K von Curve: I only feel comfortable when I’m not comfortable

Posted by Dee-Ann On September - 16 - 20104,998 views

We all think of the Western World when thinking of rockabilly and pinups. No not only the Wild Wild West, but also Europe. ;-p. We hardly think of the Middle East being a pinup culture. And that’s not so strange, because is there any over there? I think I found the pioneer of pinup lifestyle in the middle of the desert:
K von Curve! She’s only just begun, so let’s see how her mission unfolds.

 

Photo by: Beauty Art Studio's

Tell us about yourself and the place you live.

My name is Kareen Hill I’m almost 30, I was born in Israel, and still live here in the vibrant city- Tel Aviv. I was always fascinated with being a woman, feminine, curvy and glamorous so the 50’s were of a natural appeal to me. I was always over dressed even for kinder garden I wore a tiny kombinezon (is it a word in English also?) under my dress that my mom bought for me so I would be happy. I didn’t even realize the way I was dressed in my adulthood had a name- Pin up.

I decided a year ago to start and bring awareness of this life style to Israel, and so I built a small company in order to Import Pin up and 50 style clothing from Bettie page clothing, PUG and Kustoom Voodoo under the name Vavavoom by Kareen Hill.

I also have a BA in criminology and a MA in information science

 I think people in Tel Aviv are very fashion aware. Can it be compared to the Western style? How are women dressed in general? Yes, Tel Aviv is more fashion oriented then other cities in Israel, but still the dominating state of mind is- comfort! It is accepted to go to work in jeans, T-shirts and flip lops. I want to try and educate people, but especially women to try and glamorize their look, wear more dresses and high heels. I think every woman should feel glamorous. I know this would sound weird to many people, but, I only feel comfortable when I’m not comfortable, I mean, looking great and sexy is usually not comfortable as a pair of sweat pant and a flat shoe J

 How did you first got in contact with pinup fashion? What do you like about it.
I didn’t know my way of dressing had a name or that there are companies out there that made this style of clothes. I used to wear my mom’s old clothes in order to get the look I wanted. And when I met my boyfriend he gave me the names of the US companies I now work with. I almost passed out when I looked at their websites for the first time, I was so happy.

I think the 50’s are the time that is most feminine oriented. Women were so glamorous back then; the clothes silhouette was so complimentary to the woman figure. I think there are beautiful clothes today, but most of the fashion will only look good and really enhance the women figure is she’s tiny, with no boobs and no curves.  I have a very famine figure and I love it, I don’t want to be a skeleton! So I think instinctively I was attracted to the 50’s, I even tattooed a back seam on my legs so I won’t have to use the pantyhose in order to get the sexy look. The 50’s and Pin up look make me feel so proud of being a women, I feel I celebrate my womanhood everyday!

Music is not a huge part of my life, I know this will amaze and shock some people in the rockabilly scene, but it’s the truth. I love clothes, shoes, tattoos, makeup and hair. Also, there isn’t any rockabilly music or scene here at all. I still listen to the same music I listened to when I was a little girl- Metal.

You said there are 15 in your mini pinup community. All women? Yes, it is a small community here, and I know of only one guy who I can say is living the Rock n roll lifestyle. I really have no idea how the other ladies got into it as they are not my close friends, I think they got into it from travelling and being exposed to other culture.

 So you laughed when I asked about rock and roll in Isreal, ;-p, So no Western music at all over there?
I know there is one band that plays rock n roll, unfortunately they don’t perform, I guess because only a few people will come, sad. Indeed, the rockabilly scene is tiny, if even that. I’m thinking about doing a rockabilly night in one of the more underground clubs, but it will take a while as I’m building my business and I’m a one woman show. The fact that the scene here is so small also makes it hard for me to promote my business, as I can’t only focus on pin up girls, I must appeal to a wider crowd.

You see, a niche in let’s say the US can be 3 million people, a niche here is 15 people, and the difference is unbelievable. Israel is not the most open minded place to “the different” this can be said to tattoos, hairstyles and of course music. Unfortunately, it’s a very mainstream country in those aspects. I’m trying to change that.

 

K von Curve

You have opened your own online shop. You created the website yourself? (looks great).

Thank you. I don’t sell online yet, but I plan to develop and design my own line in the near future and then I will sell internationally online. Right now, I import the collections and sell to stores and individual clients.

When I just started I did pay someone to built my site, as I’m not a very techy person, but again, because of this unawareness of the 50’s, he didn’t do the site in the style that I wanted so I decided to do it myself, it took me awhile, and it’s not perfect yet, but It reflects me more than the previous one.

