MACRAMÉ, CYBERPUNK, AND THE BIRTH OF VENUS: DESIGNERS FROM THE RUSSIAN CAPITAL PRESENTED THEIR CLOTHING COLLECTIONS AT FUTURUM MOSCOW
30.09.2020
The show was a no-visitor one, but the livestream has been viewed at different platforms for over a million times.

On October 3, the exhibition-presentation Futurum Moscow took place at the Mosgormash Technopark for the 6th time, powered by Russian Fashion Council and supported by Fashion Fund. This year, the event was also supported by Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of the city of Moscow for the first time.

"The catwalk was established right at the venue of the city's Mosgormash Technopark. 13 emerging Moscow-based designers were able to participate in the exhibition free of charge and present their collections. Moreover, Moscow artists have showcased their projects in various genres," reported Alexei Fursin, Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of the city of Moscow. "The event was a no-visitor one, but the livestream of the event has been viewed over a million times on the social media and different platforms and websites, in particular, from abroad."

The shows were mostly viewed from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, Kiev, Frankfurt on the Main, Berlin, and Riga.

Artists J. Mars, Andrey Aznet and Sasha RTS aka Risui Tusui drew graffities live right on the Mosgormash walls. Sasha RTS, Andrey Aznet and Misha Vert made some unique VR-based works: inspired by the collections presented by the Moscow designers, the artists made some digital paintings in the Virtual Reality. In their turn, artists Alexey Novikov, Maxim Karadutov, and Egor Karpenko created a unique work of art – Object #04-0.02, a light installation with many differently sized squares, which was available right during the shows. Sound design for the livestream was made by Artificial Intelligence from MUBERT Team. Visual effects for the videos on the stream were designed by Stanislav Glazov, a digital artist.

"This year, Futurum Moscow has been high-tech, edge-cutting, and advanced. Even in the no-visitor mode, the new phygital format of the event made the audience feel the emotions we've all been lacking – this is confirmed with the numbers of views," said Alexander Shumsky, President of Russian Fashion Council.

Designers from Moscow demonstrated their capsule collections. Yana Sergeeva presented some pieces using macramé technique readjusted to contemporary trends. Clothes from Alina Kan embraced everyday looks, combining Asian street fashion and Russian constructivism. Her cyberpunk-style collection featured a contemplation on The Maze Runner, as well as stereotypic vision of Asia's share in the technological advance.

The show by Denis Byvaltsev comprised making of an artwork: in the center of the podium, the artist did his magic, while the models finalized the plot. One of the looks was associated with Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's work, and another featured a large-scale print with Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

Elizaveta Samsonova, designer from NOT TODAY, made clothes with sewed-in QR-codes that could be scanned for watching videos about contemporary Moscow-based poets.

Futurum Moscow participants presented some clothes to touch on the issues of people dealing with Artificial Intelligence, of man and woman relations, on conscious use of natural resources, and other things.

The record of the livestream is available at the official website of Russian Fashion Council.

This season, capsule collections were showcased by 13 emerging designers:

SEYANA

Designer: Yana Sergeeva

Year of foundation: 2018

About the brand: SEYANA reincarnates the macramé technique, demonstrating that this old method can do much more and winning the hearts of fashion lovers all over the world.

About the collection: The day was started off with a wild carnival collection of black and tan looks, all cabaret and glitz.

The knitwear ranged from accessories and light swimwear to sexy little numbers sporting long macrame strands, forming futuristic and Burning Man-esque outfits.

Glittery capes and sheer coats added to this future-rave aesthetics, making this essentially a desert-to-the-club collection perfect for a California party girl. Cowboy boots and short jean shorts showed how macrame strands can work with anything – from a Boho Brooklyn outing to a night out in Death Valley.

All looks were accessorized with facemasks, blinged out with metalwork and silver chains.

A beautiful and energetic start to the Futurum Moscow day, Yana presented her uncompromising vision of a desert party in 2020.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y3kmqdlv

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/y3ls6ror; https://youtu.be/NwKCrOZK8ns

BEENA

Designer: Albina Kan

Year of foundation: 2017

About the brand: BEENA features a combination of Asian street fashion and Russian constructivism. These clothes go beyond the limits of gender differences. The key element of the brand are designer prints, nodding to Japanese Ukiyo-e. The brand's distinctive feature is a geisha: a daring, bright and independent girl.

