Floral pop-up displays Latin American aesthetic in Philadelphia
Americae, a four-week-old, Philadelphia-based fashion brand built a floral and Amazon-inspired wall in Center City to promote its vibrant clothing and…
An Amazonian, jungle-themed, floral pop-up wall built by up-and-coming fashion brand Americae and Philadelphia floral artist Liz Barrella was featured in front of the Hale Building at Juniper and Chestnut Streets on Thursday afternoon.
Americae, which founder Gabriela Guaracao described as a Philadelphia-based, Latin American-inspired, “accessible luxury brand,” is planning to bring jungle wall pop-ups with the sights and sounds of Latin America to other cities across the U.S. beginning in the upcoming holiday season. Americae’s goal is to promote its vibrant style and engage consumers with social media-friendly interactivity while defining a Latin American aesthetic.
“With most people when you ask them: 'What’s an Italian aesthetic? What’s a British aesthetic? What’s a Japanese aesthetic?' they kind of have an image in mind, but with Latin America, or South America specifically, the region is so underappreciated and it’s under the radar,” Guaracao said. “There isn’t an image that pops into anyone’s mind, usually, when you think about an aesthetic.”
The company was launched just four weeks ago and is in a “soft launch” phase of engaging with potential customers at events and building brand awareness.
Pop-up walls encourage visitors and passersby to pose with lively, meaningful art and share photos to their Instagram pages with company and location tags that increase a brand’s social media presence. Americae is testing out this experiential way to market its clothing collections and spread its messaging on the wall in the form of a hashtag: #RealityIsExtraordinary.
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The Amazon rainforest idea came when Americae wanted to showcase what Latin America is most known for aesthetically - its beautiful landscapes. Guaracao and her fashion brand are inspired by her Colombian heritage so she was looking for backdrops that would display the Amazon’s natural beauty, initially hoping to shoot in the greenhouse at Longwood Gardens.
Instead, Americae decided to work with floral designers in a Philadelphia studio to install backdrops with varieties of palms, protesas, heliconias, orchids and other flora native to the Amazon region of South America, and is now translating the foliage into a public “urban jungle” concept to appeal to city-goers.
Pop-up walls have been a staple of Summer 2018 in the city starting with Photo Pop Philly, an interactive mural exhibition featuring local artists, which is in its inaugural year and will run until Sept. 3 at 1315 Walnut Street. But Americae offers a Latina spin on the concept, drawing influence from the colors and tropical foliage of the Amazon.
The pop-ups also follow Philadelphia’s historic appreciation for mural art, which is everywhere in the city and offers photo-ops for tourists and residents. That’s the primary draw of pop-up events as well, attracting Instagrammers, fashion figures and social media models who want a beautiful backdrop for their next post.
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