Do you have clients? Isrealean or from abroad?
For now my clients are all Israelis. And you’d be surprised that most of them are not pin ups! Most of my clients today are women between 37 up to 60, which I think is amazing. I love it when women want to feel great about themselves, show their figure and celebrate their curves and I will do everything I can to help and encourage that.

I think my mom is my greatest promoter in the city where she lives, she has a great figure and she wears my collection all the time. She get’s stopped in the street by random women all the time who want to know where she got the cloths, and the great majority of them are over 50!

You want to spread the pinup lifestyle to more people around you. How are you doing so far?
Up till now I do all the marketing myself, I haven’t used a PR company, I use facebook to my advantage to reach the younger crowd and I have over 300 members in my group, I receive lots of emails from clients who contact me through the site. The Vavavoom collection was featured in many newspapers and the host of a TV program similar to E entertainment wore cloths from my collection in 3 occasions which was a pretty huge high light for me. Of course marketing is a nonstop job, and I’m trying to do more and more each day.

I get approached a lot on the street and asked about my cloths and hair and I try to explain and promote awareness. I plan to open a blog where I will post video tutorials in Hebrew about make up tips and hair dos how to clips.

I try to educate and know more about this lifestyle myself, I visit the US often and every visit I try to do activities that will help me, just 2 weeks ago I went to a well known and amazing hairstylist- Erica from Pin me up hair,( who works with Viva van story) and took a private lesson to learn more about hair. This kind of interactions are precious to me as I meet great and interesting women in this scene and I learn more interesting things that will help me grow myself. Getting to know women from around the world who are involved in this lifestyle in one aspect or another is one of my favorite things.

 I love the story, you telling the photographer how the pinup photo should look like. Tell us about the shoot. Did you style the setting? Did you do your own hair, make up etc… How did the photographer react? Do you think you can influence people with your pictures? Or do you risk getting criticized because of this new style?
The photographer is a very talented guy but he never heard of pin up, he was eager to learn, so I sent him a lot of pictures and links so he can learn more. Still, doing images in a retro kitchen or living room is not possible, because you have nothing like it here…hopefully when I’ll have more free time and resources I will dive into ebay and find retro treasures to decorate my house.

Anyway, the photographer and his team really took the time to learn how it needed to be done. I didn’t do my hair or make up, I brought a picture of exactly what I wanted and it was really important for the hair stylist to learn it and to do it himself, and being the educator of this style, I couldn’t deny him that, so I took a chance and it turned out great!

The team from beauty art is really super nice, and is always excited to work with me and learn, they never criticize anything I suggest and always so open to different ideas, all of them- the photographer, the hairstylist and makeup artist, that’s why I love working with them, even if it’s more work then working with a photographer that only does pin up.

It got to the point where the beauty art team is so into trying this new style, that now; they approach me to do other retro style photo shoot, the next one will be using hot rods.

 I think you have great plans, opening a youtube channel for hair and make up tips, designing your own clothing line. Is there an entrepreneur in you? Do you have experience in this area?
It’s funny, if you would have asked that question a year and a half ago I would have told you, me? Business? No way, I thought I would do a PhD and work in a company and that’s it. I never thought of myself as a business women or an entrepreneur. But, my mom was always and still is an entrepreneur, so I think it’s in my genes. Now I can’t stop thinking of other ideas all the time, how to improve my business, how to promote awareness etc, I just never rest. I have no experience in selling or marketing at all, I rely on my common sense, mom and sister greatly, and they are great business women by nature.

 You’re also thinking of organizing Rockabilly clubnights in the future. How will a clubnight look like?
I would love to see a club filled with gals and fellas dressed in vintage 50’s clothes or inspired clothes from my line, that would be amazing I think.  I never saw a group of people dressed in rockabilly style. I’m not sure that will happen in the near future, but if I can make it happened I will.

 What is your ultimate dream?
I dream of creating my own line! Designing everything and making the cloths exactly how I want them to be. I want to be a well known brand in the rockabilly scene internationally like Bettie page clothing and PUG. I’m sure I can do it, but it takes time to grow. I would love to keep the company small and to have my mom and sis work with me.

www.vavavoom.co.il

3 Responses to “K von Curve: I only feel comfortable when I’m not comfortable”

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kareen Hill, rockabilly-online. rockabilly-online said: K von Curve: I only feel comfortable when I’m not comfortable http://www.karto.nl/?p=2682 […]

  2. […] Also read RBO’s interview with K von Curve: http://www.karto.nl/?p=2682 AKPC_IDS += "2518,";Popularity: 1% [?]RElated postsPinup of the week: Cherri BombePinup of the […]

  3. […] year ago I interviewed Israeli pinup K von Curve. She has her own pinup clothes online shop and is always busy with the pinup lifestyle. Now she has […]

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