Fashion photography at the Caravelle

Suomeksi

On Tuesday, 29 July 2025, there was unusual activity on the Caravelle site at Turku airport when the fashion collection of Konsta Eskola, an Aalto University fashion design student, was being photographed.

This collection is a part of Konsta’s final project in his bachelor’s studies, where he has evaluated airline uniforms and the possibilities for their reuse. Before his studies Konsta worked for several years at Norra as a member of the cabin crew, so he is familiar with the work environment, airline dress codes and wearing a uniform.

All materials of Konsta’s collection – except aluminium and recycled leather – are from parts of Finnair’s and Norra’s used uniforms. He has taken apart the uniform parts he received from the airlines, and from this material he created new clothes. The uniform parts had come to the end of their life cycle in their original use and would have ended up in textile recycling. Utilizing different second-hand materials has been trendy in the fashion business already for some time, but this is presumably the first time when airline uniforms are reused in this way.

Furthermore, Konsta says he likes to play with the impressions the outfits create and to challenge the traditional views of male and female roles as uniform users. Konsta’s final project collection includes six looks.

The photographing day started on the Caravelle site by defining photographing locations and outlines as the photographer evaluated camera angles and illumination. Locations were selected outside the aircraft, on the wing and in the cabin. The Caravelle team volunteers, who were on site to assist in the shoot, moved away tools, exhibition items and all kinds of clutter from the background of the photographing sectors.

Three models, a makeup artist and a hairstylist arrived soon after noon. The first pictures were taken towards the end of the afternoon. There were some heavy rain showers during the afternoon, causing some delay in the activity, but fortunately continuous rain was avoided. The photographing session ended before twilight.

Konsta praised the Caravelle team for the photographing day, everything went smoothly, and he was very pleased with the results. “Doing a fashion shoot like this has been my long-term dream and thanks to you it was possible to make this dream come true today.”

For the Caravelle volunteers the day offered an intriguing glimpse into a different world. None of us present had ever participated in anything like this before.

The photographs taken of the fashion shoot which are published with this blog are taken by the Caravelle team members. We will get some of the actual results of the day, i.e. photos taken by the photographer, and publish them here later.

Photos: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen