When Mariana Jaguite walks onto a set, you can feel the shift — a quiet, confident energy that tells you the space is about to transform.
Maybe that’s because the London-raised model and set designer has lived on both sides of the lens: the subject and the architect.
Born in Portugal to parents from Guinea-Bissau and raised in London, Jaguite’s journey from architecture student to international model to acclaimed set designer isn’t the usual straight-line success story. It’s a winding, fearless climb — one marked by risk, reinvention, and a refusal to let anyone else define her creativity.
“You have to be audacious,” she says. “Stand up for yourself and get your shit done — because at the end of the day, it’s not their name on the line. It’s mine.”
A Pandemic Pivot Turned Power Move
Jaguite’s career in fashion began almost accidentally. During the pandemic, stuck in university lectures that “didn’t stimulate” her, she decided to try something new — modeling. Her first major campaign was for Aazhia x Missguided, a futuristic, one-model shoot that set her career in motion.
From there, she worked with TIGI Bed Head, Calvin Klein, and Adidas, taking her natural afro and unfiltered charm from London to Berlin and beyond. But even as her modeling career grew, something inside her tugged at a deeper creative impulse.
“In the beginning, I just wanted to do everything for everyone,” she told The Note Sphere in an interview. “Now, I’m selective. I’ve built an identity outside of modeling, I’m a brand of myself.
The Woman Behind the Sets
What makes Jaguite unique isn’t just her look — it’s her eye. With a background in architecture from Kingston University, she carries an analytical precision into her set designs. Whether building stages, storefronts, or album covers, her work balances function and fantasy.
Her most buzzed-about project so far? The set design for Rema’s Benin homecoming concert, a production she calls “the hardest but most fulfilling” of her life.
“Nothing was readily available,” she recalled, laughing. “We had to improvise everything. But that’s what made it beautiful — we built something out of nothing.”
Balancing Two Worlds
Jaguite admits the juggling act between modeling and design isn’t easy. Her calendar is color-coded chaos — fittings one day, fabric sourcing the next.
“It’s something I’m still learning to balance,” she said. “Modeling pays the bills, but set design feeds my soul. I get the most satisfaction from projects that aren’t even lucrative — just fulfilling.”
Her creative alias, @lostinmarssss, showcases her multidisciplinary work — immersive environments for photoshoots, pop-ups, and music visuals that feel more like living sculptures than backdrops.
Breaking the Mold — and the Rules
For many young African creatives, traditional expectations loom large. Jaguite’s parents initially struggled to understand her choices.
“They wanted me to be an architect,” she said with a grin. “They didn’t get how someone could make money from set design. They told me, ‘Do it for a year, then go back to school.’ But I didn’t.”
It paid off. Today, she’s both financially independent and creatively fulfilled — proof that artistry and ambition don’t have to exist in separate worlds.
Her influences range from Virgil Abloh to Travis Scott, but it’s Abloh who left the deepest mark:
“He made it okay to do multiple things at once. You don’t have to pick one box and stay there. You can be fluid.”
A Community That Keeps Her Grounded
When she’s not sketching stage layouts or shooting campaigns, Jaguite gathers monthly with a circle of friends — musicians, producers, and artists — to share their wins and struggles.
“We meet every 6th of the month,” she said. “We talk about gratitude, setbacks, ideas. It’s what keeps me human.”
That grounding community helped her through one of her lowest points — a long winter of creative block and visa issues that left her feeling isolated.
“I thought about giving up,” she said quietly. “But I reminded myself — I’ve come too far to stop now.”
The Next Chapter
Now armed with a U.S. visa and a new wave of confidence, Jaguite is setting her sights on Los Angeles and beyond. She dreams of opening her own creative agency — a space for collaboration, mentorship, and “building the kind of opportunities that didn’t exist” when she started.
“There are so many young people who just need guidance,” she said. “If that hadn’t been done for me, I wouldn’t be where I am.”
Her immediate plans? Launching immersive installations that merge set design with audience experience — “the kind of spaces people don’t just see but feel.”
“My philosophy is simple,” she said. “I don’t want mediocrity. I don’t want to look back and think, ‘I should’ve done that.’ So I’m doing it now.”
A New Kind of Creative
In an era obsessed with titles and niches, Mariana Jaguite is a reminder that creativity isn’t meant to be contained. She’s a model who builds worlds, a designer who understands light and shadow as intimately as texture and tone.
In the fashion industry — too often dismissive of Black women as muses rather than makers — her rise marks a quiet rebellion. Her sets are not just backdrops; they’re blueprints for a more expansive vision of what women of color can create, lead, and own.
“No one knows what’s best for you more than you do,” she says. “So listen to yourself — there’s too much outside noise.”
For Jaguite, that voice — clear, grounded, and unbothered — is the art itself.
