Some knee-high high-heeled boots made out of shopping bags that could have been shown off at any of Balenciaga’s latest fashion shows but that bare the Stüssy logo. A micro bag à la Jacquemus with a Stüssy x Chanel logo that could have well been (ahem) Jacquemus or Chanel. The iconic Calvin Klein balaclava with the stitched-out Stüssy logo… You’d think that the common denominator between all these cases is Stüssy, which it is, but what actually connects them together is Tamara Grunberg’s brilliant talent.
After all, Grunberg’s official work is precisely that of a shop assistant at a Stüssy store in Vancouver, but this is a task that complements her other unofficial job: being the creator of a fantasy world, the one that can be seen on her Instagram page, which she dedicates to realising improbable fusions like the ones mentioned above, all of them very informing of her almost encyclopaedic knowledge of recent fashion history. This is a fantasy world that has ended up bringing together a surprising amount of acolytes who, in fact, have achieved the impossible: for Tamara’s creations to find their way to reality and for her fans to be able to get them. As her unofficial reworks cannot and should not be able to be on sale, Grunberg decided to raffle some of her creations this past Christmas with the intention of raising funds for the Directions Youth Service, an association that take care of the homeless youth.
Tamara’s interest towards everything DIY originated just like it did for many other kids: by customising her own Barbies. And when she got into high school, the designer elevated her game when she saw that she couldn’t afford to buy amazing looks that the popular girls wore in school. Instead of conforming to the conviction that life isn’t fair, she decided to create her own versions of these looks. Soon enough, she found out that the less her designs looked like those she was trying to copy, the more successful they were as they were unique and special.
These qualities are precisely what made the rework concept ahead of the curve to other fashionista creations of the new century. After all, the art of reworks directly attacks uniformed looks that are not only imposed by fast fashion brands, but also by legions of influencer and high-end Instagram star copycats. Against the homogeneity of the chain production, there’s a unique character to items that only exist from the work of other external creations that are fused and generated into something new and exclusive. Reworks might not be the fashion of the future, but surely it will turn this creative field into something that’s much more interesting. And Tamara Grunberg is one of the greatest pioneers of this art form.
