Imagine celebrating your quinceañera fifteen years overdue. That’s exactly Francisco Terra’s case. To mark 15 years in fashion, he decided to throw the party he never had growing up: a proper quinceañera party. Presented as a show, the collection became a joyful reclaiming of a rite of passage usually reserved for girls and often denied to queer kids. From school uniforms reimagined with a sensual twist to references drawn from Brazilian telenovelas and carnival culture, the result was a tribute to Terra’s younger self.
We had the chance to speak with Francisco, the mind behind Maldito, about the show, the memories behind it, and the fantasies that shaped it. From teen diaries to soap opera drama and extravagant family costumes, he walked us through the emotions, references, and collaborations behind his most personal work yet. Here’s what he told us.
To celebrate your fifteen-year journey in fashion, you chose to present a deeply personal show. Why was now the right time to revisit and reimagine your past?
Because of the symbolism surrounding the number 15. In Brazil, like in Latin America, celebrating fifteen years old is an event. Families save money for the entire kid’s life to throw the biggest and campiest of the balls. Nevertheless, it is a tradition only for girls, and queer people often dream about having one their whole youth without having it. So the show is the fifteen-year-old party I never had. I want it to be representative of several moments that brought me here and how fashion is deeply rooted in my self-expression, gender questioning, and sexuality journey.
You grew up surrounded by women and seamstresses in Brazil. How do those early memories still influence the way you design?
They actually never left me. The references I use for telenovelas are the ones I have from sitting in my grandmother’s atelier while she was sewing and watching them. The carnival memories are the ones from my mom and dad, who were both passionate about this period of the year and had very extravagant costumes made for their events. Even the pyjamas fabricated by another nanny are always there, in my relation with naivety and intimacy. In a more general way, these women also made me embrace my femininity proudly, not only in my designs but also in my personality.
Before Maldito Paris, you created Neith Nyer. Looking back, what part of that project still lives in your work today?
Maldito is an evolution of Neith Nyer in a way where I wanted to build another rhythm of work. With Neith Nyer I learnt how to build complex stories and make a melting pot of several references. That stayed in Maldito, because it is also part of who I am.
Let’s talk about Maldito. Was it always a character inside you, or did it emerge with this new chapter?
It was always in me. Maldito was born as a manga and the name of its main character. It tells the story of my first love in the Brazilian countryside in the 90s and all the identity questionings that can come with it. This story is told through a metaphor of Brazilian folklore and pop culture, and for its launch in Lafayette Anticipations in 2022, I wanted to make a small clothing capsule. By that time I was sure I didn’t want to make purely fashion anymore. And the project grew, and here we are showing it as a fully formed brand a couple of years later. I think for Maldito I will keep telling stories that are dear to me but that I think still resonate with youth today.
You mention embroidering an "M" as a nod to Hilda Furacão, the first telenovela you ever watched. Were there other elements from that series or from Brazilian pop culture in general that found their way into the collection?
The “M” actually comes from Marista, the school I was studying at when that telenovela was aired. It was the first time I was seeing nude people on TV and lingerie and fully questioning my sexuality. It was striking and a scandal at the time; it marked history in Brazilian pop culture and youth of the time. From there I bring the references to the corsetry; the heart-shaped breast is a straight reference to Hilda’s love. The aesthetic of the debutante dress in the end is also a nod to her character, its purity.
There’s a strong contrast between the innocence of a school uniform and the eroticism of lace and lingerie. What stories or archetypes were you thinking about when building this?
I was channelling the romantic young person I was, who was constantly falling in love with bikers and skaters and boys that would never look at me, way too straight to even consider. So these feelings were all platonic, existing only in the pages of the diaries I used to write after school. It was an imaginary eroticism, a projection of what those love stories could have been.
You’ve worked with recycled carnival ribbons, sculptural lace, and underwire structures. What drew you to these materials? Was it their look, their history, or something more instinctive?
This is a mix between my background and my fashion partner Peter Jitenski. Peter is a very talented volume constructor that was my student back in time. Our professional relationship has grown since, and he now explores Maldito with me, giving life to these more experimental interpretations of fashion. That is also the main reason we are placing the project under this “quasi-couture” place we invented.
The rhinestones and ribbons evoke samba dancers, yet there’s a gothic tone to the show. How did you navigate that duality while designing?
As I mentioned, I have always designed in a melting pot of references, but this duality is very representative of Brazilian culture. Carnaval exists for every other subculture: you can be punk and love carnival, gothic and love carnival, or hippie and love carnival. What I wanted was to break the clichés about what carnival looks like and bring another perspective to it, from a darker point of view that is very Maldito-coded.
Some silhouettes feel sculptural, almost costume-like. How do you see the line between fashion and performance, and how important is that ambiguity to Maldito Paris?
I want Maldito to be a fully formed universe that plays with other media and takes us to a dreamlike place. If we say fashion is a way of self-expression, I want some looks to tell real stories and expand from a classic clothing construction. And still, I want them to coexist with pure fashion. I think the mix of both is unique, sometimes funny. I guess that is what I wanted the most with Maldito: to take fashion less seriously and push it into a more artistic point of view.
The show didn’t feel like a traditional runway; it was more like a performance. Between the lighting, the set, the movement… What kind of atmosphere did you want to create? What did you want the audience to feel?
I wanted it to be an operetta that tells the story of the queer person that gets invited by their biker crush to a ball. We follow, then, their path going out from school, preparing in their room, running through the streets of Paris, and partying with all the other cool kids for the first time. I want every Maldito presentation to take a different form; this time it was an operetta, but it could be a book, a movie, or a real ball—who knows?
The casting was bold and beautifully diverse. What guided your decisions when choosing the models, and what role do they play in telling the story of Quasi Couture?
The casting we did with Allan Meira is an ode to all the beautiful spectrum of my queer community. It’s a love letter to my chosen family, and I think that tells it all.
You worked with Melissa, Helô Rocha, Camila Pedroza, Betty Brand, Chau Rising, Domestique, B.Bamboo, and Squillace 1923. How was it, and how did their pieces help complete or expand the world you were building with this collection?
Since it was a birthday, I wanted to invite my friends like Chau Rising and Domestique, my icons like Helô Rocha and Camila Pedroza, and fashion references from youth like Melissa. They bring diversity and depth to the collection, and I wanted them to be part of the party.
To close this off, where do you see Maldito Paris going next, and what are you still curious to explore, either within or beyond fashion?
We have been playing a lot with lifestyle at the moment, so there will be some things coming up soon. And the next two years are already in preparation, but I have to keep the surprise.
