Farm’s Fall Collection: From Rio to the World
Graphic by Grace Lougheed. Image via FarmRio.
When I first moved to the U.S. from sunny Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, learning how to dress for seasons other than summer became one of my biggest challenges. The beginning, as it was still early fall in Evanston, was easy; flowy pants, jeans, t-shirts and rompers were always part of my Brazilian wardrobe. It was, however, when temperatures started to drop that I did some research and began a slow and steady transformation into a new style that was more appropriate to the seasons and their non-Brazilian temperatures.
This same process I went through during freshman year recently happened to one of my favorite fashion brands from back home.
The brand’s name is Farm (pronounced fa-huh-mee in Portuguese) and it’s a true staple of Rio de Janeiro’s fashion and lifestyle. With bright colors, exciting patterns, light fabrics and flattering silhouettes, Farm is a favorite for young women and girls looking for dresses, shirts, pants, shoes and even bikinis. Though this means they had constant variety in their stores, there was only one thing that remained the same: everything was for the warmth.
Of course, all of this changed when Farm decided to move internationally and make its debut in the U.S.
Farm’s first and only American store opened its doors to New York’s fashion epicenter, SoHo, on the 25th of April this year. As I said, the beginnings are easy. Farm launched a spring/summer collection that was almost identical to their styles sold in Brazil. Start with something you know, right?
But then fall season came knocking, pushing Farm’s creative team to think of ways to combine Farm’s “carioca” essence with the U.S.’s tough climate.
When my sister first told me about this unusual worlds-colliding situation, my first instinct was that it probably wouldn’t end well. One thing had nothing to do with the other, I thought. But, I must say, after spending less than five minutes on their website I was already sending links to my sister saying “I looooove this one” or “I want iiiiiiit.”
The first thing that stood out to me was how many Brazilian elements were used in the patterns. For example, in this beautiful “Winter Carnival Jumper” there are numerous references to “Festa Junina”, a traditional festivity Brazilians celebrate in the month of June. These references include the “estalinho”, a sort of gun-powder ball that pops when children throw them to the floor and “olha a cobra” (translated to “look at the snake”) which is when everyone in a circle frantically switches direction and runs around pretending there’s a snake behind them.
Overall, though this jumpsuit of full of references, the mosaic of all of them forms a unique and bright pattern that is intriguing for Brazilians and non-Brazilians alike. Thus, this is, by far, my favorite piece in this collection — a love-at-first-sight kind of thing for me. And, if I were lucky enough to ever buy this romper, I’d probably style it with the same black boots and black coat or blazer over it.
Besides the jumpsuit, the other prints in the collection have Brazilian-esque elements like Brazil’s famous Toucans (seen below), the well-known flora in the tropical forests and typical Brazil-grown foods like bananas and cashews.
Image via Farm
Image via Farm
The second thing that reminded me of home was the collection’s use of color. Just like Farm’s collection in Rio, the Fall collection is fearless when using bright and bold colors. In the Tropical Dream Caftan Dress, for example, yellows, pinks, blues and greens intertwine to form a beautiful tropical pattern. Though placing a black turtleneck underneath seemed to me a little risky considering the brightness of the dress, I think it did a good job in highlighting the dress’ colors while giving the model an extra layer of warmth.
Different from other Farm collections I’ve seen so far however, this collection also has pieces that uses color geometrically rather than in a busy tropical pattern. In this modern Julia Stripe Slip Dress below, bold colors are combined in a geometric color-blocking pattern that’s simply stunning. Though I think adding a turtleneck with the same pattern underneath made the whole look much more interesting and complex, I would probably take a safer route with a solid color, most likely that dark purple or dark green from the pattern.
Image via Farm
Image via Farm
Another major aspect about this collection is the mixing of patterns. I, for one, am still hesitant to try some risky mixing of patterns myself. But, as you can probably already tell from the pictures below, Farm surely isn’t.
The sweatshirt below is by far the most unique piece in the entire collection. By mixing very different patterns in rows across the sweater, the piece is both a little crazy and weirdly organized. The patterns themselves are used throughout the collection separately (I even have an old shirt with the full white-flower-blue-background pattern on it), but together, they form this new and exciting oversized sweatshirt. Given its busyness, this jersey is and should be the star of the look. Therefore, I’d most likely pair it with simple all-black everything else like black (leather?) pants, boots and even an overcoat.
Much of this can also be said about the Mixed Leopard Maxi Dress and Cardigan. Though both items follow the mixed patterns trend, the patterns on these are similar because they’re adaptations of leopard print, adding more uniformity to it.
Image via Farm
Image via Farm
The last element of the collection I wanted to highlight is undoubtedly an inspiration from American fashion: puffer jackets. The collection has six different puffers, half of which are reversible with two distinct patterns on each side. The Reversible Rainbow Puffer below is the one I loved the most. With a bright color-blocking rainbow on one side and a pattern full of typical Brazilian animals on the other, this jacket is truly a masterpiece in versatility. I say versatile because you could easily wear either side of the jacket in both day and night with basically anything underneath and you’d still be perfectly fashionable and different.
Image via Farm
Image via Farm
For anyone new to this brand, it’s easy to think that this just another fall collection released this season. But, for a hometown fan of Farm like me, it’s truly impressive how they managed to find their style sweet spot between the old colors, patterns, and silhouettes and the new climate here in the U.S.
It took me a while to find my own style sweet spot too. Fall quarter of last year was made up of a series of mornings of me asking my friends what to wear and how many layers seemed appropriate for the day’s weather. I spent weeks struggling until I eventually and very gradually felt more confident in not only dressing appropriately for the cold, but finding my style within it.
Though Farm had less chances for trial-and-error like me, this collection found success in its very first try. Though it’s an expensive collection and very different than what American customers are used to, I would encourage everyone that does not know the brand to check it out. Admire the bold colors, the exotic patterns, the unique mixes of fabric and even the reversible puffer jackets. Admire the Brazilianess.