CARLOTA MORAIS PIRES
Carlota was the first person to ever interview me on the first year of the brand, giving us the first ever online article. Me and Carlota met back in 2016 and we have been friends since, last year Carlota started working freelance so made sense she would work with us too. Carlota is an easy person who has a good esthetic sense and she's amazing with words so working with her is like a dream come true.
Carlota is the first woman we interview, and Carlota is also 9 months pregnant with a little girl.
So, who is Carlota Morais Pires?
I would define myself as a writer. When I was a 12 or 13 years old I used to buy fashion magazines and just wondered how these editorials were produced. The articles and interviews triggered my imagination and that was when I decided I wanted to be a journalist and write about fashion, music, cinema and all these beautiful and exciting things that have an impact on me. I always loved to write and always had a curious mind, and I think that I will always feel more like a journalist that anything else. Now I am working on the opposite side, as a PR, doing press for fashion brands, but it allows me to be creative, to work with different people all the time and to be free from a desk, which is really important for me. I have to keep working all the time because the lack of this excitement of having new ideas and projects makes me feel numb.
You have your own Brand Communication and Development office, how did you start with that?
I started as a journalist ten years ago - first at Máxima Magazine (which is the Portuguese version of the French Madame Figaro), then at Vogue Portugal for a few years, where I was really happy and had the best references I could possibly have. Also worked in fashion in London (at Condé Nast, Diane von Furstenberg and Stella McCartney) and did some PR work for different agencies and as a freelancer before I started my own PR office - The Communication Studio (@thecommunicationstudio).
What motivates you every day?
Being surrounded by creative people. I am really lucky to have friends that save me from boredom.
With the current world crisis, how have you been handling it? How’s your quarantine?
The truth is I really needed to slow down, as I was working non-stop and starting to get really tired. When the quarantine started I was 7 month pregnant and I just couldn’t take a day off. Eventually everything was cancelled, so I decided to take an earlier maternity leave at University (I am taking a PhD in Communication and Media Studies) and just continued to work from home for four clients. It’s quite nice actually - I’m decorating my new apartment and have developed a new obsession with home objects and furniture, so I spend days looking for chairs and dinning tables and art and ceramics and got to know really cool upcoming brands and young designers.
If you could have a super power what would it be?
Materialize the objects and clothes that I keep imagining in my head.
Do you have any favourite quote?
"Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction".
Who or what has been the biggest single influence in your way of thinking?
My boyfriend has a lot of influence on me, as we spend a lot of time together and a lot of that time discussing ideas and our perspectives, changing our points of view to something new. He’s really talented and always looks at things in a very peculiar way that I find fascinating, it’s always something that I couldn’t think of. It’s good to have someone who gives you food for thought.
Who are the people that you trust the most in your life?
I know I can always count on my mother and my closest friends.
Best compliment you ever received?
When Patricia Barnabé (she was my editor and now is my friend) said she liked something I wrote. She’s one of the best journalists I’ve met and a fascinating woman.
What is the thing you like to do the most?
Meeting people, talking to them, getting to know what they think, how they see the world. People can be really captivating.
What is your favourite place in the world?
Some time ago I’d say, London, I used to go there once or twice a year. Now I just feel that I want to be somewhere less chaotic. I moved back to Cascais last October and I’m really enjoying living here, ten minutes away from the beach.
When you travel, what is the thing that can’t miss in your bag?
It depends where I’m going, but I don’t like to be attached to things. And I hate to carry bags with me. I went alone to Thailand for more than one month with just a backpack - that was a good lesson on how to travel with the least stuff possible.
How important is fashion for you?
Fashion is much more that clothes - it’s linked to everything in life, from cinema, to arts, culture and History. If you watch a movie without sound on, you probably can tell when it happened just because of the way that people are dressed - so it tells a lot about how they lived and why, which fascinates me. I’m also drained by the other superficial side of fashion - beautiful and useless objets, eye candy.
Name three things that are really important in your closet.
A bordeaux fur coat that I got for 50 pounds in Brick Lane; a flower patterned 70’s shirt that my mother designed when she was 17; a velvet vintage coat that my boyfriend gave me as a present when we moved in together.
How did you choose what you are wearing?
I’m 9 months pregnant so now my choices are reduced to a few oversized dresses and tracksuits. Usually I like to play with volumes and shapes when I dress, adding different textures if possible. I always dress for myself - sometimes I can wear big gold earrings, white sneakers and a ponytail, a colored suit or just dress all black for days. It depends on how I feel but it always reflects my mood and my influences at that time.
Next goal in your life?
Having a family and still have save time and dedication to work on creative projects.
What are you currently fascinated by?
Furniture design, lamps, ceramics, home objects.
And for last: You are 9 months pregnant, and you are having a baby girl very soon (congrats!). How is pregnancy going for you? Are you scared for the big day?
Everyone says that being a parent changes you and I am already feeling different in the way I see everything. I already feel that this baby is having a positive impact in my life, as I started to focus on the important stuff - the relationships that matter the most to me, my career, having a family, spending time with people I love. I feel really calm and happy about the future. I can’t wait to meet her, so I can’t say that I’m scared, but impatient.
Interview by:
Miguel Marques da Costa
Photos by:
Carlota wears (by order):
Mkokoni Shirt in Green, Nakuro Shirt in Pink, Mkokoni Shirt in Blue and Shaba Shirt in Orange