LIFE IS ELSE WHERE/WHERE ELSE

photos: Alisa

style: Suvi

model: Mau

Everything happens for a reason - I have proved that. When I was reading Milan Kundera's Life is elsewhere I realized that I want to make a photo shoot, that reflects the mood of the book. 

I then asked my friend SUVI (Poutiainen) if she wants to make a styling. She ended up with some outsider and melancholy themes. We had the same mood. I asked SUVI afterwords some questions about her life. 

me: 1. I know you are only 21-years old, but you've made many interesting things. Can you tell me something about your life?

Suvi: Well, I moved to London to study at London College of Fashion straight from high school. After the first year I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to continue. So when Daniel (Palillo) asked me to work at Wunder I decided stay in Finland. 

      For the first year Daniel and I shared the buyers duties but when last fall Daniel decided to concentrate on his label I became in charge as the buyer. Then finally this March I bought half of the shop and now we share the ownership with Tomi Heikkilä.

      All the while I've also done some stylist jobs as well.

me: 2. Who are your favourite photographers?

Suvi: I'm not very good at name dropping! Let me think... Maybe David Sims?

me: 3. And now back to our photo session. What was your idea for the styling?

Suvi: I can't really remember how we came up with the idea of using the story of Christiane F. as a starting point for the photoshoot... But anyways, the idea was to use the aesthetic of the movie Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, which portrays the lives of these teen-age-junkie-prostitutes in late 70s Berlin, as an inspiration for the styling and the whole theme as well. 

     However, our setting was a lot less urban than that of the movie which is located mainly in the central railway station of Berlin. The photos are all moments captured from film -therefore they're not as staged as regular fashion images. 

     In fact, what makes the shoot interesting to me is the fact that I know that somewhere there is a film with the sequences make up the timeline between the images but they are just no where for me to be seen.