Brazilian Baroque on Day Four of Sao Paulo Fashion Week (Fashion Wire Daily)

Sao Paulo, Brazil - Porcelain dolls and little green men (and women) were just some of the disparate influences found on the runways during day four of Sao Paulo Summer 2009 Fashion Week, where minimalism takes a back seat to more baroque concepts in dressing.

Reinaldo Lourenco, whose wife Gloria Coelho and son Pedro Lourenco will also show their collections this week, on Sunday morning, designed a saccharine collection inspired by the famous French porcelain from Sevres and Limoges, with woven dresses with cut-outs that looked like caning or wrought iron. A series of art nouveau-style prints on dresses in with soft tiers of ruffles edged with pearls contrasted with the delicate porcelain-like looks, then Lourenco ended the show with dresses in gold featuring oversized bows.

Cavalera, a huge designer brand in Brazil, looked like the effects of little green men coming to Earth and taking over fashion. A dramatic show, Cavalera placed three models on their backs on invisible lifts, which slowly went up and down as other models walked the runway in ensembles in every shade of green imaginable to the sounds of a Klaus Nomi soundtrack, the infamous 1980s otherworldly New York performance artist. Lime green denim pants were among the tamer options (for the guys), while a sparkly green camouflage jumpsuit for women would work for members of a Ziggy Stardust cult. Bolero jackets and pencil skirts in contrasting shades of green were among the tamer options.

Alexandre Herchcovitch showed his womens collection on Friday, one of his strongest to date. Continuing along the same militaristic protest theme from his mens collection on Thursday, Herchcovitch swapped the black flags in favor of white ones as if to signal a less reactionary and pessimistic worldview for a more hopeful, light message.

Beautifully tailored khaki safari-type jumpsuits with military jacket details on the shoulder opened the show, which evolved to include short dresses with soft gathers in the back, or several transparent layers of printed fabric covered the shoulders or the seat of a pair of shorts, like old fashioned bloomers. Semi-transparent dresses in pale colors closed the show, and as the final model turned and walked away, you could see that the layers of ruffles extended along the shoulder blades like angel wings.