VIKTORIA MOZHAEVA

I SEE FASHION IN ITS BROADEST SENSE, AS A FORM OF EXPRESSION TO THE EMOTIONS OF OUR TIMES. CLOTHING IS A REFLECTION OF SOCIETY OR AND OFTEN QUESTIONS IT. FASHION IS OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD, BUT IN MY VIEW ITS ROLE IS TO QUESTION PREVAILING CONCEPTS, LOOKING AT ETHICS, AESTHETICS AND TAKE A STAND AGAINST AGGRESSION, REJECTION, DENIAL, HELPLESSNESS. IN FASHION, THERE IS A FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION WHICH CAN AT TIMES BE SHOCKING, ALARMING, ASTOUNDING OR EVEN TEMPTING.

WHAT APPEALS TO ME ABOUT FASHION DESIGN IS ITS EMOTION. ITS IS ALL ABOUT THE CONCEPT HOW IT INSPIRES, HOW ONE CAN EXPERIMENT AND FINALLY BRINGING ALL THAT EMOTION INTO A SINGLE CLOTHING STATEMENT. YET ITS ALSO ABOUT FUN, HOW TO SELECT, MAKE DECISIONS, DRAW AND DRAFTING A NEW GARMENT. IT’S ABOUT CREATING YOUR OWN SIGNATURE AND RECOGNISED STYLE. YET THIS ONLY WORKS BY COLLABORATING WITH OTHER CRAFTSPEOPLE. ABOVE ALL ITS ABOUT TAKING RISKS. FASHION IS IN CONTINUOUS REVOLUTION, OF RE-INVENTION OF THE OLD TRENDS AND THE CREATION OF NEW ONES, THAT BRINGS TO THE FASHION INDUSTRY THE EXCITEMENT OF THE NEW.

SQUARE BODY

I STARTED WORKING ON THIS PROJECT USING MY OWN BODY IMAGE AS THE MAIN CONCEPT. I TOOK PICTURES OF THE CITY. FINDING ALL KIND OF SQUARE SHAPES, HOLES AND OBJECTS AND FILLED THEM WITH MY BODY IMAGE. CENTRAL TO MY IDEA WAS TO FIND OUT HOW HUMAN BODY CAN MERGE WITH IT SURROUNDINGS CREATING NEW SHAPES AND HOW OBJECTS AROUND ME CAN CHANGE MY OWN PROPORTIONS BECOMING AN EXTENSION OF MY BODY. INSPIRED BY THESE IMAGES I COLLABORATED WITH A PHOTOGRAPHER FROM MY SCHOOL.

I CREATED A CONSTRUCTION AROUND A BODY USING SQUARE OBJECTS IN A COMBINATION WITH SOFT FABRICS AND DRAPES FOUND IN A TYPICAL PHOTO STUDIO. THIS EXPERIMENT HAS HELPED ME TO DISCOVER HOW COLOURS AND SHADES CHANGE INFLUENCED BY LIGHT AND TRANSPARENCY. FOR MY FINAL GARMENT I CHOSE TO USE A COMBINATION OF METAL AND SHEER FABRICS. I MADE A METAL CONSTRUCTION WHICH CAN BE WORN ON A BODY INSPIRED BY ONE OF THE PICTURES FROM MY EXPERIMENT. I ATTACHED IT TO A DRESS AS AN EXTENSION OF THE METAL CONSTRUCTION. A COMBINATION OF A STRONG AND HEAVY MATERIAL WITH A TRANSPARENT AND SOFT FABRIC ATTACHED CREATES A CONFUSION OF LAYERS THAT MAKES ONE GUESS WHAT IS UNDERNEATH A GARMENT.

FLOWER DRESS

I WANTED TO RESEARCH WHAT PURE BEAUTY AND WHAT VULGARITY MEAN TO ME.

I DISCOVERED THERE IT IS A VERY FINE LINE BETWEEN BEAUTY, GLAMOUR AND UGLINESS. I LOOKED AT DIAGHILEV’S COSTUMES FOR RUSSIAN SEASONS IN PARIS. IT’S RICH, A MIX OF CULTURES AND PERIODS. BREATHTAKING BEAUTY, BUT I ALSO WANTED TO FIND TACKINESS.

I GREW UP IN RUSSIA. WHEN I WAS A CHILD WE HAD VERY SPECIAL CANDY WRAPS. THEY WERE ALL SPARKLY, METALLIC WITH A LOT OF COLORS AND PRINTS. THEY LOOK SO TACKY, BUT IT TOOK ME BACK TO MY CHILDHOOD, A PLACE OF NOSTALGIA SO MADE A COLLAGE OUT OF THE WRAPPERS AND COMBINED IT WITH LACE AND POLYESTERS PLAYING WITH LAYERS, COLORS AND TRANSPARENCY. THOSE INITIAL COLLAGES WERE THE STARTING POINT FOR A MY RESEARCH INTO FABRICS. I FLOCKED, GLUED EVERYTHING, PUTTING IT UNDER HOT PRESS, EVEN LASER CUT THE FABRICS. ALL FABRICS AND PRINTS IS MY ORIGINALS.

THE RESULT WAS A COLORFUL AND ARTIFICIAL FABRIC PALETTE. FROM THE BEGINNING I WANTED MY GARMENTS TO BE BASED ON SIMPLE GEOMETRICAL SHAPES WHICH IS WHY MY PATTERNS ARE INSPIRED BY A FOLK RUSSIAN COSTUMES.

