Ex-model and fashion icon Tiina Laakkonen-Rosen is selling her most valuable vintage outfits for her old home church.
Living in New York, internationally successful in the 80s Tiina Laakkonen-Rosen sells its most valuable high fashion creations from fashion houses such as Comme Des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, Maison Margiela and Yves Saint Laurent.
Among them are Tiina’s earring beads from the days when she worked as a model and was, among other things by Karl Lagerfeld as an assistant at Chanel.
– The clothes have been unused in my basement for no reason. Now is the time to give them up and use the money from them for a better purpose, says Tiina in an interview with Vogue.
The auction began on Saturday, June 10 at Desert Vintage in New York and also through the shop’s website.
Having worked as a top stylist, Tiina’s collection is a combination of avant-garde and minimalism. Among the outfits there are also rarities sold for several thousand euros.
Tiina donates the sums received from her clothes to the repair of the Church of the Holy Cross in her former home municipality of Imatra. Tiina’s fundraising goal is 100,000 euros, and so far clothes have already been sold for tens of thousands of euros.
Tiina’s love for clothes was born in her childhood home in Imatra. Photo from 2016 in New York. ALL OVER PRESS
Even before the clothing sale started, the congregation of Imatra had received 24,500 euros from New York and 2,000 euros from Japan for the repair fund.
The Church of the Three Crosses, designed by Alvar Aalto, suffered water damage in 2020 and has been out of use ever since. A miniature model of the church, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is on display in New York’s MOMA, Tiina’s current hometown.
Kolmen Ristin Kirkko in Imatra is a popular travel destination among architecture students. Heidi Kvist.
– I grew up in Imatra and I am grateful for what the city gave me. Now I want to give back to my hometown and its treasure, Laakkonen says on the page of the GoFundMe charity organization.
The church would need 3–4 million euros for the basic renovation, and in order to raise such funds, private people and entities are needed to finance the renovation.
Tiina’s amazing, minimalist style clothing collection consists of clothes, some of which were bought directly from designers during their modeling days.
However, there are a few clothes that Tiina does not want to sell. From Alexander McQueen Tiina intends to keep personally obtained rarities herself.