitter gels and vibrant eye colours, makeup artist and ZOOT beauty editor Antónia Rosa captured the sparkling feeling of falling head over heels in love. On hair we had the extraordinary Helena Vaz Pereira and her team designing playful styles, all viewed through the lens of Portuguese fashion photographer Frederico Santos.
Last but not least Dutch-born, Lisbon-based Lis Mulder styled for ZOOT for the first time. With experience as a hair stylist and a model before finding her true passion as a stylist, Lis has always been in love with fashion. Speaking about her inspiration for the shoot, she explains, “Love can be extreme and it can be simple, it can be whatever you want it to be, but most of all: a fantasy. This is what I tried to translate in the looks I created.”
We put in bold that love can be anything and everything we see through wholehearted eyes. Love can be a friend picking you up from the airport; love can be seeing your favorite painting for the first time; Love can be your pet that passed away five years ago; love can be the job you wake up to do every day; love can be taking your grandparents to the hospital; love can be a slow morning playing on the floor with your kid; love can be hearing your favourite song on the radio; love can be waking up next to someone for the first time or kissing your partner goodnight for the thousandth time; love can be you when you look in the mirror.
We all look for it, constantly, presciently and sometimes desperately. All this and still we don’t always feel its presence all around—sometimes in the most unexpected places.
May you feel the love glittering today and beyond.
Love, ZOOT
P.S. For those celebrating the day, might we recommend ZOOT’s curated love songs playlist? And for those denouncing the day, we have another option: our breakup songs playlist.
I have been in love many times! I think there are different types of being in love. But the most enjoyable one is when you are completely obsessed, have your head in the clouds and nothing else matters anymore.
There are so many layers to a person, and I believe that love is a few layers deep. Before love it could be admiration, idealisation or pure attraction.– Anna Whittlestone
I discovered that I was in love when I started noticing that when I was talking to the person I was automatically happy. I was smiling for no reason, I was super happy just being with the person, talking to or just thinking about them.
– Zuzimo Morato
My mom and my girlfriend hold my heart. [The most romantic gesture I ever made was] I went to the airport to pick up my girlfriend with a box of gifts, soft toys and flowers. And my best advice for a healthy relationship would be communication and truth.
– Sebastian Hubert
Self-love is fundamental but I think the spectrum is different. You have to be open in order to be able to love, you can’t be closed to it. You can’t always be the only one or always be the first person in the love equation.
– Frederico Simaõ
I believe we all are energy and sometimes this energy matches at first sight. [The most romantic gesture I ever made was] leaving everything behind in Brazil for someone here in Portugal.
– Filipe Wayne Nocko
I just [got] out of a relationship. I loved intensely and so intensely I feel also the pain of a broken heart. I hold my heart right now to give it the love it needs to heal.
– Maren Zils
We [my partner and I] are from different countries, Ukraine and Russia. During the pandemic we couldn’t meet for 8 months. We were not married yet, so it was no chance to meet each other. I couldn’t wait anymore and I did fake documents and came to Ukraine to meet him like a criminal—Bonnie and Clyde.
My favorite flowers are peonies. Instead of giving me a bouquet, my partner planted a lot of flowers on the balcony for me.– Disha Dzham
My partner Dante holds my heart. He makes me feel very safe and brings a lot of calmness to me, and being calm doesn’t come easy to me.
– Ana Barroso
I think love is a deep feeling that can’t happen in seconds, you might feel attracted and curious but not in love at first sight.
– Dante Bernardino
If you feel judged it’s not a healthy relationship. You need to have your freedom of speech and be comfortable enough to open up to your partner whenever you need to.
– Unai Deeks
I don’t believe in love at first sight, I think you fall in love when you get to know the person.
– Micael Cardoso
I do believe in love at first sight, every time I leave home I fall in love a thousand times.
– Rian Vitor
I have been in love, I still am, since the moment I saw him [my boyfriend].
– Laura Andrade
I think you realize that [you are in love] from the moment you want to share everything with the person, you want that person to be a part of your life. For a healthy relationship the people involved have to really make an effort for each other, to understand them and also communicate their feelings.
– Catarina Mata
I’ve been in love twice in my life I believe. I realized that I was in love since they were the first thing I thought of when I woke up and the last when I went to sleep. I just couldn’t get them out of my mind.
– Antonia Herbert
[When I am heartbroken] it helps getting away on my own for some days. I love to be heartbroken in the summer so I can just be by myself in the middle of nowhere and have two beers at night.
– Beatriz Leirosa
To me, the feeling of falling in love is like when you’re in a roller coaster and feel your tummy “coming up”, and you don’t know, if you fall, [whether] someone is gonna catch you or not. At the same time it’s like when a butterfly comes out of its cocoon. All of it is a mixed scary and beautiful feeling.
I used to rely on other people to hold my heart. As I got older, I learned holding my heart myself.– Raquel Neto
[As for romantic gestures, I’m] not big on the magnitude of it all. I do dig the small things, though. When he got me Chinese cause I was feeling down or read me the news in the morning while we waited for the hotel breakfast to be served. I don’t know man, silly little couple things.I have been heartbroken, haven’t we all? It breaks every other day. No medicine though, just gotta wait till it breaks again!
– Guido Avelino
To boot…
Addicted to love? Check out Lovesick and Love stains for more ZOOT Valentine’s-inspired coverage.
