Fátima Lopes, ComIH (born 8 March 1965) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Early life

Fátima comes from the Portuguese island of Madeira. She was born and grew up in its capital city,

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...

. Since an early age she showed an interest in fashion and during her adolescence, unhappy with what the shops had to offer in terms of clothing, started to design her own clothes. Being fluent in

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, French and

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, she worked as a tourist guide for a local travel agency. In 1990 Fátima moved to Lisbon, where she believed she could better pursue a career as a fashion designer. With a friend she opened a boutique named "Versos", which sold mainly clothes from international designers. In 1992 the boutique changed its name to "Fátima Lopes" and in that year the Fátima Lopes brand was born. In September of the same year, she participated in a fashion show made in an old convent in Lisbon ( Convento do Beato), where her work was widely applauded. In 1994 she exhibited her collection in

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at the "Salon du Prêt-à-Porter Feminin". Two years later she opened her first international store in Paris, located in the famous rue de Grenelle. At the same time she began to diversify her collections by creating bags and shoes for both men and women. In December 1998, she started the management of the model agency "FACE MODELS" in Lisbon. In the year 2000 she caused a media sensation by appearing on a catwalk herself in Paris wearing the world's most expensive bikini, made out of

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and

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

s, with an estimated value of one million

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. In 2003 she opened her first brand store in the

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, located in

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in the city of

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. She worked on the design of the official suit of the 2006 Portuguese football World Cup team.

External links

Official website
*
Her model agency official site "FACE MODELS"

FashionWindows
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes, Fatima Portuguese fashion designers Portuguese businesspeople in fashion 1965 births Living people People from Funchal Madeiran fashion designers Golden Globes (Portugal) winners