Creative direction and beauty editor Antonia Rosa
Assisted by Frederico and Joana Lopes
Production Michelle Silva
Photography Sergio Santos
Assisted by Guido Avelino
Styling Fernanda Russomano
Make-up team Michael Cardoso • Sara Navidade • Leonor Reis • Catarina Mautempo • Fabiana Nuno • Tania Rute Dias • Catarina Veiga • Catarina Mata • Bella • Joana Galante
Haute Couture dresses by João Rôlo Couture
Bespoke masks by Antonia Rosa and team
Special thanks to
Lucia Azevedo at Lux Frágil for location
to Makeup Kitchen Boutique for Karla Cosmetics, Kryolan, & Maqpro
to ROWE Beauty Europe
and to Michaela Doyle and Thomas Probosch
Featuring
Sofia Aparício
Marisa de La Fuente at Face Models
Marija Silov
Words and interview by Fernanda Russomano
At Lux Frágil, the renowned nightclub beloved by Lisbon’s fashion scene, three women strike poses under cover of surreal painted faces and tailor-made masks crafted by ZOOT’s beauty editor Antonia Rosa, and adorned in couture dresses from the atelier of Portuguese designer João Rôlo. From punk spikes to sensual flowers, from glimmering jewels to supernatural disguises, the dazzling looks celebrate the beauty of individuality and the power of creativity.
Featured below is Sofia Aparício, iconic Portuguese actress and model, together with Portuguese model and stylist Marisa de la Fuente and Croatian model and artist Marija Silov: three women from different walks of life, with different stories to tell and unique points of view. Under the artistic vision and creative eye of a fourth woman, the women’s looks and inner power came alive. Reflecting on the shoot and her drive to create, Antonia explains “I can say that without art, my life would lose all meaning and would have to be lived anew”.
Accompanying the futuristic disguises are feminine gowns featuring intricate beading, delicate lace and expert draping from Portuguese designer João Rôlo, known internationally for his red carpet dresses and his elaborate couture pieces.
To me, haute couture has always been creative exercises in fashion. Basically, it’s the haute couture collections that create a spectacle. Without a doubt haute couture is what makes you travel in dreams, travel through time and create those pieces that many are born and die on the runway because they sometimes are almost not usable. For me that is what has always fascinated me about haute couture, being able to exercise my creativity without limits, without a budget for materials. It’s what every designer dreams of.
– João Rôlo, fashion designer
Photographer Sergio Santos captured it all, to highlight Antonia’s bespoke creations and the model’s natural vibrancy—creating a kaleidoscopic fantasy to kick-start 2023.
A flash in the water
with Sofia Aparício
Featuring colors of Karla Cosmetics.
There will always be someone better, prettier, smarter or more talented than you, but there will never be anyone exactly like you. Your uniqueness is you power. As soon as you realize that, even your flaws can be used in a positive way.
– Sofia Aparício
Ageism is, as any other prejudice, very stupid and ignorant. If we are lucky, we get old. I would not change my life experience at 52 for the body and skin I had when I was 20 or 30. Beauty is the coherence between shape and content, and I feel more beautiful now than I did before. I also continue to do everything I did, but better.
– Sofia Aparício
Bloom, flourish, repeat
with Marisa de la Fuente
Featuring colors of Karla Cosmetics.
It’s fabulous not being a copy of anyone and preserving our personal characteristics. It’s what makes us unique.
– Marisa de la Fuente
I have no age. I have life.
– Marisa de la Fuente
Before we like others, we have to like ourselves and give ourselves to others. Without this we will always be incomplete and less happy.
– Marisa de la Fuente
Eyes of the world
with Marija Silov
Featuring colors of Kryolan.
There is only one of you out there, so love yourself because you are unique.
– Marija Silov
Since I was a child art has helped me with expressing my emotions. Being an artist myself, I would dig myself into drawing and painting and release everything that was stuck in my mind. Art is everything to me.
– Marija Silov
A nurturer, a world builder
with Sofia Aparício
Featuring colors of Maqpro.
I love to express my human condition through make-up and clothing, either it is my femininity, masculinity, androgyny or any other human feature.
– Sofia Aparício
I was born with feminine genitals and I identify as a woman, but it’s not my genitals that define me as a woman or define my femininity. Being feminine has something to do with behavior, the way you dress, things you like, the way you like to look.
– Sofia Aparício
The most powerful thing about being a woman is that she can give birth to another human being, if she decides to do so. And this biological feature, even if she never gives birth, gives her a natural determination, resilience and strength, other humans don’t have.
– Sofia Aparício
Weight of the world
with Marisa de la Fuente
Featuring colors of Maqpro.
Since I’ve been aware of myself, I think there are social pressures, for beauty standards, but throughout my life, they’ve been changing. So we should feel happy and accept our bodies at all ages. There is always beauty in a woman!
– Marisa de la Fuente
Be the light
with Marija Silov
Featuring colors of Rowe Beauty.
To me the woman’s mind is the most powerful thing about being a woman.
– Marija Silov
We wish you a happy and peaceful 2023!
May it be creative, inspiring and full of joy.
– ZOOT editorial team
