tuesday, february 13, 2024
FEMALE FORCES: AKJUMII
If you look around my website, you’ve probably seen a few of my photos for this company. In my opinion, with good reason: the two female founders are absolute game changers.
When I first started talking to Anna and Micha about a project and the possibility of working together, I had just moved to Vienna. We were all a little (lot) busy and communicated via email for weeks before we had time to talk over the phone. It took another 4 months until the three of us met in person and I finally got to capture them at work, in their Munich Studio Space.
Seeing them work in person and getting to know their vision first hand (even though information on their website is immaculately well provided) really sold me on the concept even more. Said concept includes 3-in-1 coats in three colours, adaptable to whatever version fits your current needs best. Being able to transform your clothes eliminates the need to buy more. Interchangeable add-ons like different collars etc are available too, while being entirely produced from fair-trade materials in Germany.
The thing about fashion photography for me is this: usually it’s a wild mix on a scale from commercial to art. It takes a whole team to SELL you the clothes. To me, that’s not all fashion photography should be. Realising that fashion is how people style clothes and make an item their own is what I admire truly. I want to see items on real people, in various scenarios, worn and styled however they feel it represents their individual fashion sense best.
So that’s what I did. I asked three models to pick an akjumii coat from the website (adapted to whatever version they would wear) and put together an outfit to wear with the coat.
I wanted to get the coats from the product shots onto the humans in real life. In a way that felt true and authentic to the person wearing the coat. That’s what fashion is all about, after all: expressing yourself.
We shot a beautiful little campaign on three entirely different sets, all featuring entirely different people.
All wearing the same coat.
So, a little over a year and four shoots later, the photos were published in a magazine. It was a slow collaboration — fitting for a slow fashion company. However, for me, it was the first time I got to create for a brand so trusting, they literally just let me work on my vision until I got it right. I was allowed to incorporate my values into all parts of the production process and give my models their creative freedom, too.
I am endlessly grateful to everyone involved in this project.
team
design AKJUMII
publication FIGS MAGAZINE
talents + styling MORITZ LENZEN, PHILIPPA HELFRICH, ELISAVETA KONSTANTINOVA
photo assistant MORITZ GÜNTHER
ps: <3