V.BIRCHWOOD aka Vasi wears historical clothing every day. The 26-year-old YouTuber hand stitches her clothes, drawing inspiration for the designs from her antique clothing collection. Vasi decided to start wearing historical fashion as it combined her love of art, culture and history with her desire to know where her clothing came from. She said: “I decided that I would like to participate in the slowest fashion possible. Literally with a needle and thread - it doesn’t get much slower than that.” Today Vasi is bringing her look into the 21st Century as she is transformed into a Dua Lipa-inspired look. How will she feel about an outfit that follows the trends? How will her friend react to seeing her in modern clothing for the first time?!
Follow Vasi here:
https://www.instagram.com/vasibirchwood/
https://www.youtube.com/vbirchwood
Follow Lucie (MUA) here: https://www.instagram.com/luciej_mua/
Videographer: Sean Graham
Producers: Kim Nguyen, Emika Berry
Editor: Moe Najati
Follow Vasi here:
https://www.instagram.com/vasibirchwood/
https://www.youtube.com/vbirchwood
Follow Lucie (MUA) here: https://www.instagram.com/luciej_mua/
Videographer: Sean Graham
Producers: Kim Nguyen, Emika Berry
Editor: Moe Najati
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00I'm a daily wearer of historical fashion and I'm also a YouTuber.
00:05I decided that I would like to participate in the slowest fashion possible, literally
00:09with a needle and thread, it doesn't get any slower than that.
00:12I do dress like this every single day, this is my style all the time.
00:16I'm really excited though to see how I look in modern fashion, it's been so long since
00:19I've worn it.
00:20I'm being transformed into a Dua Lipa inspired look.
00:24I think the look is actually made for Vassy.
00:27I think the look is going to look really good on her.
00:30I'm curious to see what will happen and I'm curious to see how my friend is going to react
00:33as well because she's never seen me wear modern clothing before.
00:36So what do you think?
00:48So I've been sewing for about two and a half years and these are some things that I've
00:51currently been working on, some things I've been mending.
00:53This is an item I finished maybe like four months ago and it's based off of one of the
00:58antiques in my collection.
01:00This is a late Victorian cape and it took me probably about 40 or 50 hours to hand sew.
01:07So I started wearing historical fashion three to four years ago and about two and a half
01:10years ago I started sewing my own clothing.
01:13I got really interested a long time ago in where my food came from so I also wanted to
01:17understand where my clothing came from.
01:19And also my love for art, culture and history was a big factor as well because I guess I
01:23could have chosen slow fashion in a modern sense.
01:26I used to wear a lot of vintage and thrifted clothing for example and I tended to lean
01:30towards more Victorian-esque silhouettes.
01:33So it was always something that I found to be very aesthetically pleasing.
01:38I tend to wear a lot more British working class fashion these days so centered between
01:42the 1740s to the 1890s mainly.
01:45I have an antique clothing collection that I keep for study and not for wearing so I
01:49keep everything in archival boxes.
01:51So this piece is the original of what I made that cape off of.
01:55People tend to think that black was mourning only but actually black was a very stylish
01:59colour just like it is for people today.
02:01We just try and recreate garments as close to the originals as we possibly can based
02:06off of whatever we're able to research.
02:08So this dress that I'm wearing I hand-stitched it myself and it's an 1860s style wrapper
02:13dress.
02:14It would have been worn by all classes of people and this wrap here is called a Sontag
02:18and it was knitted by one of my friends as well as my hairnet which was also knitted
02:22by my friend.
02:23So today I'm going from historical dress to pop princess.
02:27I think that Dua Lipa and I have some similar features so that's part of why I was so
02:33open to being transformed into her look.
02:35I feel excited about the transformation today and I kind of have no idea what to expect.
02:43Wow this is totally different.
02:46It does definitely make me think of Dua Lipa because she wears this neon green a lot so
02:50I think that that's very much her vibe.
02:52Very cool.
02:53It's interesting because this is something I probably would have never chosen for myself
02:57when I did wear modern clothes but I think it'll be fun to wear something different that
03:01I've never worn before.
03:02I think I'm the most nervous about showing more skin than I usually do because normally
03:06I'm dressed from neck to ankles.
03:09Except maybe in 18th century clothing it's a bit lower and your boobs start to stick
03:14out a bit more.
03:17Hey.
03:18Hi.
03:19How are you doing?
03:20I'm Lucy.
03:21I want to meet you.
03:23Yeah.
03:24I think it's going to be such a stark contrast to her current look.