About the collection: In their new collection, BEENA found inspiration in the cyberpunk style.

As Asia has been in the swim of many movies, the designer derived inspiration from Blade Runner and Artificial Intelligence. Kimono-style strips of shining satin, deconstructed work shirts and pants along with graphical prints and geisha patterns were splattered across a variety of shapes and styles, all with a distinctive Asian flavor. The color palette was still soft, however, never really descending into the full-color ecstasy of the traditional Japanese garment, and instead opting for a muted pastel or dusty teal.

By opting for a multi-season approach, incorporating both light and airy kimonos and heavy cyberpunk overcoats adorned with Buddhist symbolism, BEENA created a unique and distinctive personal style, which is sure to serve this brand well in the upcoming years.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y28babp5

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/y2axvpx4; https://youtu.be/XTj4NhfTs7E

//cult.code

Designer: Denis Byvaltsev

Year of foundation: 2020

About the brand: Made by the artistic community, these clothes merge classical and contemporary styles and are intended for people of culture, featuring diverse models and templates.

The designers focus not only on comfort and top quality: their every piece contains inspiration from their own artistic experience along with expression of their artistic ideals and concepts. In the future, designer Denis Byvaltsev believes that the clothing will continue to develop in periods, and fashion will reflect the evolution of society.

About the collection: The collection offers looks that can be worn to a museum and then to a techno party without any need to change. The collection, much like the previous one, is off-season: easily transformable looks, which can be classified as streetwear, heavily printed with abstract shapes and designs.

Some brought to mind the works of Mondrian, while others reminded the ones of Kandinsky.

Hoodies, loose-knit cardigans, light metallic raincoats and tracksuit bottoms – all with a definite streetstyle and hip-hop influence made up the core of this collection, complete with an artist live-tagging a piece of wall in the middle of the runway, and a full-on dance-off as the grand finale of the show.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y4t46f4a

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/yxp27sqg; https://youtu.be/srNb0AdhNFc

Agatha Ænter

Designer: Agata Vostrikova

Year of foundation: 2019

About the brand: In its collections, Agatha Ænter aspires to comprehend and reconsider the modern world and the technical progress. Points of intersection between technology and nature are reflected in the brand's collections.

About the collection: The SS21 collection presents an interaction between human and Artificial Intelligence. For this collection, a neural network was trained to make randomly-generated images of clothes, which were then implemented at the designer's workshop.

This produced white-and-gold outfits of the future, robe-shaped and free-flowing, as well as tight-fitting swimwear adorned with elegant milky spots and patterns.

Many sheer garments were dyed in innovative ways – some, for example, were dipped in bloody crimson or cerulean blue, which preserved a futuristic but DIY aesthetics to the collection.

There were many see-through looks in the show, all daring to push a traditional cut of a shirt or a dress to the absolute extreme and some sporting very unusual accessories – one that especially stood out was a dress complete with neon rubber tubing, which made it look like the surface of an anemone.

A truly innovative collaboration between human and AI, this was a collection that was easy to fall in love with.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y4otga4h

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/yxjrjrhr; https://youtu.be/Hqun08wNx1E

kød

Designers: Natasha Timofeeva and Olesya Moldavskaya (collaboration)

Year of foundation: 2020

About the brand: This niche premium brand is young but punchy, aiming to forge itself a place in the competitive Russian fashion market.

About the collection: The collection continues the overarching theme of the day – clothes of the future. Every element of every garment features unique designer detailing and can be worn backwards. All garments in the collection are unisex and off-season, fitting the ideas of Futurum Moscow – flexibility and a forward-thinking approach.

Asiatic influences were seen in this collection, too, with multi-layering seeming to be on the designers' minds. Red and metallic silver were liberally used, creating hems, brims and accentuating accessories for these oversized garments. Accessorizing, in fact, was the strongest point of the brand – long knitted scarves of crimson, bags and rucksacks adorned with red threads or embellishments, and wide-brim cotton hats reminiscent of Alejandro Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain.

Some elements, such as the large red circles – the leitmotif of the collection – were added right on the runway, with the artists drawing them on their oversized dress shirts. An abstract and bright collection for an artistic soul.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/yyxvrsyg

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/yyme4csn; https://youtu.be/6mu7AQ8U0eg

General VI

Designer: Viktoria Generalova

Year of foundation: 2018

About the brand: A special presentation by the Moscow brand, focusing on demi-seasonal fashion with a modern streetwear twist.

