Up & Coming: Paula’s Boutique
[Originally published in August 2020]
Paula Borkmann, the creative behind ‘Paula’s Boutique’, is a Durham graduate who started her own sustainable brand in the final year of her English degree. Her work focusses on giving trousers and jackets a new life by customizing, reworking and generally sprinkling old items with her unique artistic flair. Paula mainly works with embroidery, a hobby she cultivated from the tender age of ten years old, although she also incorporates printing and tailoring into her upcycles.
Paula’s business began in the best way possible, as a personal hobby. Sick of feeling like the jeans she had invested in looked just like the pair every other girl in the library was wearing, Paula decided to take matters into her own hands. After a few successful tries, Paula’s work started getting attention. Suddenly, requests from friends came flooding in. At this point, sometime in February 2020, Paula’s Boutique was born.
‘Embroidery is at the epicentre of my revivals’ Paula explains, emphasizing the artistic and political significance of this often-overlooked art form. More than just a childhood hobby, Paula kept up her passion for embroidery throughout her teenage years and even used it as the focal point of her art A level. She explains that the power of embroidery lies in its ability to rewrite the historical narrative of female suffering and reclaim, in E. Tammy Kim’s words, ‘our histories of anonymous, poorly paid and unpaid female craft, garment labour and piece work.’ Fuelled by female empowerment, Paula’s boutique is paving the way for a feminist and sustainable future.
At university, Paula used the hours spent reworking old clothes as a sort of therapy from the stress of final year, describing the one day a week she dedicated to upcycling as a ‘welcome refuge from the increasing digitalisation of modern culture.’ As Paula slows down to embroider and customize clothes, consumers that invest in sustainable and ethical brands like hers will also reap the benefits of slow fashion.
Bringing new life to old clothes gives consumers the opportunity to savour clothing items and fight against throw-away culture. The amount of labour that goes into each piece and the personal touches that only a small-scale business like Paula’s Boutique can offer, redefine the parameters of how we understand and relate to fashion. Clothing becomes a way of connecting, and Paula’s ‘Kill Bill’ trousers are the perfect example. Specially made for a mate whose entire dissertation was on Quentin Tarantino, these trousers are extremely personal and will forever remain an emblem of friendship and Paula’s unique craftsmanship. True to her ethos, Paula’s designs are all about slowing down consumption, and creating long term, sustainable alternatives to fast fashion.
As Paula settles into her new London flat and gets ready to begin a masters at Kings College, she hopes to keep going with her boutique. Having more time available to dedicate to this creative endeavour means that she will be accepting more commissions – so if you’ve got a pair of old jeans lying around, give them a new life by contacting her on Instagram here.