Brazilian Au Pair in Westport Has Fashion Design Side Hustle

During the day, Ariel Cavallini stays busy as an au pair for four energetic Westport siblings - all under 10 years old. But when the sun goes down and the kids are tucked in, she transforms into a side hustle superhero as a budding women’s clothing designer.

“I’d describe my designs as business casual chic,” says Cavallini, who cites the styles of Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Pier Paolo Piccoli, Vera Wang, Giambattista Valli, and Iris Van Herpen as her primary inspirations. “My target market that I have in mind is women between 17 and 40 years old, but if teens would also like to wear my designs, that would be great!”

A native of Jundiai, Brazil, Cavallini developed an interest in designing clothes as a young child. Her grandmother taught her how to sew outfits for her Barbie collection, and she crafted bikinis, skirts, and tops for her dolls out of balloons. Ariel’s parents, both of whom are artists, also guided her aspirations by teaching her the intricacies of sketching figures and sending her to a professional sewing class.

Following her graduation from high school in 2014, she put her fashion design dream on hold in order to study English at college. She was accepted to two universities in Brazil, but decided to come to the United States to work and also to immerse herself in the English language.

After joining her current host family in 2018, she wanted to sign up for a part time course in fashion design, but because of her work schedule, taking classes in New York wasn’t possible. While researching what was available near her home in Westport, she discovered an online course called Fashion Industry Essentials.

Fashion Industry Essentials is offered by Yellowbrick, which is an education company that helps students to develop their passion for, and sharpen their understanding of, the fashion, sports management, beauty, music, and hospitality/tourism industries. She enrolled in Fashion Industry Essentials - which was created in partnership with the Parsons School of Design - in May ‘19, and she completed it in October ‘19.

“What intrigued me the most about Fashion Industry Essentials was all of the new information about the industry that I didn’t know before,” says Cavallini. “While I loved learning about the design aspects, I really enjoyed the sections about production and styling much more than I rhought I would. Overall, Fashion Industry Essentials delivered insights and knowledge that went far beyond my expectations, and I learned so much.”

Ariel’s host mom, Ewa Abrams, is happy that she enjoyed her experience with Fashion Industry Essentials.

“I’m thrilled that Ariel found a course that’s so well-suited to bringing out her talents,” says Abrams, who is the General Counsel at Kering Americas, a global luxury fashion group that’s based in Paris. “The curriculum is intended to help students to venture beyond the boundaries of their comfort zones, seek new and unexplored sources of inspiration, and help them to discover their creative paths forward.”

Cavallini’s long term goal is to become a designer in an established design house, or possibly a stylist for a fashion magazine. She also has her eye on an entrepreneurial route: she’d eventually like to establish her own design brand called NOX New York.

According to Ariel, “I chose ‘NOX’ because it means goddess of the night in Latin, and ‘New York’ because it’s where you can be your true self and pursue your dreams.”