Reusing and recycling whatever I find gives me the opportunity to translate my visions through multiple solutions, and there’s an emotional side of this. Through second-hand clothes I am able to express freedom and solidarity.
Francesco Colucci is the man responsible for the weird and wonderful windows at Traid, the charity shop based in the UK with over 700 clothes banks. The charity’s aim is to transform clothes that have been chucked out into high-quality stock for its shop, sorting nearly 11,000 donated garments by hand each week. The funds raised from this are committed to projects around the world that improve conditions and working practices in the textile industry, from helping charities in Ethiopia and Benin grow organic cotton in agro-ecological farms, to supporting migrant garment workers in south India, and supporting the children of garment workers in Bangladesh.
Francesco’s funky window-dressing puts the usual charity shop window to shame. No mishmash of assorted bits here. Each window is as unique as the garments – often they are sculptural or speak to a cultural movement or moment. Graduating in fine arts painting in his native Italy, Francesco moved to London and took up a job at Traid, where his natural knack for creating punchy windows emerged. “The windows originally were much simpler than they are now, and kind of like the rest of the other secondhand shops in London,” he tells me. “In my opinion they were lacking concept and identity. When I was promoted to visual merchandiser, I had an opportunity to experiment and express myself and refine my trademark touch. I’m grateful to them for that!”
Each window is designed in an ad hoc manner; Francesco rocks up at the store, rummages around, and with clothes and materials he finds there taps into his creative eye. “I always have a different approach; it keeps my creativity constantly awake. Only recently have I started planning ahead, selecting what I want to use form different stores and keeping them aside for the next installation.” It’s a mystical and cosmic approach to something that could be rather mundane. “I spend a lot of time finding inspiration,” he continues, “this includes researching images, silhouettes, colour combinations, but sometimes I just let my mind and fingers unleash on the mannequins. This leads to results that are totally unexpected and surprise me.”
You can see Francesco’s work on his Instagaram – ordinary brown jumpers are titivated with long red tassels, worn by the mannequin upside-down and off the shoulder, and paired with skintight red morph suits and a red military hat; Arctic balaclavas are paired with cute gingham jackets and black lace gloves; large paper fans adorn silky blue sheath dresses. His work is a step beyond styling, it’s truly sculpting with found items and second-hand fabric. “Sustainability has to be the main, most important message that I convey in my work,” he says. “It’s such an important topic in our society and it’s the basis of Traid’s philosophy – after 11 years there, it’s become part of one too. Reusing and recycling whatever I find gives me the opportunity to translate my visions through multiple solutions, and there’s an emotional side of this,” he continues, “through second-hand clothes I am able to express freedom and solidarity.”
One thing consistent through the ever-revolving windows of Traid is that there is no consistency. Francesco doesn’t follow trends or fads (How can you, when your raw material is continually in flux?) and his style is totally personal and unique. “We are living in a society where new generations blindly follow trends that bring back fashions of past years they probably don’t even remember, and big fashions make a profit from that. But the positive side of London is it is always evolving in style terms, and there is an experimentation that you don’t find anywhere else.”
Through dressing the windows of the 13 stores (and counting) in London, Francesco is feeding into that evolution – inspiring and encouraging people to dig deeper into their wardrobes and charity shops and turn their clothes, sometimes quite literally, on their heads.
Photo assistant: Antonio Perricone. Retouching: Graeme Bulcraig