Bloc Party

Emerging designers from former Soviet countries are subverting fashion stereotypes to usher in a new era of cool, says Harriet Quick.

Authentic voices and alternative visions are catnip in the current style landscape..

Once up on a time, not so long ago, the only way to be taken seriously as a designer was to show your collection during New York, London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks. Many other cities have tried to break into that calendar to showcase talent and show off cultural capital, but often to little avail. Now the tide is turning as retailers and powerhouse brands scout out talent in emerging markets, with Georgia, Russia, Copenhagen, Seoul and Istanbul high on the list. Why? Authentic voices and alternative visions are catnip in the current style landscape.

Within that shift, the work of a generation of designers who grew up through the post-glasnost years in Russia and the former Soviet Republics has become a subject of fascination – difference being a big part of the appeal. Ironically, it is the activity of expat talents that has helped raise their profile. Georgian-born Demna Gvasalia, the creative director of Balenciaga and co-founder of Vetements, has helped shine a spotlight on the region (his family fled the country during the civil war), as has fellow Georgian, Londonbased David Koma, who helms Mugler. In Moscow, Gosha Rubchinskiy has built a cult following for his streetwear brand produced in partnership with Comme des Garçons. These success stories have helped galvanize the ambition of future stars as well as the professionalism of emerging-market fashion weeks.

There is no one look or style. Today’s under-the-radar designers are as diverse in their imaginative scope as they are in their geographic locations and cultural heritage. “I wanted to mix Audrey Hepburn femininity with 1980s Mexican-wrestler style,” says St Petersburg-based designer Yury Pitenin. The 27-year-old can already count Lady Gaga and Rita Ora as fans. They are drawn to his playfully subversive fusion of East and West aesthetics that stems from his upbringing in St Petersburg and his teenage years in Tokyo – his label, accordingly, is called Saint Tokyo. For summer, highlights include ‘cookie cutter’ gingham shirt dresses with rose and star embellishments; ‘wrestler’ studded silver leathers; and bespangled animal-print chiffon slips that are both sweet and fierce at once.

Ukraine Fashion Week, 2016

A look from Aika Jaxybai's s/s 2017 collection.

Aika Jaxybai

The label is three-and-a-half years old and the energetic, boyish Pitenin runs the business from a studio in St Petersburg, where he now employs five people. “I discovered I loved making clothes when I was seven years old,” he says. “It became my hobby. But it was not until my family moved to Tokyo that I became aware that fashion could actually offer a viable career. In Russia at that time, being a fashion designer was not deemed realistic or acceptable.” Pitenin studied for a master’s degree in fashion at St Petersburg University before plucking up the courage and funds to launch his own label. His debut featured robot transformer prints on prom-girl dresses inspired by the work of American comic book illustrator Bob Budiansky. “I’m proud of the energy here and I love the feeling that I am part of something,” says the designer, who now has retailers in Russia, Switzerland and London. “The industry is young but it is growing fast.”

Ukraine Fashion Week, 2016

Gradually a new landscape has emerged, populated by highly trained designers with distinct aesthetics that set them apart from their European and American counterparts.

In the late 1990s, following the euphoria of the post-glasnost years and the dramatic crash of the rouble, the picture for young entrepreneurs was dire. It was hard to set up business and find quality manufacturers, and the import duties on luxury Italian and French fabric remain high. Yet gradually a new landscape has emerged, populated by highly trained designers with distinct aesthetics that set them apart from their European and American counterparts. The vision might be as diverse as Saint Tokyo’s hybrid popstyle, the lyrical artisanship of Kazakh designer Aika Jaxybai, or the screen goddess elegance of Georgia’s Datuna Sulikashvili. But what they share is talent, drive and an empowered view of women.

Sulikashvili, who counts the First Lady of Georgia as a client, is a shining example. “During the last four years, my business has grown significantly,” he says. “Interest from the press, buyers from different stores and stylists has been increasing.” As with Pitenin, the urge to create struck young. “I have been attracted to clothes since early childhood,” he recalls. “I always had a conflict with my parents because I was destroying my mother’s and grandmother’s clothes and remaking them the way I saw them. I was so young when I fell in love with fashion that I don’t even remember what the trigger was.”

