We are just a few weeks away from one of the world’s biggest sporting events: The FIFA World Cup. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the World Cup, it’s like all the fabulousness of Fashion Week mixed with the honor of receiving an Oscar and the klout of  your designs appearing on the cover of Vogue,  but for Soccer (football).

So yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.

Here are the basics- courtesy of dummies.com

The World Cup is held every four years and has been played consistently since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War.

Since the last Cup in 2010, soccer teams from around the world have competed in the qualification phase — a series of tournaments that determine the final field of 31 teams. (Thirty-two teams actually compete, but the host country’s team is guaranteed a spot.)

Once the finalists are decided, FIFA divides the competing teams into eight groups of four each.

When the soccer teams that compose these groups converge on Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, they’ll be competing in a multilayered tournament:

• Intra-group competition: The soccer action kicks off with a nearly two-week long series of matches to determine a winning team and a runner-up team from each group. No one is eliminated from competition until the end of this round. At this point, everyone is just jockeying for position in the next phase of the Cup. Only the top two teams in each group move on to the Round of 16.

• Round of 16: The winning team and runner-up team from each group advance to the Round of 16. During this phase, each winning team competes against a runner-up team from a different group. From here on out, competition is said to be at the knockout stage.

• Quarter-finals: The eight winners from Round 16 battle it out in the quarter-final round.

• Semi-finals: The four quarter-final round winners play in the semi-finals.

• Third-place playoff: The losers of the quarter-finals compete for third place.

• Final match: The top two teams vie for the FIFA World Cup title.

This Year the World Cup will take place June 12- July 13th in beautiful tropical Brazil.

In honor of the festivities I decided to highlight a few of my favorite Brazilian Fashion and Beauty Designers with a new series called Gosto do Brasil (Taste of Brazil).

One of the biggest questions/comments I get on my social media channels is “Where did you get those sunglasses?”

From Brazil, of course.  A couple of years ago I discovered the optically awesome Brazilian Sunglass brand Chilli Beans.

Chilli Beans began in Brazil in 1998 with a small kiosk in the trendy and youthful Mercado Mundo Mix in São Paulo by Rock ‘n’ roller turned entrepreneur Caito Maia. Since then the brand has developed a cult following composed of celebrities, style icons and trendsetters from around the world, each clamoring to get their hands on the latest collections and limited editions of Chilli Beans.

Offering up personality infused glasses ranging from quirky to outright eccentric and utterly chic, they are truly the most “original” sunglasses you will ever wear.  I get more compliments on my Chilli Beans sunnies than on anything else I own!

Working with a highly efficient design and manufacture team, the company releases 10 models of sunglasses, watches and optical EVERY WEEK! YES NEW STYLES EVERY WEEK!

Feast your eyes on some of my current grab them before they are gone Chilli Beans Favs:

 

Hey Las Vegas!  Chilli Beans recently opened its first ever Las Vegas Boutique at The LINQ!

Legal como o inferno!

If you aren’t planning on visiting Vegas anytime soon don’t worry, you can order online at shop.chillibeans.com or visit chillibeans.com to find a location near you.