DRESSED FOR THE TROPICS

Interior designers Meire Gomide and Caroline Marzano create a vibrant, fashion-influenced São Paulo home that melds tropical vitality and sophisticated living—a personal sanctuary for Brazilian couturier Alexandre Birman

- Ian Phillips

The location of Brazilian fashion entrepreneur Alexandre Birman’s São Paulo duplex is extremely strategic. Located in the upscale Jardim Europa district, it is just a 10-minute drive from his office and a further 10 minutes from the city’s domestic airport. Most of his family live nearby and he is also within a stone's throw of a sprawling sports club, which has three Olympic-sized pools, dozens of tennis courts and a running track. An avid exercise enthusiast, he is an amateur triathlete. “I’m basically at the epicentre of everything I do, in my own little microcosm,” he says. “I don’t feel like I’m in a city with a population of 12 million.”

SKYLINE MOMENTS

That is, until he looks out of the windows of his penthouse apartment, which offers breathtaking vistas of the cityscape, with row upon row of high-rises stretching into the distance. “I’m very picky about views in general,” he says. “Whenever I go to a hotel, I usually change rooms at least twice to make sure I have the best one possible.” At home, his bed was deliberately placed to face the sunrise. “It's great to start the day with this huge orange ball directly in front of me,” he enthuses.

Birman is the head of South America's largest fashion group, Arezzo&Co, consisting of some 30 different brands and originally founded in 1972 by his father. For many years, it specialised solely in footwear. Fans of his own eponymous label include Emily Blunt, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, and the late Iris Apfel wore a pair of Alexandre Birman loafers to her 102nd birthday celebrations.