remix(ers)_revealed: vasiliisa

June 11, 2007

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THE WARDROBE_REMIX(ER) BEING REVEALED:

name: Liisa-Maria
flickr handle: vasiliisa
age: 34
location: Helsinki, Finland
website: http://vasiliisa.etsy.com/ (her etsy store)

DEEP(ER) QUESTIONS:

what do you do for a living? or, if you are a student, what are you
studying?

I’m a PhD student in Cultural Studies, and I also have a degree in Fine Arts.

what are your passions/obsessions?

Thrifting! I thrift a lot of my clothes and accessories, but also my furniture, tableware, etc. Fashion and clothes in general. Crafts, doing things with my hands, arts, classical music, cats. To name only a few.

what inspires you?

People everywhere: on the streets, street fashion sites (especially wardrobe_remix!), magazines… Pictures from past decades, especially the ’70s. Colours, textures and shapes in general; it’s fun to mix them and see how they interact. I love to observe those things everywhere I go. Also, I think it can be very inspiring to think about your own dos and don’ts and the reasoning behind them. Challenging the rules you made for yourself can result in something very innovative!

how do you define “style”?

“Style” is a way of presenting ourselves to others, and it is manifested in many ways. So, it’s not only clothing we’re talking about.

how would you describe your personal style?

Triple c: colourful, cute, and crazy!

how does your background (personal history, passions, culture,
nationality, etc.) come through in the clothes you like and wear, if
at all?

My love for thrifting is one obvious thing, as well as my struggle for a more sustainable lifestyle in general. When I was a wee undergrad, it was the ’90s and there a was a deep economical depression in Finland; during that period thrifting became quite popular and there were thrift stores and flea markets everywhere. I, trying to cope with my student budget, followed suit. Perhaps I’d learned to love thrifting anyway, but that kind of sealed my fate.

choose one item in your closet that you feel completely expresses
your personal style and/or aesthetic. describe it. what is it and
why is it “you”?

That item would be my mother’s old Marimekko dress from 1972. It’s Finnish, it’s quirky, very colourful and it has a history. [ed: see first photograph]

do you collect anything? if so, what?

I collect children’s vintage fabrics. Those I collect pretty systematically. More randomly and occassionally I collect a bit this and that, like coloured glassware.

what are some of your favorite places to shop when you want to add
to your wardrobe? online? locally? anywhere in the world? why are
these places favorites of yours?

I love thrift stores, anywhere, but also stores that sell handmade, unique things and refashioned/recycled items. I love to see unexpected things, and those are the places to look for them. I also like to shop local, wherever I am. And I love online auctions!

does your location (where you live) affect your style? if so, in
what ways? describe what your city is like in regard to fashion.

Oh yes. I love Finnish brands, vintage and new… Also I need to be prepared for a variety of weathers, which definitely affects my wardrobe, and my style. We have to be somewhat practical in the winter.

There’s a bunch of stylish people in Helsinki, even though it’s not like hel-looks most of the time. In Finland it’s traditionally been less OK to put your money in clothes (regarding money spent on clothes, I think we as a nation are still at the bottom of European stats). But I think that’s changing radically.

what do you think is next in terms of fashion? perhaps something
that is currently flying under the radar, but could be really cool an
popular later, or perhaps something amazing you’d like to see more
of that needs to come back or be the new thing?

Basically, if you haven’t seen it in a while, it’ll be back, that’s the law of fashion. Shoulder pads, acid wash, dropped waistline, you name it.

I would love to see the comeback of quality. Even if you get bored or change your styles often, that doesn’t mean you should buy disposable clothes. Someone else might still get use of things you abandoned.

you are super creative with your clothes! share a creative tip or
idea about a way people can remix/style their clothing in a fun or
innovative way.

This is a very general advice – but if you want to express yourself via your outfits, then you will need to turn inwards first. Ask yourself what is it that you want to express? Yourself, right, but be more specific – what kind of person are you, and what things about yourself do you want to communicate to others? After the inwards turn, you’ll be able to use outwards influences in a creative way, make them work for you and your style.

I think it’s always better to concentrate on the positive. Don’t disguise what you don’t like; emphasize what you do like. Be open. If I find myself hating something fashion related, I ask myself, geez, why? When did something positive come out of negative thinking? Forget it, or learn to love it 🙂

As I mentioned earlier, I like the idea of working with your own “don’ts”. If you think a colour doesn’t suit you, try it in a different colour combo, explore the different shades of that colour, or start with something small, like a belt or a necklace.

style icons: do you have any?

None that I can name. I don’t follow anyone’s style that consistently.

how did you come across wardrobe_remix? why do you post there? What do you like about it? has anything positive come about for you as a result of posting to the community?

I was googling for street fashion sites and came across wardrobe_remix. I started posting after just a few days of lurking, it seemed totally like my thing! I really love that there’s a community of likeminded people. wardrobe_remix is inspiring fashion-wise, but also gives food for thought. It’s a very friendly and positive group too. I certainly notice that I’ve gotten (yet) more confident about my style, and about my love for fashion in general; I’m now convinced that putting outfits together can be a very intellectual process indeed, and not just about vanity and things like that.

other favorite wardrobe_remix(ers)? who, and why?

I enjoy seeing a variety of styles, and also how people’s styles evolve in the course of time. I don’t want to single anyone out, there’s a ton of fabulously stylish people!

anything else you’d like to say?

After all it’s only fashion, even though I admittedly think about it a lot :). It’s not to be taken too seriously.

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thanks liisa-maria!

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if you have any intelligent questions you’d like to hear wardrobe_remix(ers) expound upon or wardrobe_remix(ers) who you’d like to see revealed, feel free to send those suggestions my way! thanks!

Written by triciaroyal Posted in wardrobe_remix