Hel Looks records street fashion in the Finnish capital

More than 150 online images of "people dressing individually"

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By Santtu Parkkonen
     
      A young woman in grey knee-length shorts, lime-green rubber boots, and a Norwegian fisherman's knit woollen sweater pedals her bike along Kaivokatu. Liisa Jokinen likes what she sees. She stops the woman, hands her a small flyer, and asks if it would be alright to take her photo.
      Sure, why not? Swede Ylva Hammarstedt, 31, who is studying here in Finland, props her bicycle up in a nearby rack, stands in front of the brick facade of the main post office, and strikes a contrapposto pose.
      In mid-July of this year, Jokinen started photographing people who dressed in an "individual" fashion, along with her partner Sampo Karjalainen. The couple have subsequently set up a website for the pictures, under the heading "Hel Looks".
     
The URL, www.hel-looks.com, now contains around 150 photographs taken on the city's streets, in bars, and at festivals in the months since then.
      The images are all tightly cropped, the subjects are shown head-to-toe, and in nearly all cases, they are looking straight into the camera lens.
      The emphasis in the images is on "look-people" and their style.
      "In Stockholm we were astonished at how stylish people were by comparison with the street scene in Finland. And then we started to think about it - was this really the case or just an illusion? Would we also find something to take pictures of in Helsinki? And the answer is a resounding ‘Yes'", declares Jokinen.
     
It has not been difficult to get subjects in front of the camera, either.
      "The great majority were pleasantly surprised. They have taken pains over their dress, and they recognise that the request to have their picture snapped is a compliment."
      The brief photosession is over. Jokinen swaps her camera for a notepad and begins to interview Hammarstedt. Do you follow fashion trends? Do you admire a particular style? Who is your favourite designer? What are your obsessions?
      "I ask for backgrounds, for why the people have chosen to dress the way they do. Generally there are stories associated with people who have a distinct personal style about what they wear."
     
In order to get oneself immortalised on Hel Looks, one must at least have a distinct style of combining different items of clothing. "But also a wild hairdo or a funny woolly hat can grab my attention The most important thing is that I see something new in it. I'm very critical", says Jokinen.
      She admits that recording street fashion by photographing it is not a particularly unique thought.
      "I have long followed magazines like Fruits and Street, which pioneered this sort of thing. They've been an enormous source of inspiration for me."
     
The bulk of the pictures have been taken when Jokinen was on her way home from work. In the course of a couple of months she has formed a pretty solid image of Helsinki street fashion.
      "I wouldn't like to say that there is any kind of specific Helsinki look, but what you do see here is a lot of these punk+rock+glam types who are dressed in dark gear and have sticky-up hair. You don't see so many like that in Stockholm."
      Jokinen cannot say as yet whether the Hel Looks pictures will wind up at some point between the covers of a book, as has happened with the Fruits images.
      "Everything has gone so fast that we have not had time to think about the future. People are getting in touch with us all the time."
      Two girls walk by in amusing and intriguing garb - and once again Jokinen is off in pursuit.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.10.2005


Links:
  Photos by Liisa Jokinen and Sampo Karjalainen at Hel Looks

SANTTU PARKKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
santtu.parkkonen@hs.fi