Golin: Rowdy

Golin: Rowdy
How Golin and Lea Wilbrand created the cyberdoll looks from her new video
By Val Dechev

Hear me out when I tell you: having closely observed their collaboration as both a friend and a fangirl, I can attest to the invigorating creative harmony that exists between Golin and Lea Wilbrand.
Songwriter and producer Golin creates synthetic compositions and ethereal processed vocals, which meet stylist and researcher Lea Wilbrand’s delicate but detailed approach to garments. The results are a work in progress in and of itself, ever-evolving as the two artists themselves keep growing within their respective practices.
Below you get a sneak peek at some behind the scenes moments and previously unreleased material produced between 2020-2022. Alongside the visual feast, you can also indulge in the conversation we had with the duo, in which we discuss what brought them together and some key elements from their collaborative process.
Hi Lea, hi Rin! Tell us how you two first connected!
We met in 2020, through our mutual friend and collaborator, Nikola Lamburov. He’s been behind the camera throughout most of the imagery we have created within the past two years.
Lea, what about Golin’s world initially drew you in?
I remember listening to Golin’s track Play Odds which completely drew me into her dreamy, dark world. I mostly based the whole styling for our first project on just listening to her music, as we hadn’t met in person yet.
And Rin, what was it about Lea’s work that made you want to combine forces?
Lea is the first stylist I worked with. I was drawn to how she reshaped the body through fabrics, yet by keeping the body bare. Also, we just got along really fast and shared similar interests.

Could you take us through your first collaboration?
Our first collaboration was shot in a capsule hotel. With the see-through shoes, the skirt with the virus-like look by Chet Lo and the dark knitted textures.
Rin, to what extend do visuals, and specifically styling, play a role in your musical expression and overall artistry? And, more specifically, how has Lea’s work informed and/or influenced your own art?
I’m not limited to one image or sound. So, depending on the release, the visuals can communicate versions of me that may contradict or support the music. I feel that with Lea we sort of moved in unison, independently as well as together. We made a handful of never released, fast shoots to try out ideas and play with different visual approaches.
Lea, what’s the place of music in your styling work? You have worked with a lot of musicians, but I’m curious to hear how Golin’s work has been an influence on you or a part of your own visual world?
I love to work with musicians, because they already have such a strong world created through their music. For me it’s so interesting to use this as a base and second layer in my styling research, but still evolving within it and building it further. My work with Golin has been one that’s really close and important to me, because we could really grow together from every new project we have done and reflect on the ones we have done before and always take it further, bit by bit.
Rin, your latest video for Rowdy is such a beautiful mix of hard and soft, dark and light... I’m curious to hear your thought process behind conceptualising this video.
It was another side of my work that I hadn't put out yet. With Lea, a lot of the looks and ideas were very much in line with our past research. We exchanged daily for a month. Since most of the video was shot in a white cube, the styling became a way to loosely narrate the story.
Lea, how did you translate the track Rowdy into the styling choices we see in the video?
The track Rowdy and its music video show different characters, which I based on a precise research on looks. For example, the ‘rowdy fighting looks’ and ‘school uniforms’ which had to be a double look, where Golin and her body double could be interchangeable. Then we have the limo scene, where Golin drags us into the dream wearing the big fur coat, almost like a blanket, cute and cozy. The white queen character on the Mantis Orchid chair, with the shiny PVC boots is perfectly rounded up with the ruffled dreamy dress by Adriana Hot Couture, which makes her look so powerful.
Writing and interview Val Dechev @valdechev
Golin (Rin) @ringo_noko
Lea Wilbrand @leawilbrand
Nikola Lamurov @nikolalamburov
Chet Lo @chet__lo
Adriana Hot Couture @adrianahotcouture
ROMBAUT @rombautofficial
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