About the collection: Working on this collection, the designer found inspiration in the culture of ancient China, presenting traditional oriental motives from a modern perspective.

Sheer silken elements combined with puffy, oversized outerwear were a great combination – mini puffer-jackets worn over silk pants and shirts.

Accessorized with similar puffer capes and scarves and embroidered with traditional Chinese flower patterns, this off-season streetwear collection was as vibrant as it was innovative, bringing a taste of modern Chinese style to Futurum Moscow.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/yx8fe5l9

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/y52rs2y7; https://youtu.be/poNzGk0u8_8

NOT TODAY

Designer: Elizaveta Samsonova

Year of foundation: 2018

About the brand: NOT TODAY is a local slow fashion brand. Every collection has some secret sense or a story, and is based on deep research of the subject that has caught the designer's eye. This can be a piece of news at a news feed, an event or a historical fact.

About the collection: In this collection, QR codes became this kind of secret. The codes, that are sewed into the garments, can be scanned for links to videos that present contemporary Moscow-based poets. This design has to a certain extent been inspired by the 70s, as well as by the style and creative work of the said authors. The collection is full of their rebellious spirits, as well as anxiety about not being appreciated by the society. However, despite some dark inspirations, NOT TODAY is about bright color combinations and lots of prints.

Chinese wraparound dresses in pure aquamarine, coupled with wide-cut Balenciaga-style jackets and trousers in teal, emerald velvet dresses and asphalt jean outfit combos – the show started with a meditation upon tones of green and yellow. The NOT TODAY woman seemed to be cosmopolitan in the best sense of the word – practical and timeless, these fits were perfect for a European fashionista.

Catsuits in pastel prints followed, accessorized with wide-brim hats in the same print of floral leaves and abstract graphics. Tiny sheer dresses in pastel mauve and blue rounded up this demi-seasonal collection, excellent for both a rainy day in Paris and a party in New York. A perfectly charming China-inspired collection of deep blues, greens and purples.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y54xfprs

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/y6t8w87e; https://youtu.be/JsBu0FVppF0

GIDROPLAN

Designer: Maria Silantyeva

Year of foundation: 2015

About the brand: The idea of the brand appeared in 2015.

The brand concept is transformation of the state of mind by means of the outer looks.

About the collection: This collection is dedicated to mixing of realities and is titled Reflection of Reality.

Clad in full-face anti-recognition masks, the models for the new GIDROPLAN collection strutted out in glitch-art "marble"-print coats, yin-yang print full body catsuits reminiscent of Marine Serre and raincoats printed with pastel visuals, vaporwave memes and Matrix-like imagery.

This future-rave collection was coupled with highly-reflective tracksuit bottoms, bucket hats and all the glitch-rave attire one could need.

A beautiful take on the all-body catsuit trend that's taken Paris and Milan by storm.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y4n67ru7

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/yxrq6oqr ; https://youtu.be/kURQSm3GZNA

BLANC

Designer: Nina Kotsurenko

Year of foundation: 2020

About the brand: BLANC is a brand of top-quality designer clothing founded in 2020 by Nina Kotsurenko and Dmitry Bokov.

Through careful work with shapes and details, the designers aim to create ideal proportions that could highlight the personality and beauty of any woman. The designers' imagination isn't limited with any basic wardrobe as they wish every girl could feel bright and special in their garments.

About the collection: The collection by BLANC is an avatar of beauty and femininity, featuring the resort chic combined with a feeling of freedom and a mood of spontaneous traveling.

The designers found inspiration in diversity and beauty of the summer garden flowers. Dresses and blouses have puffy sleeves featuring bluebells, peonies and magnolias, while skirts resemble open tulips and delicate rose petals, making the wearer look even more fragile and subtle.

Shoulderless dresses and multilayered sleeves brought to mind the image of summertime France, while the gathered ruffled skirts in neutral tones of black and white grounded this collection in pure Parisian chic.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/yxclbvtx

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/yytrnqff; https://youtu.be/-fZn11WxMTo

ANYA KHALIULINA

Designer: Anya Khaliulina

Year of foundation: 2018

About the brand: The brand style features laconic silhouettes in combination of minimalism and deconstruction.

