The models' hair and makeup made them look like Roxy Music cover girls, but I dialed forward a decade to Duran Duran's "Rio," not just because Issa queen-pin Daniella Helayel is Brazilian, but because the clothes looked like the kind of easy, draped, dramatic pieces that might have been worn by party girls in the eighties. That decade's confident brashness could be traced through the zebra-print blouson, the fire-engine red blouse and cherry skirt, the jumpsuit with beaded zebra-patterned bodice and straps, and the graphic black and white tunic over leggings. So far, so logical. Except that Helayel had actually been looking at monks' robes! (Issa's always been a hard habit to break for Helayel's front row of firm, pouting beauties.) So the draped goddess dresses were, in fact, a carnal twist on the outfits worn by men of God. Likewise the black dress that gathered on one hip and the hood on a black velvet jacket delicately traced with beading. Any one of these outfits would turn the head of the local padre. A Brazilian Thorn Birds? Well, that's one of the more intriguing narratives of the week.
