Tete
Nike Air Max 270
We invited Teodora Oshima to be the final step of the Air Max 270 project. All the photoshoots were produced to complete and interact with each other, generating a final piece, which can also be infinite. The final installation will be displayed on 31/03 at the SP on Air event.
“My name is Teodora Oshima, I’m 27 years old, I’m from Campinas and I moved to São Paulo to study fashion at Santa Marcelina college. During the fourth semester, I started working as a stylist inter for Helo Rocha, and I’ve been with her ever since it’s been 3 years.”
Why did you decide to study fashion?
teteEver since I was little I liked to draw and to look and research websites, I was addicted, I would watch fashion shows the whole day and save all the photos. I would memorize the names of all the models, all the brands, everything, it was very crazy. So it went like this, I already knew what I wanted to do but it took a while because my mom was super supportive but my dad thought it was just a moment thing, that you couldn’t make money off that and etc.
In Santa Marcelina, there’s an annual “Best of the year” prize, in which they have a forum, a presentation, and everything; and who gets first place wins a scholarship for a postgraduate – I won the prize and did a postgraduate on Fashion and Creation.
Tell us a little bit about your day to day life.
teteWe do a lot of research, I use Pinterest and Vogue Runway a lot, I look at a lot of references in older books as well, we also do a lot of research on older stuff too. In the studio, the process is: I draw something, show it to Helo and Camila – who is also a stylist but more focused on the 3 dimensional part, and just by looking a the drawing, she can tell if it works three-dimensionally, if it makes you look fatter and etc, she has a really good sense of proportion and she knows what works and doesn’t. So that’s it everyone has its own function and everything is complimentary.
What are your references in Style as well as in life?
teteI’ve changed a lot over the years, but I really like comfortable clothes, usually loose and wide, over and I think that really suits me. I really like Japanese stylist because they have that sense of having the clothes not touching the body like Kenzo and Yoji Yamamoto, but I also like Belgium stylists. I like a bit of everything, I’m quite curious. I watch all the fashion shows of the season and that’s something I’ve always done. I really like buying clothes from thrift shops, I really like old stuff.
What do you want to be doing in 5 years?
teteI want to make something of my own, I don’t think a brand but something that’s mine, that won’t actually become a product.
Something just to exercise and to produce, because it’s very different, right, the academic process which is very free compared to what you do at work because it’s much more limited. I feel like doing these experiments.
When and how did you find your own style of dressing?
teteI was very stiff before I studied fashion, I was different from my friends but even so, I was standardized. In college, some teachers took pictures of us at the beginning of the course, to see our evolution afterward, and you change completely, I’ve completely changed. For me it was a lot of self-knowledge, you know? I was finding myself and becoming more willing to accept me, and in the end, turned out to be a very natural process. It was a lot about college too, to have had this space to grow.
I worked for a month with Eduardo Laurino who is a hatter, in my 2nd year of college, he makes head for Ellus fashion show, by João Pimenta, it’s all manual. The experience with him was wonderful but it still wasn’t that thing, you know? I left and started with Helo Rocha. She is very open and I got more comfortable too, she encouraged me to be myself. My boyfriend also pushes me a lot to be myself. This was very good for me, I thought I needed to fit into a standard to be accepted, for people to like me, but then I saw that when you find out who you are, there are people who won’t like it, and there are people who will like it and it’s that simple.
What is your relationship with sneakers in general?
teteComfort, I always liked to wear sneakers. I was 19 years old, I still lived in Campinas and I bought a white leather Adidas Originals that had polka dots, and I just tore them down! I used them so much for so many years, that I can’t use them anymore, it’s absolutely destroyed, but I loved them very much.
When I buy a white sneaker I make sure I get them dirty right away, I ask people to step on them because I don’t like them looking white (laughs). I like sneakers that look like they’re worn out.
What do you look for when you are buying sneakers?
teteI like those who have a vintage fill to them, more classic lines you know, because it has a lot to do with me, I really into thrift shop like things (laughs).
Nike Air Max 270
Owner: Teodora Oshima
Won: 2018
Photos by: Pérola Dutra
