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Marvin Lima brought his dreams to life when he created his fashion label Virtuoso. Before starting his own company he was an assistant to a skirt and dress pattern marker who dressed dapper clients for their moment on broadway and at the cinema.
“While assisting him, he taught me a few of his tricks, which he picked up through the years. I was fortunate to learn with hands-on experiences, and add to a decade of photo styling experience. Gaining an overall understanding of how things are made, and advertised in the fashion world.”
From these skills Marvin created a unique goal of curating high quality garments with influence from his roots and background and a dash of Cape Verdean traditions (sign us up!). He’s also taken to working on collaborations with other artists/virtuosos, family and friends.
As an AWA Adventurer for about three years, Marvin was drawn to the Community through the colorful lens of our Instagram but became enamored with our stories (Marvin, you’re making us blush!).
“It was the colorful aesthetic that drew my eyes onto the instagram, but it was the brief yet engaging background history of the photo that made me look forward to each post.”
This is when he came across Aude’s work and fell in love with the colors and nostalgic flair.
“Before realizing that it was Cabo Verde, I noticed all these beautiful tones present. I had this nostalgic feeling of the late 90s, which brought me back to a place I haven’t been since.”
Aude Olesen works in communication in the sustainable energy sector by day and in her spare time loves to experiment in the kitchen where she has jars fermenting on every ledge, peppers drying on strings, and bread waiting to be baked. When she’s away from her scrumptious laboratory she picks up her camera and experiments from behind the lens.
While exploring the quaint village of Murdeira, Cabo Verde, she never would have guessed that her work would be such a highlight in the AWA Community, making its way into the pages of AWA The Book, becoming one of our featured postcards, and a fan favorite when it hit the Instagram feed. But she really couldn’t have dreamed that her photograph would break into the fashion industry!
“Since the beginning of the AWA experience, I feel that my photo is living its own exciting life in the spotlight. Its breakthrough into the fashion world was of course a surprise, but in a way a continuation of its rocky adventures.”
When Aude is photographing, she is discovering how she sees the world, and she’s noticed that photography can tell a story about how we view the world differently.
“For me taking a picture is saying: hey, what you see there, I see it like that, let’s exchange our point of views. The world is only a question of perspectives… let’s stay playful!”
She was drawn to the AWA Community because of this sense of perspective and being able to live vicariously through others’ photos and experience a colorful world of magical proportions and surprises.
📸: Aude Olesen
It seems that Aude’s curiosity for perspective, and Marvin’s pull towards storytelling drew the two together. And aren’t we glad, because the combination of Aude’s playful photography skills and Marvin’s talent for fashion, a beautifully playful garment was born! We are so honored to have a little part in creating something so magical and special. But you know the best part? You can snag this beautifully hued sweatshirt right here!
Check out Virtuoso and Aude on Instagram!
Thanks for exploring, Aude and Marvin! <3
