Who is the designer who has won the hearts of fashion fans in just a few seasons? Born in Russia, Gosha distinguished himself with an artistic approach to life from an early age. His passion was creating clothes for street people, which can be observed in his designs today. Initially, he was designing for skateboarders, but he was always closely observing every person he met. His biggest inspiration was the Russian street, hence in his collections, we often see references to the aesthetics of housing estate tracksuits or simply fashion from the 90s, which in Poland and Russia would look very similar.
Gosha Rubchinskiy – how did the most famous Russian designer start?
Gosha Rubchinskiy did not study at any prestigious university, as is the case with many recognized designers today. Instead, he studied the aforementioned Moscow street and the fashion of Russian housing estates, and he passionately absorbed alternative magazines, especially the OM magazine. OM became his bible and one of the main indicators of the style in which Gosha wanted to create his future collections.
However, creating fashion requires considerable funds, which Gosha lacked in his life so far. His friends helped him create the first collection of T-shirts, which is where the most famous contemporary Russian designer started. Although nobody expected sudden success, Gosha was quickly noticed by one of the editors of Russian Vogue, who invited him to a competition for young designers. A well-received collection did not provide him with a win, but it did generate a lot of inquiries about products from foreign stores and concept stores. However, Gosha could not accept these offers because he had a limited assortment and lacked funds to develop his brand.
In the meantime, Gosha Rubchinskiy had already become such a recognizable figure in fashion that everyone wanted to know more about him. Supposedly, one journalist asked him what fashion would be like in the future, to which Gosha was to reply, "I will be the future." From today's perspective, we know that these were prophetic words. The brand Comme des Garcons helped the designer to succeed in 2011, financially supporting Gosha, which allowed him to take advantage of a favorable moment to develop his brand. Then, the next fashion seasons belonged only to him.
The aesthetics of the 90s, the style of Russian blocks, clothing inspired by rave or hardcore techno became the number one trend. All this was due to the popularity of Gosha's projects and the wave of popularity of Demna Gvasalia, a designer from Georgia, today the creative director of Balenciaga. The boom in Eastern European fashion also contributed to the increase in the popularity of brands such as MISBHV, which strongly rely on the trends of fashion from Eastern Europe.
Success after success – Gosha Rubchinskiy x Adidas
The designer's success also includes the collaboration Gosha Rubchinskiy x Adidas. In this collaboration, the tracksuit aesthetics from the Russian streets of the late last century were at the forefront. Russian language inscriptions accompanied the famous logo and of course, the three stripes, which perfectly fit into Gosha's designs. This collaboration was met with a very positive response among fans of both brands.
Despite these successes, in 2017, Gosha Rubchinskiy announced radical changes for the shows of his brand. Instead of showing new collections in one of the four traditional fashion capitals, Gosha preferred to present them in his native Russia. However, the catwalk is not located in Moscow, as you might expect, but in smaller Russian cities. The local marketplace and cultural palaces have become a new catwalk for the most famous Russian designer.
Shortly after, Gosha Rubchinskiy announced the suspension of his activities under his name and today he focuses on creating collections for the creative collective GR Uniforma. However, what is still evident in global fashion is the ongoing trend for Eastern European fashion, which is also picked up by designers from outside the region.
