Finding the ideal treatment for fashion nostalgia
Interviewing Hilde of Dr.Princess Vintage
Stockholm, having become a commercial powerhouse within fashion over the past decade, remains afflicted by a sartorial shyness; minimalism still reigns supreme on the streets. And those whose fashion exploration extends beyond Arket tees and Acne jeans are compelled to dig a little deeper to find the gems the Swedish capital has to offer. We had the opportunity to speak with the owner of one of those places: Hilde of Dr.Princess Vintage. From the dramatic and stark tailoring of 90s McQueen to the timeless lines of Yohji Yamamoto and everything in-between, this store has something to offer for anyone experiencing fashion nostalgia symptoms, be it from the 80s, 90s or the early 2000s. Read along if you’re interested in Hilde’s background, her philosophy and what’s ahead in the future.
Ali (Kurb)
Where are you from and what brought you to fashion?
Hilde (DPV)
I spent my first 13 years in Lund, in the very south of Sweden. I'm from a line of women who are passionate about design and antiquities. My grandmother, who died earlier this year, was a textile designer and a teacher in weaving. Göta had a very specific taste. Her three daughters went on to develop their own personal styles for dressing and furnishing their homes, and so did I.
Ali (Kurb)
Often I think people who come to designer clothing have an interest in more novel avenues of clothing. But then how would you describe growing up in Lund, the kind of clothing your family was into, and the kind of clothing you saw around you?
Hilde (DPV)
I grew up thrifting and playing dress-up with different epochs. My mom would wear a 1920’s flapper dress one day and a 1980’s power suit the next day. The masquerade is still my approach to fashion, really.
As a teenager I started following the fashion weeks and buying designer clothing off Ebay. When I was 17, in 2007, I started importing vintage kimonos from Japan and selling them through a vintage consignment store in Stockholm.
Ali (Kurb)
I think as you describe your more theatrical approach to fashion, I feel like a lot of that translates into your curation for Dr. Princess. It is a bit more eclectic, motivating a more eccentric pursuit for what someone could do in fashion.
Hilde (DPV)
I think of myself as a failed costume designer. Not that I ever gave it a good go. When someone like Vivienne Westwood or John Galliano would reinvent a historical piece of clothing, and the humbleness that comes with fashion history research as part of your design process – that approach just sits right with me. But I also like high tech, futuristic design, and I value when a design looks like nothing you have ever seen before.
Ali (Kurb)
I think that's a really interesting divide within the second hand designer community. There are people who are hyper focused on a handful of designers, and they will only buy designers like for instance Jan Jan van Essche and Comme and they'll keep buying within that umbrella, or a more select group of designers who have a more consistent output of what they want. And I have to say that on the male side of designer clothing, it's very brand-focused. Whereas when you look at the non-male sellers within the scene, it's much more diverse. Like it's more about the curation from these designers within perhaps someone's own personal concept, rather than reselling a specific designer's vision.
Hilde (DPV)
There appears to be a deep masculine urge to build a collection – whereas a woman might take a slightly different approach to collecting. But I think what you're describing, with people sourcing from within an umbrella, is more and more common. The competition is so high today, that you have to create a very distinct concept for your store. I enjoy such a wide range of designers, but I have had to narrow it down. At the same time, it’s been rewarding for me to have had a good long think about what styles I have actually appreciated over time. I’ve tried to go back to the core to find the more personal aspect of it all, to make the store distinctive. The store looks very different now from three years ago.
Ali (Kurb)
When I look at Dr. Princes, I feel like it's very diverse. In one moment you have Helmut Lang, then you have Yoshiki Hishinuma, and then you'll have, like, Armani and Vivienne Westwood. Stylistically, they can be quite diverse.
Hilde (DPV)
Yeah, yeah. From my point of view, they're not that far apart visually. As a reference, Dr. Princess used to have a lot of Fiorucci and Moschino, and that is a lot harder to put on the hanger next to a Yohji or a Helmut. Though, someone like @jamesveloria or @womens_history_museum_vintage can make it work.
Ali (Kurb)
Yeah. Okay. That unpacks it a bit. But returning to what you were saying earlier about the focus on branding, it reminds me of when we were talking to source.ph last month. What I find really interesting with their project is that they are very aware of their branding and who their client is. Like the curation is one thing, but they are also very conscious of enriching their own brand identity. And to me that's a huge shift! When I think back to when I started my store, I was so focused on the product itself to tell the story.
Hilde (DPV)
Yes, exactly. I am not sure if I can ever fully adapt to this transition. I’m a nerd and fashion happens to be my thing. Like, I barely even wear all these cool clothes that I have.
