From designer dressing rooms to street style shoots: 140 Senac RJ students experience Rio Fashion Week 2026 from the inside, April 14–18.
Students enrolled in fashion, photography, and event management courses at Senac RJ will take on active roles at Rio Fashion Week 2026. From April 14 to 18, around 140 students will be split across backstage functions — assisting in runway rooms and dressing rooms, and capturing street style moments from fashion week visitors at Pier Mauá.
From classroom to the runway backstage
Senac RJ is giving students hands-on access to the backstage of several major fashion labels. 15 students join the Osklen team at the event’s opening night on April 14 at Palácio da Cidade. On April 15, the same number works the shows of Aluf and Normando. Wednesday, April 16, brings students into the dressing rooms of Hisha and Handred, and on the final day, 15 students support the Argalji runway show.
Karoline Vitto invites students to her space
Brazilian designer Karoline Vitto — an internationally recognized voice for body diversity in fashion — is in residence at the Cápsula, Senac RJ’s Innovation Hub, throughout the event. On Thursday, April 16, she hosts ten Senac RJ students for a candid conversation. The following day, those same students participate in her runway show.
“Senac RJ presents Rio Fashion Week alongside the City of Rio de Janeiro, and the event boosts the professional training of new designers, producers, and creative industry professionals. Our participation reinforces our commitment to celebrating Rio’s fashion scene and developing talent and business in the sector.” — Antonio Queiroz, president of Sistema Fecomércio RJ (Sesc, Senac e Fecomércio RJ)
Street style as a live classroom
Image Consulting and Photography students will work in pairs on a street style activation running every day of RFW. Fashion students will identify visitor styles using the seven universal style archetypes and invite guests to be photographed. Photography students will then apply classroom techniques — framing, lighting, and composition — to capture each look at its best.
A growing industry in Rio de Janeiro
Over the past two years, Senac RJ has trained 6,000 students across nine fashion courses in 12 locations throughout the state. The fashion sector employs more than 134,000 formally registered workers in Rio de Janeiro. Between 2022 and 2023, employment in the sector grew by 1.6 percentage points — well above the state’s overall growth rate of 0.2 percentage points in the same period.
Retail clothing and accessories is the second most common activity among individual micro-entrepreneurs in the state, with over 47,000 registered MEIs. In total, 82,000 micro-entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro work in fashion-related activities, accounting for 7% of all MEIs in the state.
Event Info
- Event: Senac RJ at Rio Fashion Week 2026
- Dates: April 14–18, 2026
- Venue: Pier Mauá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
