Messalina
De Jesus.
The eponymous missjesus — the latest enfant-terrible of the fashion world.
Messalina Stefania Domingo De Jesus did not come from glitzy Paris or New York but grew up barefoot and poor in the mean gritty streets of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Growing up around the Bohemian slum-world of musicians, dancers, street artists, drag queens, Trotskyists, jiu-jitsu fighters and the occasional meth-head ex-convicts, Meesa, as she is known in her Rocinha favela, nurtured very early dreams of fame, high-glamour, art, fashion, and world-revolution all rolled into one.
Before she rose to couture notoriety, she worked from the bottom of the industry right from the slums — doing hair styles, sewing colorful costumes for Brazil's world famous carnival queen parades. While in fashion school, she worked in garment factories cutting-room pattern departments, living hand-to-mouth balancing a small budget while helping to support younger siblings.
"Brazil embodies the Latin ballad of hardwork, family, drama and spectacle. It's not a Cinderella story at all. We are constantly intense and histrionic about everything like a bunch of jilted housewives."
Travel was the spark.
Working for couturiers demanded sourcing supplies, which allowed her to see and savor the cultures of Cuba, Jamaica, Peru, Chile, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Egypt, Vietnam, Cambodia and China. The wide array of new sights and sounds opened a new world of inspiration and paradigm.
"The Gypsy's dance came from India through Western Europe — it influenced the flamenco in Spain, which in turn influenced the tango in Argentina, and after infusion of African flavor, the mambo in Brazil, the salsa in Cuba. Everything is an inspired derivative of the one before it, but with a twist."
"I was stopped by immigration in Australia because my document showed that I had traveled from Cuba. The officer called me from the line so politely reading off my passport saying — Please step this way, Miss Jesus. My assistant and I couldn't stop laughing. After that, that was it: the name sounded catchy and it stuck."
