14 DAY TRIAL // The weeklong fashion show in Rio de Janeiro ended this year not with the spotlight on clothes, as it would have been customary, but on a particular model. Transgender actress Patricia Araujo stole all the thunder on Friday, as she proudly strutted her stuff on the catwalk, thus making her way into all the international headlines and getting a standing ovation.
Dressed in a long fur coat, the dark-haired Patricia walked the catwalk to the applause of the audience gathered there. She later took the coat off to unveil a stunning Complexo B item, a black and white dress that got the crowd really wild. Smiling all the way and walking somewhat defiantly, Patricia later told the media that she knew all too well the kind of criticism she was exposing herself to by agreeing to be the last model of the show.
However, she had always dreamed of becoming a star, she also said, and this is exactly what happened, with Patricia even admitting that “I love to be mobbed by the press.” As for the designer who came up with the original idea, Beto Neves from Complexo B, he said the purpose of fashion in itself is always to shock and not stick to preset standards, or a brand can easily fall into the insipid.
“In fashion, the cool thing is to surprise,” he told the O Dia newspaper. And he’s not the only one to see things like this, the website of Globo Television calling 25-year-old Araujo “the star” of the show's last day, and model Isabeli Fontana saying of her that she “is the greatest.”
While transgender models are no longer the source of constant amazement and, why not, controversy as they once were, the way Patricia handled herself on the catwalk, behaving as if she really owned the place, as several media outlets have pointed out, ensured her at least the minimum 15 minutes of fame. The actress’ legal name is Patricia Oliveira, but she is known locally by the stage name of Araujo.