Runway and model photos from the Paulo Silva collection at the Miami Fashion Week taken by Fashion Photographer James Santiago.

Paulo Silva was born on November 12 in the department of Cochabamba, Bolivia. At age three, he moved with his parents to the seat of government city, La Paz. From a young age, he had an intense interest in fashion. While studying at the College Gregory Reynolds, he began creating their clothes, recycling the wardrobe by hand. Then, with continuous time he completed some orders for his friends. He began his university studies in the School of Animal Biology at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in the city of La Paz. Here, he worked in the Bolivian Fauna Collection specializing in the area of reptiles and amphibians at the History Museum in Bolivia. After three years of being in college, after a trip to the rainforests of Beni, he decided to leave to devote himself entirely to fashion design and creation. His experiences in this remote area of ​​design and constantly learning life’s tropical rainforest did provide him with a great advantage in his creativity and tact. This resulted in a sharpened special taste, a different and direct aesthetic that was so eccentric that led to cutting-edge collections. Paulo Silva designed costumes for some independent productions for theater works, including “VELO¨ and ¨TRAVESURAS”, obtaining very good acceptance by the La Paz newspaper .

At the end of 2011 he decided to participate in the casting for Reality Fashion Boliviana ” Mission Fashion” 1st season where he was characterized by his unique style. In the course of this reality his ailing father seriously affected his performance which led to his disqualification in the fourth week, which led him to return to La Paz to take over some family issues. In 2012 he was again elected to participate in the second season of “Mission Fashion”, by producing the Red One of Bolivia , which emerged victorious from 12 other designers from Bolivia . As a reward, the winner would travel to Miami Fashion Week 2013, but unfortunately Silva did not obtain a U.S. visa and could not participate. It was then that one of Bolivia Red decided to take him to participate in the 2013 Bolivia Ecuador Fashion Week with a collection titled “WOMEN IN BOLIVIA.” He left a lasting impression on the audience and resulted as the winner of the prestigious “International Fashion Award Beth Sobol 2013” which invited him to attend Miami Fashion Week 2014. He had the opportunity to create a clothing line “L’ aranja By Paulo Silva” an exclusive online store for ” L’ aranja ” which is one of the most important stores in Bolivia. Now Paulo is listed as one of the most promising designers of the new wave in Bolivia and will present a new collection at Miami Fashion Week 2014.