INTERVIEW #73 ROWIE KORPEL
Based in: Rotterdam
Occupation: Sustainable fashion consultant / stylist / awareness creator
Get inspired by: Instagram, on the streets, in vintage stores
Instagram: @rowiekorpel
Why we love her: ”Slow fashion advocate, creator & stylist ”, and ”Pro vintage hunter” is what her biography says on Instagram, it took us one second to feel ”WOW YES”. After scrolling through her feed it made us even more excited. She knows what she’s doing. Rowie is a true inspiration, a unique and confident woman with an obvious talent when it comes to vintage and style.
Hi Rowie! Tell us about yourself and your background?
Sure I can! First of all I feel honoured that you asked me for this interview. I am 28 years old, born and raised in Rotterdam. Moved to Amsterdam when I was 19 years where studied Fashion Management at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and had the best time there! Last year I moved back to Rotterdam to live closer to my friends and family.
What’s your relationship with clothes, and how far back does the relationship go?
I would say it all started with a love/hate relationship. When I was around 16-17 I was a shop addict, I spent all my money on clothes. I worked at a big fashion mall and most of the time I didn't even get a salary because I had too many accounts open. I also bought a lot of clothes at Primark, Zara and H&M before I made my sustainable shopping shift. When I started at AMFI I started reading articles about the polluting fashion industry and it made me so sad. During that time I also found out how many cool vintage stores and markets there are and vintage hunting became my biggest hobby. Clothes are for me a way to express myself, but also to inspire others. I’m really enjoying the question: “Where did you buy that dress?” then I can answer: “It’s vintage”, which actually means one of a kind. I’m having a special relationship with all of my clothes, I really love them all.
How would you describe your own style?
I don’t have one specific style. Some days I love to be dressed like my granny and some days I’m enjoying my tom-boy look, but most of the time I’m a bit extra or I add something different to my outfit. Like a hat or I am wearing red lipstick.
Do you dress according to ”mood of the day”, or are you consistent in your choice of style?
Especially in winter times I’m a real mood dresser and I choose more for comfy but still fashionable looks. Secretly I really love activewear days! Sometimes I still make missteps and buy beautiful items who are totally not comfortable, they will end up in a corner in my closet and last year I came up with a new rule: if I’m not wearing an item for longer than 1,5 year I have to sell it. That’s what I’m trying to do now .
How would you describe your closet, and what is a MUST in it?
My closet is all secondhand/vintage. I only buy second hand/vintage clothes since 2015. I don’t want to support the polluting fashion industry anymore and I do believe that there is plenty of already made – and still beautiful, unique fashion. My closet consists a lot of items from my 90 year old granny. She was a real fashionista when she was younger, now she is more a mood dresser, which I completely understan.
But she is so happy and proud if I am wearing her items. Two years ago I found a Celine blouse in her closet, she wanted to give this blouse to the thrift store in her village. She had no clue what kind of brand it was, but happy I could save the item from being sold for €10. I would describe my closet as classy, casual chic.
What is a sustainable closet for you?
Like how I described above. Vintage and secondhand, but of course you can also invest in sustainable basic items. I really think your wardrobe should only consist of pieces that you really love. Pieces which you treat with love, which you wear with price, makes you feel comfortable and which suits your style. Over the years I collect so many beautiful items, some do feel like art to me, so unique.
What do you think about the fashion industry?
Do you have the time to let me answer this question? Where to begin... I always try to focus on something positive first, there are a lot of initiatives that are doing good and over the years more people are getting aware of the polluting fashion industry. But for most of the people it’s still a ‘far away of their bed show’. We have this saying in Dutch, don’t know if it makes sense in English. Money is for most of the people the reason why they still buy fast fashion. They still want to have more items for less instead of buying less buy better. We’ve lost the value of clothing over the years.
And that makes me really sad, because someone on the other side of the world is paying the price for the €5 T-shirts we buy. It makes me even more sad that fast fashion giants like Primark are already aware of the fact that they are producing disposable items and they communicate to their consumers that they have big sustainability plans. This is greenwashing to the max, misleading your consumers. If a company is working towards circularity while continuing to overproduce, it’s not interested in solving the problem. It’s interested in extracting profit from the problem.
I don’t have the solution for the polluting fast fashion industry, but I think we need to make people more aware of those facts on a daily basis and in a positive way. I really have the feeling that I am one of those awareness creators, it feels like a kind of life purpose to me. If you want to become a more sustainable fashion shopper, please keep in mind that the most sustainable garment is the one already in your closet.
Please share, favorite vintage/second hand store (in Amsterdam or anywhere on planet earth)?
In Amsterdam I really love the markets like the Noordermarkt or the IJhallen in North. I moved back to Rotterdam a year ago and really love the vintage shops there as well:
- @stillevenstore
- @dearhuntervintage
Online:
What can one do that seeks to create a more sustainable closet?
I really think your wardrobe should only consist of pieces which you really love and pieces which fits your style. Over the years we’ve lost the value of clothing. The fast fashion industry made it possible to experiment with your own style in a cheap way. I do think that it’s useful to find your own style, by experimenting, where you feel comfortable with and build your closet from there. But please experiment by buying secondhand/vintage as much as possible. It is unique, good quality and cheap as well. If you don’t have a big budget buying secondhand is a good option to be more sustainable, but you can also exchange garments with friends.
When clicking ”follow” on your IG account, what can one expect to see from you, your feed and stories?
You can expect an IG full of inspiration, advice and awareness. I share a lot of topics on my stories to make people more aware. I mostly focus on slow fashion, but also share stories about the meat/fish industry, plastic, garment workers, human rights and of course also about a HAPPY LIFE .