At last, the long-awaited day arrived, and on a cold winter New York afternoon a young, colorful group of six well-traveled journalists assembled at JFK. As we awaited our TAM Brazilian Flight to Rio at in the Virgin Atlantic lounge, we exchanged introductions. However, after the formalities, the names of shops and designers other people had told us about inevitably began to surface.

After a relaxed journey in TAM’s extremely comfy Business Class, we arrived in Rio just days shy of Carnival season, on a rainy morning. However, a little water wasn’t going to stop our fun. Though we all had our own agendas for our assignments, different tastes in fashion and different budgets, one thing clearly brought the diverse lot of us together…carioca chic. Inclement weather dashed our tentative plans to hit the beach, pool or the stylish streets of Leblon (now regarded as Rio’s poshest neighborhood, topping Ipanema and Copacabana on some seasoned traveler’s list). Additionally, our nicely appointed home for the week was the Hotel Intercontinental, 30 minutes from Rio’s party center--if traffic cooperated. However, we quickly learned the neighborhood, São Conrado, was a very fashionable residential area and our hotel conveniently next door to the aptly-named Fashion Mall.

It struck me on the three-minute walk from my hotel to the mall that this was one of the fashion treasure troves Turet recommended. Given group trips don’t always allow time for shopping, the girls and I were quite content to use our free afternoon to explore Rio’s bounty of bikinis, baubles, bags and shoes. Although the mall architecturally looked like Anymall USA on the surface, inside there was an explosively colorful new world of fashion labels covering all the bases to delve into. And boy, did we!