ALEXIA HENTSCH
Designer.
THE BEAUTY TALK
WHAT PART OF YOUR FEMININITY DO YOU FEEL EMPOWERING ?
My height. I’m not that tall but I’m tall enough (1m74). I think that helps. And I like to dress up at night. A lot.
© Vicente de Paulo for Harper's Bazaar Brasil
LIKE YOU HAVE A DOUBLE LIFE?
Haha, totally. During the day I run around like a boy, I make absolutely no effort. I literally throw on a pair of jeans and some sneakers. I always want to look nice and clean, obviously, but I don’t make an effort during the day to stand out. I don’t wear make-up, I don’t really wear heels, I don’t produce myself. But then I love the difference between the day and the night. And I think there is nothing more fun than to be getting ready for a party.
WHAT’S YOUR GO-TO PARTY DRESS CODE?
It’s not that I wear anything particularly showy but then I like to make an effort. I’m quite vain. It’s just nice to dress-up. That is why I like costume parties so much.
© Vicente de Paulo for Harper's Bazaar Brasil
© Vicente de Paulo for Harper's Bazaar Brasil
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DRESSING UP FOR A PARTY IN LONDON AND DRESSING UP FOR A PARTY IN RIO?
I love, love, absolutely love the temperature in Rio. The hotter, the better. You are always bare-armed, bare-legged. Having said that, there’s probably more you can do to dress-up in a cold climate. London is a much chicer city. If you really go out, like to a fancy restaurant, you can exaggerate it more than perhaps in Rio. There are fewer occasions in Rio than I have in London to really dress-up. Perhaps for weddings or Carnival where people do their absolute best to look their best. Obviously it is a specific aesthetic, everyone is half-naked… But it is not arbitrary, people are really doing their best to look good, which is such a pleasure. My favorite holiday is Halloween for obvious reasons but Carnival beats that, only because you dress-up for the beauty of it whereas on Halloween everyone wears black. I love Halloween as a concept of dressing up but nobody looks as good as a crowd of "carnivalers" in Rio. There is an obsession with glitter which makes anyone look good, and then everyone wears flowers and lycra and feathers and colours. It’s so wonderful. It doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.
WHAT SPECIFIC HABIT THAT BRAZILIAN WOMEN HAVE DO YOU THINK IS GREAT AND STILL KEEP WHEN YOU ARE IN LONDON?
What I like about Brazilian women is that they are really feminine and it seems almost not nice when you are not taken care of, there. People always look their best and always have their nails done. Even if some girls aren’t very attractive, they are the most attractive they can be and that is absolutely not true in London. There’s almost a contrary: if you look like you are trying too hard, it’s not cool. The norm is more like a Kate-Moss-fell-out-of-bed look, which if you look like Kate Moss is fine but nobody does, so mainly people just look like they’ve just fallen out of bed. Rio is quite a sexy city on all levels... You are tanned all year round. I wear color lipstick there which I never do in Europe. In London I have a Brazilian manicurist: Marlene, who does my nails at home once a week. You can take the girl out of Brazil but you cannot take Brazil out of the girl!
WHAT IS YOUR DAILY BEAUTY ROUTINE IN LONDON?
I like soap bars. From Phoebo and Granado. I bring them back from Brazil.
I use Nivea cream for my body that I buy from the supermarket and I use Avène hydrating cream for my face.
And in Rio when I wear lipstick I use Mac and Nars mixed together. The only thing I really spend money on is my perfume which my grand-mother always said you should never tell the name of… But it comes from Santa Maria de Novella.
© Vicente de Paulo for Harper's Bazaar Brasil
WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL?
I don’t think I’m beautiful. But I like wearing dresses. I love that.
THANK YOU ALEXIA! x
MORE ON ALEXIA HERE AND HERE
© Photos (unless credited otherwise): Vicente de Paulo for Harper's Bazaar Brasil, styling: Lisa Debatty.
