Back in 2007, I took my first trip to Brazil. My cousin Evan was living in São Paulo, and Sam (Evan’s sister) was working for me. Before Evan could even get situated in her apartment, we booked a trip to Brazil! And what better time to visit than in February? Sam’s birthday month AND Carnival. 6 years later, the night we celebrated Sam’s birthday in Olinda is still hands down one of the best days of my life. I’m talkin’ top 3 best days ever.
One night we’re on a hunt for a restaurant serving traditional Brazilian food. I freaked out as soon as I spotted the Melissa store. I pulled out my camera as fast as I could. The store’s bold and bright large-scale murals made me gasp. Ginormous graphic shapes resembling overgrown household plants were blowin’ my mind. As I’m gettin’ crazy with my camera, I hear Evan explain that Melissa is a Brazilian shoe boutique selling shoes entirely made of plastic. Didn’t matter how cool the shoes were, I couldn’t stop snapping photos of the building.
Fast forward to our STMT X Brazil sourcing trip – Melissa was top on my list of places to hit. I made multiple trips to the shop, each time leaving with more pairs (two for my mom, two for your mom…). I can’t think of a brand more perfect for RAH. Not only do their shoes scream RAH (hello… sandals in neon liptastic and the color of kraft paper and twine), we totally love the way they incorporate art into everything they do. They work with amazing artists to design their mouth-dropping, drool-worthy São Paulo store’s facade. The current design is the work of illustrator Julie Verhoeven.
And of course – we LOVE the genius in using something so lo-fi like plastic to create super comfortable, stylie shoes. The list of designers they collab with? Dreamy. Karl Lagerfeld, Jason Wu, Vivienne Westwood!! Seriously, what’s not to love about the super rad Melissa?
* The three shoes in the photos? Yup, bought each pair.
Address ::
Melissa
Rua Oscar Freire, 867 - Jardim Paulista
São Paulo, Brazil
(11) 3083-3612
Melissa, Women’s Shoe Boutique in São Paulo