Ali (Kurb)
I think we share that nerdy film-costume-inspired avenue into fashion. I used to be really into movies and I was taken away by how Jim Jarmusch could create an atmosphere through the costume. Or how Peter Greenaway would create a whole aesthetic experience that I found so profound. But I'm curious now, when you think about movies related to fashion, are there any movies that come to mind that are like “they fucking cooked on that”?
Hilde (DPV)
Okay, so there is one movie above all! It came out when I was seven: The Fifth Element! And I had it on video tape, can you imagine… The thing is, I didn’t know until I was in my 20s that Jean Paul Gaultier designed the costume for that movie. By then he was one of my favorite designers – he still is – and it was just this moment where I was like: “Oh, it all makes sense now”, you know, because I was absolutely obsessed with The Fifth Element as a kid.
Ali (Kurb)
I vividly remember the leopard print suit scene! It's like that scene is a whole fucking film in my brain because it's so great.
Hilde (DPV)
It’s fantastic. So the character Ruby Rhod played by Chris Tucker, who wears the leopard suit, was intended to be played by Prince. But Prince declined. There are so many fun male costumes in this movie. I will always love the way that Gaultier plays with gender.
Ali (Kurb)
Yeah, his ability to himbo-fy men is outstanding, I’ve personally been excited about seeing the male midriff come back into the foray.
So what keeps you going with Dr. Princess?
Hilde (DPV)
My obsession… But also the people that I’ve met, no doubt. I would have given up already if it wasn’t for my online friends. There isn't much of a vintage designer community in Stockholm.
During my first two years, I was very oriented towards the local market and tried to make my mark on it. I was basically trying to open people's eyes to this great designer vintage thing that was happening in other countries. I tried to make the Swedes spend the money that they would normally spend on Arket on good second hand designer clothing instead. I was writing all posts in Swedish and I took an educational approach, especially with me and my friend, Agnes Braunerhielm, starting a Swedish fashion podcast, Modegalaxen. I was happy during this time, because I had many regulars, received a lot of encouragement and I was also more commercially successful when I was selling cheaper clothes to friends of friends.
But after some time my focus of interest changed, as I dwelled deeper into fashion history… When you work with your interest, or passion, I believe that you just have to follow where it takes you. So I did. And it forced me to compete on the international market instead, to be able to find the buyers for my items. But I mean, that's been great, too. I've been able to do pop-ups in London. The people that I’ve met there are just lovely and I sell well over there.
Ali (Kurb)
A lot of the friends I made in New Zealand were people I met because I had the store. They say “you meet your freaks”, but I'd never met my freaks until I really started to get into it.
Hilde (DPV)
There is this seller, @filter.store, who teamed up with this other seller, @_shop_pond, to create a designer vintage store in this small city, Adelaide, in Australia. It’s similar to the town where I grew up, with like 100,000 residents. I read an interview with Filter Store for Second Life Markets and I was very touched by it. They are doing exactly what I’ve been trying to achieve!
In a city of that size, the people who are interested in music will be in the same group as the art people, or followers of any form of culture, and the idea is like “what if we could direct their interest toward designer fashion?” And they made it happen in Adelaide, because Filter and Pond built a community around the store, and it grew big enough for it to be economically sustainable. My friend Cian (@maelhaus) does the same thing in Worcester, UK, where he’s really built something for his city.
Ali (Kurb)
I relate to this. I worked in a independent cinema (Academy Cinemas) where we'd go and do a lot of not blockbuster films: Tarkovsky, Lynch, Cocteau, you know? It embedded this deep desire for specific clothing that I couldn't find in New Zeeland, and I was like, fuck, I love this shit, let me try and make it available for myself through secondhand designer. And before long it caught on with friends at the cinema, who also happened to be studying in fine arts or were musicians.
So with someone like Filter Store, I think their work comes from the desire to kind of fulfill someone's creative suspension. But coming back to the Stockholm experience, it’s a struggle here. I think there's a little fashion taste in Stockholm, but it's quite consolidated on a few select regional brands. While I feel that, if they had the opportunity to explore other brands, like what Dr. Princess is offering, there would be an enthusiasm for it.
Hilde (DPV)
Yeah, let's focus a bit on the aspects that we dislike about Stockholm. I think my artist background weighs in here. As an artist, and as a Swede, there is nothing that I am more suspicious and wary of than minimalism. For the time being, there is nothing that you can do as sloppily and get away with as easily. I don't have anything against Minimalism as a concept. I love any art form where you push the limits and take a risk. The issue with minimalism is you don't, and you haven't been, for what, 60 years? And in Sweden it’s the status quo.
The whole idea with Dr. Princess from the get-go was, above all, to fuck with Scandi minimalism. It makes me think of this quote by Tom Ford: “They don't get to tell you what they want. You show them what they want.” That’s what I try to do!
