Helena Bromboszcz ‘Reinventing the past’
Helena Bromboszcz reinvents the past with her new stunning retro-inspired & sustainable fashion story.
“Vintage style is one of the biggest trends of the last decade. It came largely from so-called “hipsters”, who spent endless hours digging through rows of hangers in search of one-of-a-kind items. As always, mainstream eventually caught up & large fast-fashion chains started offering brand new, “vintage” style clothes, contradicting the original approach of upcycling & sustainability. To satisfy demand for authentic vintage items, especially those in certain styles, a new kind of second-hand shops emerged: smaller, more posh, offering carefully selected, often severely overpriced items sweeped from more conventional thrift shops, whose customers started to often leave them empty-handed. Another kind of affordable goods of high quality started to disappear due to a process usually referred to as gentrification.
This is the situation we found ourselves in when deciding to make a vintage photoshoot without any new items. Instead of attempting to recreate any of latest fashion trends or going for cheesy all-at-once look a’la viral Macklemore video (who probably spoiled the vintage clothes market more than anything else), we decided to treat the “vintage” concept more literally & recreate a complete 60s photoshoot with items we had in our wardrobes. None of them comes from the era. One is apparently a hippie costume for a dress-up party, thrifted a few years ago – in other words a vintage imitation of something which was “vintage” a long time a ago already. We did not strive for “authenticity” in a sense of the origin of featured items. Instead, we focused on details, combinations & overall feel. We wanted to show that coherent self-expression is still possible, even without a huge budget spent on overpriced vintage or unsustainable new items. Fashion went through so many cycles that any style can be patchworked with whatever means available.”
Words by Robert Sonek
Credits:
- Photographer: Helena Bromboszcz @helenabromboszcz
- Model: Weronika Gos @veronifikacja
- Make-up Artist: Rockagirl @beautybyrockagirl
- Assistant: Joanna Oleksy @joanna.oleksy
- 4 years ago by: Ainsley Hutchence
