Leather, wool big hits at Sao Paulo fashion week

Models wait backstage to take the catwalk for the presentation of Teca by Helo Rocha Winter collection, during the Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) krystlbeardesigns.blogspot.comA model wears a creation from the Gloria Coelho Winter collection during the Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)krystlbeardesigns.blogspot.comModels wear creations from the Gloria Coelho Winter collection during the Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)krystlbeardesigns.blogspot.comA model wears a creation from the Fernanda Yamamoto Winter collection during the Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)krystlbeardesigns.blogspot.comA model wears a creation from the Lino Villaventura Winter collection during the Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)krystlbeardesigns.blogspot.com

SAO PAULO (AP) - The tropically incompatible materials of leather and wool emerged as big winners during Thursday's fall-winter catwalks at Sao Paulo fashion week.

Veteran Rio de Janeiro-based designer Patricia Vieira served up easy, breezy leather garments, laser-cut so finely that the swingy cocktail dresses appeared to be made of lace.

The leather on display at Gloria Coelho, another veteran, though based in Sao Paulo, was heavier-duty. Patent leather leggings were paired with cropped biker jackets and flippy mermaid skirts worn with black bustier tops.

Wool was the fabric of choice at Fernanda Yamamoto, where cocoon coats and pencil skirts were served up in a patchwork of dense, gray and blue knits.

GIG Couture delivered similar shapes but in altogether sleeker, more sophisticated incarnations. Clashing prints, including an Art Deco-style Rorschach test print in egg yolk yellow and another covered in a mosaic of Islamic stars, were piled one on top of another to an elegantly chaotic effect