It resonates with the words of my boyfriend’s art professor, Tobias Rehberger. He used to say something like “Don’t give them what they want, give them what they need”. So, like, when we talk about our art practices, or anything that we put forward, we keep coming back to this approach.
Stockholm is not a great city for culture. But you can get things going pretty easily. I've lived here for a long time, and there have been years where it has been really great, with lots of fun new initiatives. It's been like that lately, actually. I’ve felt rejuvenated and fallen in love with the city again. Besides Dr. Princess and the podcast, I’ve done my part through running a “home gallery” with my boyfriend, called @gallerikanaan.
Ali (Kurb)
Haha yeah, that sentiment resonates in a lot of creative endeavours, where it’s vital to feed the flame of what you believe even if it can mean disproportionate personal destitution. Burning the candle at both ends and betting your life on something will always allure me.
Hilde (DPV)
Another thing that I brought with me from my artist background into this project is how to separate finance and passion. You need to find a way to feed your company financially, and you need to find a way to nurture your passion. And remember to always keep these two engines separated in your mind. Kind of like this Biblical allegory with the right hand and the left hand.
So like, for an artist, the finance part could mean that you start mass producing the same artwork or idea, because there is a demand for it and it will sell. It can be a great way to fuel new projects with money, and essentially time. The risk, if you don’t keep working on your passion project separately, is that you might start telling yourself that you're developing, when you’re actually stuck, or like it’s the best thing that you’ve ever done, just because it’s popular.
So the way I apply this in my business model now is: when I source, I will buy basically anything that is a good deal and easy to sell, and I will sell that item through other platforms. I will even cynically source these popular Scandi brands, and sell them through consignment stores. It’s very easy money compared to what I do for my own store. The money I make this way, I use to build Dr. Princess. It allows me to take risks, which is important.
Ali (Kurb)
It also goes for designer fashion, you know, like Comme des Garcons and their diffusion brands for example, and I think it's such a good model because it allows them to experiment on the creative side. Like, for sure, the volume of sales of like a Converse collab is going to be magnitudes more with a higher margin than their mainline, but enables them to do the really challenging stuff for the runway. I think that that's the kind of model that you're applying.
Hilde (DPV)
One of the worst diffusion brands ever, compared to the quality of the main line, is McQ. But let's never forget that McQ was very commercially successful and Alexander McQueen simply wasn't. So there would have been no Alexander McQueen without the McQ.
Ali (Kurb)
But there's also the really evil side of that, there's Pierre Cardin and this early licensing of fashion designers. When all of a sudden you're selling Pierre Cardin lighters.
Hilde (DPV)
Yeah. Halston met the same fate. We made a podcast episode about it.
Ali (Kurb)
Where do you want to take the store now or what are your ambitions for the future?
Hilde (DPV)
I'm hoping to travel more with the store and do pop-ups. All the sellers that I met so far have been just lovely. I'm starting to suspect that everyone in this scene is a great person. So now it's like, I can't wait to meet them all.
Ali (Kurb)
Can you tell me about some of your favorite sellers?
Hilde (DPV)
I’ve followed Stacey Nishimoto and @thee_corner_store in Los Angeles since her son was like two years old. He now looks like a teenager! I would never have gotten the idea to do this if it wasn't for her. I saw her struggling as a single mom, and when I was in the same situation, it dawned on me that I could make it work too. She fuses 19th century Americana with 1980’s subcultures and latin L.A. street fashion. Her imagery is beautiful. We share a lot of references in fashion, music and movies.
Speaking of single mothers, there is also Hanna, @haut_corporation. She’s a cornerstone in the community in London. Here, I would also like to mention @aroarchive. Hanna curates the Second Life Markets Designer Archive, and she is just a true force. She has been working in fashion for a long time, and has such a trained eye and strong personal style. Everything she touches has a really fresh look.
Mili, @mellowmadrid, is like a mentor to me. She's introduced me to half of the designers that I like and I can ask her anything. What she doesn’t already know about fashion history, she will not rest until she finds out. She’s especially knowledgeable in niche designers and has a wonderful and unique selection.
You know the emoji with the brain exploding – that’s me everytime @sacrificumlaudis makes a new post. I can’t wrap my head around how she finds these items and editorials from 50 years ago. I cannot understand how she even knows about some of these British underground brands from the New Romantic era. She blows my mind and keeps me reminded of what I love about doing this.
Frankie of @_coolplus has taught me a lot on how to run a store. He keeps his selection and imagery extremely tight, making his store one of the best ones. I love watching him show all the hidden functions and details in his complex pieces. And I love his library of 1990’s fashion editorials.
@womens_history_museum_vintage are the rockstars of the scene to me. Their curation of niche Japanese streetwear designers, 1980’s femme designers (like Chantal Thomass), 18th century undergarments and ironic statements is just wild!'
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