Recently I was jazzed to discover that one of my favorite international blogs, Kireei, had started a free online magazine! Kireei Magazine: La Revista De Las Cosas Bellas, or The Magazine of Beautiful Things, is a free online magazine dedicated those people who enjoy small daily details and take the time to find beauty in the everyday. Although the magazine is entirely in Spanish, I took a huge amount of pleasure flipping through page after page of beautiful photos. The creators of Kireei run an incredible daily blog that can be translated into English. It’s been a must read of mine for years and I highly recommend you check it out! Perhaps the magazine will be translatable someday, but until then, consider it a lovely picture book.

The first few photo shoots I had for LAMA back in 2008 were SO stressful. I had no idea what I was doing as a stylist, I didn’t know how to translate what I saw in my head onto film, SLR cameras were completely foreign to me, and lighting? Forget about it! But once I got into the swing of things, photo shoots became incredibly fun. They’re exciting and fast paced days where you get to be as creative as you want. I was so excited see the behind the scenes shots of a recent photo shoot for a company I adore working with here at LAMA. It certainly looks like the lovely ladies behind Buenos Aires based Violraviol know how to have some photo shoot fun!

After all of the styling and editing, the best part is admiring the fruits of your labor. I think these photos turned out stunning! Great job Violraviol! It looks like they had a wonderful day out in the Argentinean countryside.

I’m excited to announce that LAMA will continue to work with Violraviol once we launch the new shop in 2011. Be sure to stop by and pick up a selection of Violraviol’s beautiful products! Until then, you can pick up Violraviol eco-friendly baskets right here and a very discounted price!

Photos are courtesy of photographer and blogger Alma Singer.

Last month, Kate Spade opened it’s first ever store in South America. With it’s “flourishing fashion scene and colorful culture,” Sao Paulo was the natural choice to open the Brazilian flagship shop. I am always impressed by Kate Spade’s retail design, but I have to say, this new store in Brazil takes the cake! Or in Kate Spade world, the pink frosted cupcake with rainbow colored sprinkles and a pinwheel on top.

To announce their big arrival, Kate Spade stocked 10,000 pinwheels into pushcarts all over the city, handing them out to everyone that passed by and planting a few in unexpected places. Inside,  keeping with their typically fresh and creative retail design, the Sao Paulo store will feature “a minibar where guests can perch atop pink barstools and enjoy a caipirinha or toast the town with a glass of champagne.”

With more stores planned in the future, Kate Spade is happy to report that “things are just heating up for South America.” Personally, I think everything down South has been muy caliente for a while! Be sure and visit Kate Spade for more incredible photos from this event.

Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, but currently living in Ontario, Canada, Ani Castillo is an illustrator, cartoonist, and a photographer. Of all the media Ani works with, I am particularly drawn to her sweet and melancholic illustration work. I love the teenage angst-quality to her illustrations. I find that as an adult I still relate to those types of strong emotions… or perhaps I’m still a teenage girl at heart. (I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about that).

Ani’s work is available right here at her Etsy shop!

Colorful. Cultural. Dreamy. Magical. Brilliant. What else can I say?! I’m mesmerized by the work of Buenos Aires based Artist Paula Duró, a.k.a. Dori Duró.

David Gomez is a photographer and illustrator based in Barcelona, Spain. With a degree in fine fashion arts, David has taken his inspiration from indigenous tribes and mystic cultures to illustrate his own modern tribe based on the “street-fashion photography” he takes. David’s portraits are “full of personality with multi colored masks and geometrical patterns that make them unique and inimitable.” I couldn’t agree more. Not only I am a huge fan of David Gomez’s tribe, I would LOVE to be a member!

Check out more of David’s work here.

**photos via**

Typically, I don’t cover controversial topics here on the LAMA blog. For me, LAMA is a place to celebrate the best of Latin American culture and design. It’s a place where I like to celebrate and honor the culture I grew up with in a very positive way. Recently I discovered the work of a wonderful group of people behind the store Surropa and I realized that, though their approach may be more controversial than my own, they are doing just what I am; celebrating and honoring the culture they grew up with in a very positive way. Back in July, Surropa began to release a line of t shirts opposing one of the most disappointing and blatantly racist laws in recent history, Arizona 1070.

I remember being in complete disbelief when I initially heard about Proposition 1070. I truly thought it was some kind of terrible joke. To be honest, I’m still in utter disbelief that a law of this nature can be passed. It blows my mind to think that I can be asked to prove my citizenship should a police officer in Arizona suspect that I am illegal. Incredible. Perhaps I’ll just have to bring this shirt along next time I’m in Arizona.

Be sure to check out Surropa’s amazing collection of “fashion apparel and merchandise from top Latin American brands.” A big internet high-five to Surropa for taking a stand. To show your support against this heinous law, visit the Do I Look Illegal site and make yourself into a luchador. Below you’ll find mine. “If anyone can look illegal, we all can.”

I absolutely love when pop culture influences fashion. It’s such an exciting and inspiring medium to showcase cultural phenomena that have occurred over time. The collection below by Portuguese designer Felipe Olveira Baptista was released back in the summer of 2008 but I just had to share it anyway. Inspired by Mexican wrestling masks Baptista’s “Les Catcheuses” collection is a fabulous fashion play on the Mexican pop culture icon, the Luche Libre. Combined with luchador mask shirts designed by Natale Cree, I was totally blown away by this incredibly sophisticated approach to Mexican wrestling.

This collection may have also inspired my Halloween costume this year. I’m thinking something fashionable and colorful, with a little bit of fringe, a cape, and a luche libre eye mask… I’ll be fashion luche libre!! I think it’s the perfect follow to last year’s fashion witch.

I have been a long time fan of Karina Manghi’s beautiful El Beso blog. I adore her stunning photography and enjoy looking at the shots of the “stylish bloggers” she posts about. I was so excited when I recently discovered that Karina Manghi has started a photography blog in collaboration with Francoise Rachez, a Colombian photographer living in France. Le Super Blog Secret is a stunning collection of photos taken by these two very talented women. Filled with personal glimpses into their lives in Argentina and France as friends, mothers, and artists, Le Super Blog Secret is as interesting to read as it is visually captivating.

Karina Manghi

Francoise Rachez

Recently I discovered the work of  photographer Pancho Tolchinsky via sfgirlbybay. I was instantly smitten with his vibrant photography. Going through his portfolio of work was like stepping back in time. His images of home interiors from Medellin, Colombia reminded me so much of my abuelita’s (grandmother’s) home when I was a little girl. It was this mix of mid-century meets kitsch covered with religious paraphernalia that can only be achieved by Latin women of that generation. It’s a beautiful aesthetic that just can’t be replicated. Going through these photos really took me back to the six year old version of myself who used to love to explore my abuelita’s home, pick up every kitschy little object I could find, play on the pepto-pink rotary phone, and steal mexican market candy out of her cradenza. (of course, I was terrified by the virgin mary starring at me from every direction). What I wouldn’t give to be able to go back in time and photograph the little Los Angeles bungalow she used to live in! A huge thank you to Pancho Tolchinsky for capturing these nostalgic images. I highly recommend checking out the rest of Pancho’s images of this gorgeous design aesthetic that is becoming so rare.