by Jeordy Raines
An Interview with Karolina
Creative powerhouse Karolina Żebrowska has been on my radar —and my Instagram feed— for quite some time. Her beautiful fabric creations and sense of style have always enchanted me. When I discovered her YouTube channel a few months ago, her intelligence and sense of humour became evident as well. With 46.2k Instagram followers and nearly 250,000 subscribers on YouTube, her personality and accomplishments have clearly caught the interest of others as well. In short, she’s an icon worth admiring. Accordingly, I was elated to have the opportunity to interview Karolina about her recently published book, Polskie Piekno (Polish Beauty), the culmination of a love affair with historical fashion. She talked to us about the steps that brought her to where she is, the perks and challenges of working from home, her book writing process, and plans for the future.
What inspired your interest in historical fashion?
I think it was always there, somehow! When I was really young, the things I enjoyed the most were museums, portraits of ladies from bygone eras and anything that’s old. Later (and I think watching numerous period dramas helped?) it developed into something more specific.
What made you decide to study in Scotland? What did you study, and how has it contributed to what you are doing now?
I’ve always wanted to try studying in the UK, and Scotland seemed like a reasonable, not too pricey choice; the scenic views definitely helped as well. I studied film, specializing in film directing. It has definitely helped me get some of the skills needed for making interesting videos, but it was also the time I began posting them regularly.
Working creatively
Can you describe how being a YouTuber became your job? Did you have any backup or contingency plans in case it failed?
It was pretty random. I’ve had a couple of “trial” YouTube channels before, but nobody was watching, and I never knew whether I should post videos in Polish or in English. Polish felt more natural at the time, but with English I could approach a wider audience. I eventually gave up on it and focused on my blog instead, where I posted photos of the costumes I was working on. I had a YouTube channel that was accompanying the blog, so I could post videos on the blog. But it was never meant to be a separate thing. Then one of my videos accidentally blew up, and I suddenly had an audience I never dreamt of. It took me a year to appreciate that, overcome my fears and start posting regularly in English. When I came back to Poland after graduating, I didn’t have a job anyway, so I just stuck to YouTube before I find something. But months were passing and nothing came up, meanwhile the YouTube channel was growing, so I decided to take a chance. It wasn’t always easy, some months I wouldn’t even make the minimum earning and wouldn’t get a pay-out.
What is it like to be your own boss and work creatively?
It’s great to have this huge creative space. The channel is pretty young and I still have plenty of ideas, so it’s amazing to be able to post so many completely different things and see people enjoy it. On the other hand, time management can be quite a challenge. I’m really bad at figuring that out myself. Also, my room is my office; which sometimes proves to be prone to messiness. But I’m working on it!
Do you have any advice for staying focused when working for yourself/from home?
Make sure to leave the house every once in a while. It’s tempting to convince yourself that there’s still a lot to do and every second counts, but working continuously actually makes you less effective.
The Book
Can you briefly describe how your book was realised?
The publishing company had seen one of my videos and approached me asking if I want to do something with them. Obviously I was incredibly excited. Writing was a part of my life long before YouTube, after all it’s because of the blog that my channel even exists. I focused on the research first. I not only read books and papers on the topic, but it was important for me to see as many photos from different eras as I could. Text often won’t tell you as much as seeing clothes in a photo does.
Can you give us an overview of what your book is about?
The book focuses on Polish women’s fashions in the 20th century. It showcases fashions from the very beginning of the century, goes through each era and ends in the 1990s. It was also important to me to include some historical context – Polish fashion and history were very often intertwined. Some trends were born directly from social or political situation. Some were even frowned upon the government! I also wanted to make sure to feature photographs and stories of regular middle- and lower-class women. We often tend to focus on the most interesting part of the fashion history, but that doesn’t tell you the whole story.
What were the main challenges in your book-writing process?
Probably working regularly! I had a set minimum of 2-3 pages a day, and that usually meant working day to night. Let’s say I met with a friend or shopping, and bam, suddenly a couple of hours were gone. If I didn’t meet the minimum, I had double the work the next day. Also some eras were really hard to research – especially WW1 fashion and 1990s, since both are not documented properly, though for completely different reasons.
What was your favourite part of writing your book?
I think the best moment was to finally see it put together. After months and months of looking at a plain Word document it really changes the perspective to see all the images in place.
Who is your intended audience, and what do you hope to achieve with your writing?
I genuinely believe the book could interest anyone that is into history in general. It’s a great overview of how history, social, economical, and political situations, affect people’s lives. I hope it also shows the strength and creativity of Polish women. Without much to work with, they did their best to follow latest fashions and live normally!
Are there any plans for an English translation?
We don’t know yet, but there is an interest, so who knows! Right now we’re focused on promoting the book in Poland.
The Future
Are you still thinking about opening a historical costume shop?
I actually am! I’m still looking into different options, but I always dreamt of one place where you could buy all the things for your historical costume-making needs, and it’s still not there. So someone has to be first, right?
Are there any other exciting prospects on the horizon?
A couple of smaller sewing projects and maybe some collabs. There’s a lot going on in my head right now, especially with the New Year. I have lots of exciting ideas; the only problem is deciding on which one I want to focus first.
FOLLOW KAROLINA
I adore Karolina! I remember I used to watch these “fashion through the eras” kind of badly made videos until I stumbled on Karolina’s. She truly opened my eyes to what vintage fashion really is about.
I LOVE Karolina! She’s one of my favorite vintage youtubers! I really do hope an English translation is coming soon, being a vintage girl myself and part Polish I would love to read about vintage fashions from Poland!