Our band CSS didn't come from Brazil's music scene, we came from its fashion scene. The rock clubs in Brazil are very crappy. If you play in a rock venue they give you a warm beer, but in the fashion scene they give you a cold glass of champagne, and I always prefer the champagne.
When I was eight I did dance classes, and my mum made me a costume for each song. Those dancing classes had a big impact on the way I dress up now for a show. It was just natural: when you do a performance you wear something special for it. But now, I get so excited, it's like, what am I going to do next? I crave more make-up for each show, really crazy stuff, with lots of black. But I use Mac and it's very hard to get off.
Growing up in Brazil I used to love a very cool television show called Fashion File, which screened fashion shows. The Betsey Johnson show, where she'd come in and do cartwheels, I thought it was so funny. I was a kid and a bit rebellious, so I really wanted to see the extreme side of things, and this show, and an Alexander McQueen one, and then a Hussein Chalayan one, I thought were very crazy and amazing.
I had lessons in clothes-making because I couldn't find things that I liked. I was quite an angry teenager and wanted to shock people. I made my biggest piece, which was a coat, from fabric that my grandmother gave me. It was all embroidered and very rich-looking, with four sleeves. I could wrap one sleeve round the back and make it tighter, or I could wear the bottom sleeves and use the top ones as a scarf. I was very proud of that. When I was 16 I started doing fabric prints. You can be more creative in prints than in design because if you make wild clothes, you sell only to drag queens.
I can't go onstage in normal clothes any more. Once I tried but I needed to run back and change. I can never wear a dress, even if it's very beautiful or sparkly. I think that a catsuit is perfect, because you have your whole body protected and you can jump and I don't want anyone to see my underwear. This is why I'd never wear a dress.
I never got too familiar with the London fashion scene, but the one thing that I'm very glad about is that I can go to the Vivienne Westwood store. If you want to buy designer bags in Brazil then it's cheaper to buy a plane ticket to Miami and buy the bag there, it's ridiculous how crazy expensive everything is in Brazil. There's this designer store in Sao Paolo with a parking space for helicopters, and you can even buy helicopters inside. It's a very grand looking building, but there are favellas [slums] just behind it.
I think it's a good thing to not like where you're from, like me, because then you can evolve. I used to work for a Brazilian fashion website - chic.com.br. The woman who runs it is a fashion consultant, and people would ask her questions like, 'I need to go to a wedding and I want to wear some shorts but my ankles are too big, what should I do?' She would say 'do this and that' and I would draw an illustration with her response.
I learnt mostly that everyone really needs to just stop and look in the mirror. I love seeing older ladies wearing crazy outfits. There are so many people in the world and it's cool to be different. Working on the website made me realise that so many people are clueless, whatever you tell them to wear, they'd do it. I can't believe how many people follow trends, like, 'Oh I hear silver nail polish is so in' and then they go and get it. I feel almost sad about it.
My boyfriend gave me a sewing machine as a birthday present but I haven't used it yet. But I'm not spending too much money on clothes any more. I used to buy so many cheap things and then after two months I wouldn't use any of them, and now I try to buy things that are a bit more expensive. That I know I'll still be wearing for a long, long time. I normally wear leggings from American Apparel but the crotch always goes baggy, so I bought some Alaïa leggings recently, and they were very expensive, but I'll still have them in 10 years.
For my Hallowe'en costume, I wanted to be a fried egg. I found a piece of cardboard on the street, and went back to the apartment and worked on it all night. It smelled just awful, but it was really fun. People say that I get naked at all my shows, but I don't. One time I really wanted to wear something special for a show in London but didn't have the money for anything new so I decided to wear everything I owned and then just one by one rip them off. So I did. Not to bare flesh though. I stayed polite.
Whenever I get excited about a show or I know that I'm coming back to London, I always wear my catsuit, but it's impossible to take it off, so I just pee through it onstage! Luckily it dries quickly, because it's Lycra, which is just magic stuff.
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