A Stylish Couple’s Quarantine Diary Proves That “Masculinity Is Not in What You Wear”
For many couples, cohabitating during lockdown has been a matter of sink or swim. As they say, familiarity can breed contempt. Happily that’s not the case for Emanuela Amato, a pint-size Venus and the art director of Dust magazine, and Lauri Kopio, a tattooed Finnish “Viking,” part-time model, and head of sales for CamperLab. Together, they’ve found a creative outlet that combines their love of fashion, and of each other, and it’s kept them from going mad in the Kafkaesque confines of their shared Paris apartment.
The couple met in Kopio’s native Helsinki in May 2018, and traveled together in short succession to that year’s Pitti Uomo and Paris men’s shows, followed by Sicily, Amato’s birthplace. “It was really exciting to actually have the chance to be together in many different places in such a short period of time,” says Amato. Kopio moved from London to Paris last year, and Amato joined him just in the nick of time. “It was really lucky that Emanuela got here just before the quarantine started, so we got to spend it together,” Kopio notes. “But being 24/7 together in our 40m2 (430-square-foot) flat did throw us straight into the deep end.” Remember that at one point during the lockdown Paris residents were only allowed to move within a one-kilometer radius of their homes for a maximum of one hour a day.
As a distraction from the boredom of four walls, and in the interest of their sanity, the couple started dressing in each other’s clothes, just for fun. “It turned into a much anticipated daily routine that we documented in our building’s public corridor,” says Kopio. “There was never any sort of goal or bigger statement that we wanted to make.” Well, maybe just a bit. “We also wanted to show how normal it can be to see my boyfriend looking good wearing my clothes and without losing his masculinity,” adds Amato, who has posted the motto “Masculinity is not in what you wear” on her Instagram account. “I also think that most of the pieces really look better on him (which was a bit disappointing, ha ha)!”
Consciously or not, using Amato’s mostly vintage wardrobe, the pair channeled styles that ranged from grunge to Rive Droite and from princess to goth. “I don’t really have a precise style,” she says. “[What I wear] depends a lot on my mood and how I feel. It can go from super-girlish, with bows and tiaras, to something very casual, like literally wearing pajamas.” Kopio describes his style as somewhere between black metal and cute things. “There has definitely been some development over the years,” he says, “but in general I do keep coming back to the same references. I have many pieces of clothing that I am still using after more than 10 years.”
Their project elicited a divided response on social media. There was plenty of positive feedback; Amato even received wistful direct messages from women wishing they could do the same with their boyfriends. But the couple also lost followers. “There have definitely been quite a few casualties in the followers—not that I have that many,” jokes Kopio. “If people found it somehow offensive, we are very happy to wish good riddance to them.”
As Paris reopens, the daily photo sessions are now on pause. Kopio has returned to the office, while Amato, a freelancer, works in front of her computer. “Human beings adapt fast to new situations,” she says. “Of course, life has to start again; I just hope that this situation will bring more consciousness about what is really important.” Including the fact that it’s not the clothes that make the man.
Photo: Emanuela Amato / Courtesy of the photographer1/18Lauri Kopio x Emanuela Amato: Look 1
Photo: Emanuela Amato / Courtesy of the photographer2/18Lauri Kopio x Emanuela Amato: Look 2