At 46, Aika Jaxybai has witnessed the change in the political and social climate. “I was born and grew up in Kazakhstan during the Soviet period. My father was a construction engineer and my mother a teacher of Kazakh language and literature,” she says. “We didn’t have much fashion, so to speak, at that time. But my mother was always interested in style and making clothes, as was my grandmother, and she always looked the best dressed in her school and university pictures. My sense of fashion and beauty came from my mother and probably from the desire to be individual.”

From these early experimentations, these designers have found a unique sensibility. Sulikashvili has become known for languid tailoring, sensual gowns in silks and velvets infused with a sense of smoky drama in the noble silhouettes, and flourishes such as floor-sweeping tasselled scarves. “I do not usually take fashion trends into consideration,” he notes. “The woman I create for doesn’t change too much from season to season. I think that today’s fashion needs beautiful shapes and flowing lines – the client wants to remain womanly.” One could easily see his clothes sitting next to The Row, Dries Van Noten or Lanvin in a wardrobe.

In Tbilisi, there are also evocative locales to wear those clothes, like the eclectic Rooms Hotel and an ever-growing number of artsy restaurants and hangouts. A nascent scene is rapidly emerging and there is a rich cultural history to draw on in interior design, art, fashion and accessories (particularly silver and enamel jewellery) as well. Alongside Sulikashvili, labels including the colourful, girly Tata Naka, the knitwear brand Lalo, and Atelier Kikala are all enjoying commercial success. A good cross-section can be found on Georgia-based online store moreislove.com, and also through notjustalabel.com.

Backstage at fashion weeks last year in Kiev and Tbilisi

The buzz has been boosted by social media and, crucially, fledgling fashion weeks that offer credible platforms and a keen audience of international buyers and press. Mercedes-Benz sponsors showcases in Moscow, Tbilisi, Kiev and Almaty. The traditional fashion weeks in these locales cater more to the respective domestic markets. “We try and make fashion week more and more professional each season and we work with designers the whole year round. The most important thing is for them to sell globally and grow a real business,” says Sofia Tchkonia, the founder and creative director of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi, where Russian and former Soviet Republic designers are also invited to show as guests. “We need to create production and commercial centres in Georgia to help designers. Involvement from the government and from big companies will help put Georgia on the map.”

It is by no means easy getting a business off the ground. Aika Jaxybai paints a similar picture of the industry in Kazakhstan. “We have to work with almost 100 per cent imported fabrics and haberdashery goods such as zippers, buttons, ribbons and threads,” she says. “This, together with high labour costs [due to the oil and gas dependency of the economy], causes substantial production costs. The domestic market is quite small (the country has 17 million inhabitants) so Kazakh designers must look to international markets.”

Backstage at fashion weeks last year in Kiev and Tbilisi

Saint Tokyo’s show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, 2016

One of the key attractions to these designers is how they parlay local traditions, idioms and craftsmanship into luxury fashion. Jaxybai is evangelical in her mission under her label Aika Alemi (Alemi meaning world). “I always wondered how to use traditional Kazakh techniques to create clothing,” she says. “One method is felt on silk – we use hot water and soap. The fibres of the silk and wool intertwine and amalgamate, and then they become one, while the wool sits on the silk in certain shapes. Usually we use authentic Kazakh motifs.

“I love hand-stitching and using detailed artisan techniques. Traditional Kazakh crafts are still largely unknown to the rest of the world and I want to show how deep, wise and beautiful our history and traditions are,” she adds.

Jaxybai came to fashion after a career in the corporate business world and training as a filmmaker and visual artist in the US. Her light-bulb moment came in New York when a woman bought a cardigan off her back for $250. She has now made seven collections. “I work with a lot of craftswomen in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, and we all love the challenge of creating luxury from the place where it is least expected,” she says. “In this day and age of mass production I strive to create pieces that have a lot to say and that will last for generations. Something that will capture the world that is disappearing.” This sentiment is expressed in her emotive yet sophisticated clothes that are rich with organic textures and handcrafted embellishment.

The work of these designers has a new relevance in the landscape of style. These are clothes with a provenance, a design rigour and a beautiful multilayered story to tell.

Yury Pitenin takes a bow after the Saint Tokyo s/s 2017 presentation in Moscow