Star style [UK]

You could say The Rasmus frontman Lauri Ylönen has an eagle eye where style is concerned, so rock sound ducked In The Shadows for some fine-feathered fashion advice.

Feathers
“I was out at the Crobar (infamous London pub) last night and I lost my feathers. I’ve always had some kind of thing with birds because I think they are quite creepy – especially black crows, they’re kind of mysterious and scary animals in a way, but also full of some wisdom. I like movies with birds – like Hitchcock’s The Birds. The feathers sum me up.”

Hat
“I’m a big Iron Maiden fan. Actually, I’ve never seen them live, but there’s a very good band in Finland who play covers – they’ve become the most popular band among all of the rock people who go to the clubs.”

Dark eyes
“It’s because I’ve been out last night! Some people, when I’ve done photos before, have offered me make-up to cover the dark shadows but I like them. We were in a German magazine and they’d made my eyes white – I don’t like that because it didn’t look like me anymore.”

Ties
“I have such a hangover; I tried to do something to look handsome so I put on two ties. This one (with the spider) I bought from San Francisco when I was on a holiday there last Christmas. I don’t like spiders that much, but I like this tie.”

Razorblade
“I bought this in London three years ago. It’s been there for three years and I can’t take it off. When I go to the airport through the security checks and the alarm goes off, there are three people looking and I’m like, ‘Come on!’”

Black
“I’ve always taken the things I wear and the things I do with my hair quite seriously. It’s part of myself even though it’s just like a cover. I can express my feelings. People under-estimate the image, or they laugh at it lke, ‘Oh these fucking pop stars they’re all styled,’ and so on. But at the same time, metal people are actually the most stylised because they think about what they wear, and they don’t get it. They are just like, ‘We are the real guys’. A lot of people think about it – they don’t even think they’re thinking about it, that it comes naturally. With black, I don’t know the reason. I feel much more comfortable wearing black than red, white or whatever.”

Shopping
“I’m not a shopper, everything happens by accident. I go somewhere and see something but I don’t go to look for things. Finland and Helsinki are not the places to go shopping – there’s one guy who makes nice clothes but I don’t really know any cool shops because it’s all mixed up, like skate clothes, punk and rock. If we’re making a video and someone brings some stuff, I usually say, ‘I want to have this’. I just got a really nice Armani jacket – I’d never buy something like that, it might cost £1,000 or something like that, but it looks good on the video so I got to keep it. That is how I get some clothes; just by accident.”

Fashion mistake
“I don’t really regret things. We were playing this tour in Finland called Heal The World and wore nurses’ dresses which were very tight and sexy! It was quite nice because we didn’t wear anything under them. We were naked and it was a kind of loose feeling.”

Trousers
“These trousers are karate trousers, I used to do tae kwon do when I was a kid.”

Tattoos
“Dynasty is a group of people in Finland, maybe 20 or 30 people, and we do things together. There’s people from different bands; hip-hop to rock bands. Those are the people who become my closest friends. We call this group Dynasty. Many of the bands have been successful in Finland in the last four years. About eight or nine people have the same tattoo somewhere – Pauli the guitarist has it too.”

Style inspiration
“There’s no one who’s like an idol, in that term. I try to create my own things, to express my own feelings and not to look like it’s from a magazine. There are some interesting-looking people. I like Björk very much, she’s done things that are out of this world. I have a tattoo of her. She is holding her arms so they form into swans. It’s not about the style, I think she has a great personality in every way. The way she is and her music. I find her very interesting.”

Ras yourself up for under a tenner
If you’re anything like our Dep Ed Darren, you’ll be birded-up right now, so finding a few feathers to stick in your hair isn’t going to be a problem! Otherwise a trip to the local haber-dashery department store will come up trumps. Plain ties can be spooked up with patches but most importanlty, take what you know and make it your own!

Ronnie Kerswell
Photos: Olly Hewitt

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