03:26Yeah.
03:27Something completely out of her comfort zone.
03:30Right.
03:31Come on.
03:32Take a seat.
03:33Let's get started.
03:34Okay.
03:35Right.
03:36I think we might have to take this mirror down though.
03:37I'm not nervous.
03:38I'm actually really excited.
03:39Yeah.
03:40Stop.
03:41They're taking everything off.
03:42I'm starting from scratch.
03:43Okay.
03:52Do you have any historical makeup icons that you look to for inspiration?
03:57I really like looking at 18th and 19th century portraits because the use of blush is usually
04:02really interesting.
04:03I think the look is actually made for Vassy.
04:05I think the skin tone complements the colours that we're going to use and I think she's
04:09got really nice features.
04:12So what tends to be the public's reaction to your sense of dress?
04:17Generally people are pretty nice about it.
04:20I would say online it's maybe a different story.
04:22But I've had some kind of scary experiences in fact and it's quite sad to me that people
04:27can't just let others be happy and enjoy what they're doing.
04:30People often think that I believe that all women should be modest and that's the opposite.
04:35I actually think that every gender should wear whatever they want to wear.
04:39Right.
04:40So my makeup looks complete.
04:41So if you go put on your outfit and then we'll do the hair.
04:44So who are you revealing your look to later?
04:47I'm going to be revealing it to my friend Sam and she's never seen me wear modern clothing
04:51before so it's going to be very, very interesting to see what her reactions will be.
04:57So the makeup is all ready.
04:59I'm just going to pack away and then we'll do the grand reveal.
05:02Vassy, how are you feeling about seeing yourself?
05:04I'm actually feeling quite calm and excited about it.
05:07One, two, three.
05:11One, two, three.
05:14Oh my god.
05:22I feel like a doll, if that makes sense.
05:25You look like a doll.
05:26Oh, thank you.
05:28And what aspects do you like the most?
05:29I like the jacket, I think.
05:32And I think like jeans never really work on me so it's not something I normally choose
05:37for myself but I think for Dua Lipa's look it makes perfect sense because this is totally her style.
05:43I do like it.
05:44I think that it really would suit someone that has a sense of style and that they would
05:48really enjoy wearing it.
05:50I guess because my style is historical for me it's just kind of odd feeling.
05:54I like the eye makeup too, it's really cool.
05:56The color suits you.
05:58Yeah, I love this color.
05:59I think it's a great color.
06:01Beautiful.
06:03I'm feeling really excited to reveal the look to Sam and I can't wait to see what she's
06:07going to say about it.
06:08I would describe Vasi's look as historical fashion but it's much more than that.
06:12It took me a while to get to know this but it's actually more of a way of being in the
06:16world and slowing down and connecting with things.
06:19I'm really excited to see Vasi's new look but also a bit nervous.
06:23I'm not sure if I'm going to like it.
06:34Do I look like a different person?
06:35You do!
06:36Oh my gosh, I would not recognize you on the street at all.
06:39That's so funny.
06:40Whoa, that's insane.
06:41It doesn't look like you at all.
06:43How does it feel?
06:44Does it feel weird?
06:45I was saying it feels like I'm in a different person's body.
06:47It's beautiful but I don't think I'd like you to keep any of it.
06:50I like the eye makeup but I don't know how I'd mix it into my historical fashion.
06:54Yeah, it's very bold.
06:55It'd be interesting to see if you could merge that together.
07:01Is this how you were dressed when you were younger?
07:02No, definitely not.
07:04Does it feel more freeing not wearing all of the layers?
07:07No, it actually feels hotter and I find that I feel a lot more comfortable with all the
07:12layers of historical fashion just because of all the breathable fabrics and everything.
07:17It feels like I'm in someone else's body and as if I'm playing a different person for a
07:22day rather than it being me but I'm ready to eventually go back to being me.
07:26I thought that Sam's reaction was exactly how I maybe expected it to be.
07:31It's that she wants me to be who I am rather and this definitely isn't me.
07:35I thought it was a really fun experience and I would definitely do it again.
07:39I think that it's important that we sometimes step out of our comfort zones and do something
07:42a little bit different.
07:43I think sometimes I actually have these thoughts like, oh maybe I should just wear modern clothes
07:47again because then society will accept me more and I'll have to deal with a lot less
07:50s*** all the time.
07:51But I actually realized that all of it's worth it for me because I feel so much more connected
07:57to what I'm wearing than if I'm wearing something like this.
08:01I feel so much more connected to what I'm wearing.