The collective show FashionTime Designers opened the fourth day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia featuring KARINA KHIMCHINSKAYA, Stella Di Mare, DARIA DASHINA Fashion House Maxim Sokolov. Dresses from KARINA KHIMCHINSKAYA are the song to love, eternal spring and femininity. Lace tops and flounces, embellishment of beads, semi-precious and precious stones, hoop shirts, silk and chiffon, everything tunes one to the romantic wave. Stella Di Mare also designs dresses for formal occasions. The collection features items with short puff skirts, lengthy hem and trumpet skirts. Autumn mood is transferred by the colours of the red sunset. Asymmetry, hand-made embroidery, basques, lurex, silk skirts with veiling underskirts, moderately puffed, all these attributes can describe the collection from Maxim Sokolov. Colour range just like the variants of fit and finishing vary from deep green to pearly light pink. Jumpsuits, suits, dresses and coats from DARIA DASHINA is the luxe jersey, hand-made only. Vertical and horizontal stripes, optical illusions of contrast knitted fabric and colourful bobs contribute some mysterious features to the outfit while the cut lines and transparent net set off the body shapes.
The next on the runway was Belarus Fashion Week with the following three brands: Coo Culte, Iryna Sazanovich and Leya.me. Coo Culte is all about baby doll dresses with puff skirts, organza, multi-layered tops and open shoulders. There is nothing wrong with mini in such garments, on the contrary, it looks perfect. Midi and maxi were also on the catwalk, naked lace on delicate shoulders looks innocent and graceful while magnifying train is very eye-catching and attractive. Intricate cuts stripping the body contribute to the garments hidden sexuality. Pristine white, coventry, bluish grey with the steel glint, dusty rose, azure along with black and white classics gradually transform into total black. There are no strictly aligned lines and correct shapes, everything is totally calm and spectacular. Collection Mexican Story from the kids’ brand Leya.meis is devoted to Mexico and its culture. Extraordinary traditions and identity can be traced in casual style: bright prints interchanged with fancy accessories and set the pace of the show. Pink insets combined with the peculiar geometric print, dark blue accents on cross-body bags looked very fresh and new. Clear colours like pink, yellow and dark blue were balanced by grey, white and black making the outfit very outstanding and bright. Iryna Sazanovich is the doll master who works in the technique of producing collectors’ textile dolls, but she decided to move forward and started designing clothes. The début collection is called Alisa. Tender polka-dot dresses with ruffles and ribbons instead of ties, headbands and flowers scattered on dresses’ hems create the light and peaceful mood. The colour range goes from dusty pink to sky-blue, creamy and sandy.
CONTRFASHION project annually joins the bravest designers, eccentrics with the freshest ideas, fantastic fabrics and silhouettes. Every item is the art object with a decoded message. Alena Andreeva dressed models into the lightest gauze blouses, glinting laced jumpsuits, long knee-highs with the prints that remind the colours of open injuries, and the tiara made of plastic tubes with colourful butterflies. Poison, name of the collection, stands for the burning poison of new kindness and mercy that sends away the darkness and former injuries. Olga Lapinskaya, designer of the brand LPN-SKY, has the aspiration to interpret Igor Stravinsky’s music The Rite of Spring in textile, using the special technique of volumetric collage and avant-garde amplification of silhouettes of the Russian costume in black and red shades. Collection from Elisa Heinesen, dualistic in its nature, tells the story of post-apocalypses savage woman of the future Gravity 2091. Shapes are born out of the nature of various fabrics, sometimes simmering in the orange-blue puff jackets, or proudly fluttering by black ribbons and dark blue feathers from the cloaks reminding of the Indian ritual costumes. EZ by Elena Zemtsova features skilful play with open cut lines, transparent fabrics and ribbons, the designer is trying to accentuate the figure but at the same time shifts us to the atmosphere of mysteries, masked ball and dreams. Chevrons and ‘hedgehog’ brooches made of chopstick turned into highlights of the collection. #RUSQUARE by Victoria Prokhorova and Natalia Razbrodina make very outstanding in colours and style garments of natural processed fabrics. In between the asymmetric coats there come suits with skirts; abstract prints disguise perfect cuts, slim cocktail dresses are decorated with insets of transparent fabric looking like wide grass feathers.
Beso Turazashvili, founder of the brand Portnoy Beso, brings together the graceful style of Russian and Georgian aristocracy from the past with the Oriental peacefulness and mystery. Fall-Winter collection Forêt Noire features the pictures of the black forest, restless, set off by the red leaves of the trees and emerald greens of coniferous. Combining mini skirts with the tulip flower frame and buttoned-up top, floor length skirts and deep neck lines, floaty silk and sealed silhouette of the jumpsuit, Portnoy Beso creates the female character who turns heads but stays graceful. Plain pleats and other structural elements perfectly curve the shape without excess volume.
Ksenia Knyazeva devoted her fashion show to the image of femme fatale and dark charms of the dry law times in America. Famous Moscow barmen Evgeniy Asotskiy assisted in creating the environment. The catwalk featured dresses reminding of the pictures by Alfons Mucha: pastel floral themes, complex geometric and wave-like patterns in art-deco style, golden belts and fly-dragons, embroidered on black velvet. Pleated midi skirt glints with gold while maxi dress of light pleated fabric folds its lines into a hand fan on the chest. Ksenia did not skip the option with flounces around the collar and straight mini dresses with fringe, fur and feathers at the bottom, so typical for jazz times.
New collection from Alena Akhmadullina was inspired by the Oriental warrior culture, so mysterious, magnifying and full of energy. Complex decoration of garments that imitate the structure of armour, horse embroideries, magic fringe, tassels, fur elements — every detail is performed with precision. The designer employs such fabrics as jacquard with floral patterns, taffeta, silk with hand-made embroidery and beads. The collection also features two-sided fur coats that can simply turn into a rain-protected quilted piece.
New collection from Dasha Gauser Chemistry is the ultimate expression of unusual prints taken from the Mendeleev’s experimental table, perfectly aligned formula and prevailing black. Neat dresses with zippers interchanged with summer dresses, skirts with basques and loose silk shirts. Stand-up collars looked up very playfully from under the dresses as if the classic shirt was worn underneath. The colour range is white, black, orange. The highlight of the collection is the line of coats in bright but moderate shades from cadmium orange to cornflower blue.
BELLA POTEMKINA continues the theme of Russia, this time making an accent on the chic and luxury of royal traditions. Designer added noble and boho emerald and burgundi to the brand’s signature colours. The concept of retro and graceful vintage is specifically underlined in the collection by using gold in finishing and details. Designer uses a lot of fur and refined lace edged by the thinnest fabrics of evening gowns. Leather pants with shirts tucked in and coats interchanged by lingerie dresses and more spontaneous perfectly cut puff skirts. Men’s collection is built around the velvet two-piece suits and delicate classics of minimalism.
The presentation corner featured the collection from the brand MUUS and designer Lena Maksimova. Outwear was presented by black and grey women’s coats while one could choose a simple fantasy dress for a cocktail party or a set of skirt and top in one colour shade.
#MBFWRussia.