RAINCOAT

MY IDEA WAS TO MAKE A RAIN COAT. IT MADE ME THINK WHAT THE RAIN MEANS FOR ME.

THE FIRST THING POPPED UP IN MY HEAD WAS THAT FEELING YOU GET SITTING IN A CAR IN A RAINY DAY. A FEW DROPS HITS THE WINDOW AND THEN IT POURS. THE WORLD OUTSIDE GETS BLURRIER AND BLURRIER. TREES, TRAFFIC LIGHT, PEOPLE BECOME UNRECOGNISABLE, EVERYTHING MORPHS INTO A BLUR. SCALE, SIZES, SHAPES, COLOUR ALL CHANGE MY IMAGINATION, TAKES OVER DREAMING OF A WORLD OF MORPHED CREATURES.

WHEN I DESIGN I ALWAYS LOOK FOR A NEW ORIGINAL AND EXPERIMENTAL SHAPE. I USE MY OWN BODY, IT’S FAMILIAR AND I LIKE USING MYSELF AS THE MANNEQUIN. IN TAKING A PICTURE OF MYSELF IVE CREATED A NEW CREATURE OF STRANGELY INHUMAN PROPORTIONS. LEGS, ARMS, A NECK STRETCHED IN ALL DIRECTIONS.

I MADE SERIES OF THESE “NEW” CREATURES SKETCHING GARMENTS TO GO WITH THEM. IT WOULD BE AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT TO PLACE THOSE GARMENT BACK ON A NORMAL BODY TO SEE WHAT SHAPES IT CREATED. I CHOSE ONE SHAPE AND MADE IT IN A SKIN COLOR WATERPROOF FABRIC.

THE DESIGN IS MY OWN PRINT, APPLIED TO A GARMENT USING A THICK BRUSH LIKE AN OLD PAINTING DAMAGED IN THE RAIN.

LES INCROYABLES ET MERVEILLEUSES

FOR MY FASHION HISTORY PROJECT I RESEARCHED A MOVEMENT DURING A FRENCH REVOLUTION ABOUT A GROUP OF YOUNG ARISTOCRATS WHO DISPLAYED THEIR POLITICS THROUGH THEIR CLOTHES. WHILE THESE ARISTOCRATS HAD VERY STRONG POLITICAL IDEAS THEIR DRESS STYLE WAS FEMININE AND ROMANTIC. THIS MADE ME THINK HOW GARMENTS CAN TELL STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE WEARING THEM, WHILE IT ALSO SHOWS HOW STEREOTYPES ABOUT CERTAIN GROUPS CAN EASILY BE SEEN BY THEIR CLOTHES.

MY CONCEPT IS TO LOOK INTO THE THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HISTORICAL COSTUMES OF LES INCROYABLES ET MERVEILLEUSES FROM THE NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD AND AMERICAN FOOTBALL AND HOCKEY PROTECTIVE CLOTHING.I WANTED TO OBSERVE WHAT HAPPENS TO AN OBJECT IF YOU TAKE IT OUT OF ONE CONTEXT AND PLACE IN A DIFFERENT ONE DURING THE POST MODERN PERIOD. MY NEXT STEP WAS TO WORK IN 2D MAKING A SERIES OF SKETCHES AND COLLAGES WHERE I PLAYED AROUND WITH ELEMENTS FROM BOTH TOPICS (HISTORICAL COSTUMES AND SPORTS EQUIPMENT). THEN I TOOK IT TO 3D TAKING PICTURES OF DIFFERENT GARMENTS ON A DOLL COMBINING IT WITH AMERICAN FOOTBALL AND HOCKEY PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. FINALLY IN CHOOSING THE TWO THE BEST GARMENTS, THE FABRICS, PATTERNS, SHAPES AND COLORS CHOICE DERIVED FROM MY RESEARCH. A MIXTURE OF LACE, SILK, A TULLE WITH PLASTICS AND POLYESTERS, TRANSPARENCY AND ELEGANCY WITH BRIGHT COLORS AND ROUGH SHAPES.

I MADE MY OWN PRINTS REFERENCING SPORTSWEAR LOGOS IN A COLLABORATION WITH A GRAPHIC DESIGNER FROM MY SCHOOL. IF YOU LOOK CLOSER YOU CAN READ STATEMENTS WRITTEN ON THE PARIS WALLS OF PARIS DURING FRENCH STUDENT REVOLUTION IN 1968.

I AM FROM RUSSIAN

FEDERATION AND JOINED

THE GERRIT RIETVELD

ACADEMIE IN 2011. AFTER

THE PREPARATORY COURSE

FOLLOWED BY THE BASIC YEAR

I AM CURRENTLY ON THE 2ND

YEAR AT THE FASHION DESIGN

DEPARTMENT.

SINCE I WAS 18 ART AND

FASHION HAVE BEEN MY

INSPIRATION. I STARTED

BY TAKING ART HISTORY

AND DRAWING COURSES,

LATER I STUDIED AT AN ART

SCHOOL AND SUCCESSFULLY

ACCOMPLISHED SEVERAL

INTERNSHIPS FOR FASHION

DESIGNERS IN ST-PETERSBURG,

ANTWERP AND AMSTERDAM.

TO GAIN FURTHER EXPERIENCE

I WORKED AS AN ASSISTANT TO

A FILM COSTUME DESIGNER.

GERRIT RIETVELD ACADEMIE

AMSTERDAM

2013-2014