About the collection: The collection mainly uses natural materials: cotton, linen, and fabrics that imitate plastic bags, thus highlighting imperfect ecological situation in the world.

This all-black-and-white all-linen all-pure collection featured skimpy short coats, unisex shirt and trouser combos with harnesses of white linen, imitation plastic bag skirt and top looks and an overall deconstructivist, philosophical meditative approach. A neutral, yet beautifully crafted collection featuring some great ideas.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y6xeadp4

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/y2ebwaq9; https://youtu.be/iLP_93gtDCc

MAINONA FRITZ

Designer: Maria Kachurovskaya

Year of foundation: 2020

About the brand: Extraordinary aesthetic, richly textured materials, a game of colors – the MAINONA FRITZ brand doesn't follow fads, but aims to create pieces that would look favorably for several seasons in different wardrobes.

About the collection: This is the first womenswear collection by MAINONA FRITZ.

Working on this collection, the designer aspired to combine comfortable garments and a certain individual quirkiness of all pieces to reflect their ideal woman's character.

The designer believes that fashion is going lax and feels like speeding things down. The time has come to be sustainable and individual, beautiful and free. This is why every piece on the collection is unique, many of them made of recycled garments. One look features a full coat made out of upcycled sofa upholstery fabric.

The entire collection is an experiment. "Something inside me makes me do these things. There is no concept or strategy. A look is born in your head, and then you just have to go and create it," is what the designer tells us.

Glistening black coats and Demna Gvasalia-inspired wide-brim shoulders ruled the day in this collection, with models sporting cool shades and aggressively walking out on the runway. Unlike Balenciaga though, this collection was almost fully recycled, and the fabrics and cuts of the garments made it feel much more authentic. Coats of dusty-pink plush, dresses embellished with glass tears gathered from a chandelier, plasticky faux-snakeskin jackets and bright combinations of yellow and blue combined into a beautiful take on post-Soviet women's fashion.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/yxcyuyhb

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/y6ew8mtp; https://youtu.be/rcox06igerc

ST by Sonya Tikhonova

Designer: Sofia Tikhonova

Year of foundation: 2019

About the brand: Sofia believes that the brand aesthetics should reflect the essence of its creator. Her identity is directly connected with her art. The ST by Sonya Tikhonova is an embodiment of the powerful energy of a female spirit. The designer pieces show the concept that covers every detail and stage. This is fashion design that slows down time.

About the collection: The Svergnutye Tela (Cast Down Bodies) collection by ST by Sonya Tikhonova contains 11 looks. 10 of them are the embodiment of the story's main character, the fallen angel. The looks present different visions of the evil spirit that humans have had since the creation of the world.

At first, there is an albino crow – a rare and sensuous creature. Flapping their wings, the birds warn the foreteller of the great dragon's coming. Further looks show the evil spirit in another disguise – a powerful dragon. The final symbol is the guardian angel – the looks reflecting the mission of a warrior, a defender.

With daggers and laurel leaves in hand, the models walked out in their ritualistic golden Greek-style dresses, all shimmer and silk. Crepe de chine ruffles gathered on the front of the dresses brought to mind the images of mythological naiads, while the intricate corsets of folded muslin created a forest dryad feeling.

Finally, the last few eveningwear numbers in metallic greys and soft pinks were a testament to ancient antique culture, ancient Mediterranean and Saturnalia dances. Finishing the show was a beautiful see-through corset dress which sported sewn-in birch branches.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/y4log7dj

VIDEO: https://tinyurl.com/y4drg6br; https://youtu.be/asMaeN25rOA

CHERVONSKY

Designer: Veronika Chervonskaya

Year of foundation: 2019

About the brand: The collection by CHERVONSKY presents a game in relations, which is the most significant component of a couple's happy life.

About the collection: EMPTY PROMISES is the first of the games that the brand designer invites the audience to play. The game implies an alternative, creative and ironic approach to delivery of the promises that one partner gives to the other.

Coupled with a full DJ set, this unique collection of folksy, see through, tribal garments in muslin, swimwear and rough-sewn robes in deep brown and rust was a perfect finale to this innovative, multifaceted and exciting showcase of emerging talents from Moscow.

CATWALK: https://tinyurl.com/yxtult9z

ART: https://tinyurl.com/y3l569q2

Behind the scenes: https://tinyurl.com/yygc5zkx



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