Paolina Russo handcrafts a wearable, scannable, up-cycled touch of magic

You’ve expressed that instead of slowing you down, lockdown gave you more time to focus. What did you get a chance to focus on that you hadn’t manage to work on before?

I think it just gave me more time to settle into my ideas. Things moved much more on the fly on previous projects that I’ve worked on. It was quite nice to have this moment in time where I could think about things more deeply. It just changed the way that I approach my work: before everything felt rushed—it felt like I wasn’t completely in control, everything was moving so fast, but now I can see everything: my ideas, the development of pieces and this makes the process feel easier. I grew a lot through lockdown just by having that time to think.

Reinvention is a keyword in your creative process, how does your work with up-cycled fabrics and vintage items enable that? Why is this an interesting medium for you, beyond just embracing a sustainable way of working, which is now becoming the standard praxis? How do you tie this into the idea of reinvention?

I’m drawn towards vintage and up-cycling precisely because I love the idea of reinvention and reconfiguration. I find that my strongest work is often achieved when I completely decontextualise the former piece from my new creation. For this project with Klarna, we integrated every feature you would expect to find on a backpack: the straps and shape are of course there, but we wanted to recontextualise what you expect these features to look like. To create an original design out of what could be seen as unoriginal material feels very exciting. That’s possibly the coolest aspect of working with any kind of vintage fabric—you transform it into something that looks nothing like it used to. It’s about honing focus onto very specific elements of the fabric and making them shine through in the new product.

So it’s more about deconstructing the perception of a specific feature, a process of rearrangement in a way?

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going for.

When I think about many of the prominent examples of designers leading this new wave of up-cycling, sportswear tends to be a stylistic and material signature for them. How would you define your signature aesthetic?

The way that I create, no matter if it’s something that’s mass-produced or small scale, is always marked by the presence of human touch. That’s why I love knitwear and so much of my work incorporates knitwear. The textile-led approach brings such richness to the products. I think oftentimes people forget where their clothes come from, and I always want people to feel my handiwork. The process of translating your handiwork into something sold at a store is central to the joy of my work.

I’ve spoken to several designers who have honed in on creating a personal connection with the consumer through this tactile medium. Designers don’t necessarily want their products to be alienated from their creative touch by going through a million different steps in a production chain.

When you wear something on your body, it’s naturally close to you, but the construction of the piece is such a personal experience too. I feel it’s very intimate and hopefully, that translates through my work and aesthetic.

You play a lot with patterns, textures and silhouettes—which can also be seen in other artistic movements, from spacial art to architecture. Do you have sources of inspiration that are not related to first-degree fashion? It doesn’t even have to be an artistic discipline, it could also be social structure or nature.

Music is music a huge inspiration for me. Even though it may not correlate directly, I’ve always loved working with musicians and I love music. I developed my taste in music from a super young age and I possess a very emotional and evocative approach. I love songs that directly look to unpack the listener’s emotions–including some cheesy ones–when I do my research I try to recreate the same kind of connection that I have with music—I was very much an alternative kid.

This is even more interesting considering the inspiration that you take aesthetically from the nineties. What are your main reference-points in terms of style?

I feel like I’ve been massively inspired by Gwen Stefani growing up, even in the way I dress now and in the way I like to approach colours and textures. Especially when she was in No Doubt, I think that era was game-changing for me. I was really into jeans under skirts. I also loved Alice Glass growing up — she was one of the first Canadians with an international wave, and I was obsessed with how she did her hair and make-up. I love these women who created rituals of dressing, the way they became these characters, not just wearing costumes and playing a role, but also expressing parts of themselves.

We have seen digital fashion explode and as a bi-product people are starting to completely rethink the link between clothing and technology. The glove sleeves that you’ve designed enable the wearer to swipe their Klarna Card handsfree. Do you think that the future of fashion will increasingly fuse technology with garments to incorporate things that are at present used as separate objects?

I think fashion has always integrated technology, in ways so subtle that what we don’t even realise. Take a bag or a pocket, for example, the measurements have changed over the years to accommodate the size of the latest iPhone. When I approached this particular project, I thought it would be fun to integrate something that we use every day, so functionality became the focus. It’s always really interesting to see innovation within fashion, especially with cyclical design and how a lot of sportswear brands are finding ways to create materials out of their waste products. I think the direction that it’s headed in is subtle functionality.

Many artists—but I’m thinking mostly of filmmakers in this instance—have been exploring the boundary between humans and technology, imagining the moment our creations would start to take over humans themselves, fusing our own identity and biology into some sort of hybrid. Is this something that interests you?

I do think about it sometimes because it’s something that we can’t fully comprehend. One of my favourite films is Hackers—I love the way they show the Internet in that movie—imagining it as a series of rooms, trying to contextualise the Internet into something that we already unequivocally know.

In fashion, the way people have projected the future of getting dressed is incredibly intriguing. I love Pierre Cardin, even though his work is not present in my own. I loved his vision of the future—it felt so right for the time he was designing it, very modern.

Based on what you’ve said I thought you would have been influenced by Mugler.

I love Mugler, I love Jean Paul Gaultier too. They all have an idea of the future and they all integrate it with technology but in very different ways.

We have been undergoing a lot of changes in terms of the ways that we allow capitalism to function in regards to controlling our collective health and economy. We are reconsidering our way of thinking and the roles of the major players within this system, fashion being one of them of course. The perception of sustainability within fashion has changed: it used to be a buzz word that made you cool, edgy and avant-garde. Now it’s not like that anymore, because we have arrived at such a terrible, low point environmentally it has to be part of the status quo by default. Fashion is re-questioning a lot, its raison d’être, its goals and direction. How do you see the future of the fashion industry?

From both the design and consumer sides, I love to look for the personal touch and be able to find the humanity in the work. Even bigger brands, that used to be seen as untouchable entities are discovering the importance of transparency and opening their platform to have open conversations—they understand that it’s necessary to talk with consumers. One thing that is nice for me as a young brand, is being able to interact with consumers on a more personal level. I think we are generally more aware and intelligent about the brands we buy. I’ve also noticed that many consumers are looking to support local labels and they have a lot more questions before making purchases. They want to understand where the items are made, how the items are made and whether the piece will prove a worthy investment in their wardrobe for the long haul. My first encounter with sustainability was in school and we were taught about recycling and biodegradable materials, but in fashion, the overarching aim should be that the garments last forever. I think it’s very important that we focus on quality both as producers and as consumers. It’s very questionable when you see a pair of jeans for ten dollars.

Are we heading towards the end of fast fashion?

I think people are questioning fast fashion more and are willing to invest in their wardrobe if something feels right. At least where I am, this consciousness has begun to spread.