тире
Fashion
boutiques of Europe’s biggest fashion houses are located. To my wife will look good in,” “Everyone has to brand themselves
announce his arrival, Simachev Christmas-wrapped his two- somehow”), nonetheless, there is one thing that is crystal
story store, situated between hermes and Burberry, in gaudy clear about him: he gets it.
neon Khokhloma, a 17th-century folk print. Needless to say, “It” is that profound, unbreachable chasm between Russia
there went the neighborhood. and the rest of the world. Knowing this, he gleefully stokes all
“People tried D&G, then they got sick of it,” says Simachev. the West’s greatest fears and stereotypes about Russia, from
“They started to think about what’s us, what’s funny to us, its mail-order brides to its creeping authoritarianism. For
what evokes feelings for us.” Rather than imitate the French instance, Simachev’s latest collection, “Bang! Bang!,” an ode
or Italian experience, which has been the goal of Russia’s elite to mid-’90s syndicated crime, featured ostentatiously bling
since time immemorial, Simachev decided to loot the treasure Orthodox crosses, ominous leather trench coats and
chest of Russian national costumes. Thus, the telnyashka (a t-shirts declaring “I heart OPG (Russian organized crime
striped naval tank top), kitschy hammer-and-sickles, provin- gangs).” Other tees announce “Neft Nashe Vsyo” (Oil is
cial headscarves and flags of all eras have found their way into Our Everything) or depict Putin framed in roses, evoking
high fashionability in modern-day Russia. Each of Simachev’s Cult of Stalin propaganda. “Of course they are provocative,”
collections is based on a specific Russian “hero”—a soldier in Simachev laughs. “They are supposed to make people think
Chechnya; a Siberian schoolteacher with a golden plait; Red about Russia and about Russia’s place in the world.”
Army commander Vasily Chapayev; a 1980s Olympian. Taken Nonetheless, he wishes people paid the same amount of
comprehensively, they are a compelling, unabashedly patriot- attention to his less controversial items, such as the handmade
ic history lesson, preaching pride in one’s rich cultural legacy 1940s- and ’50s-style shoes he includes in every collection.
rather than mindless abuse of foreign status markers. “They just don’t sell,” he laments. This candid admission
tugs at the heartstrings until you remember that everything
To announce his arrival,
else Simachev has touched in the past year has practically
Simachev Christmas-wrapped
turned to gold. Since the beginning of 2007, domestic sales of
his two-story store, situated
Simachev wear, originally targeted to Europeans as a novelty,
between Hermes and Burberry,
increased from 30 percent to 70 percent in Russia. Russian
movie stars wear his attitude t-shirts to premieres; banners
in gaudy neon Khokhloma,
across Tverskaya, Moscow’s 5th Avenue, announce his fashion
a 17th-century folk print.
shows; and the city’s hottest clubs hire him as their headline DJ
(Simachev’s musical style is called vinegret, from the Russian
It was clear to Simachev that most European haute couture salad that tosses in everything that’s lying around). Even
didn’t jibe with Russian fashion sensibilities. For example, a Vladimir Putin, gazing out his office window across the Moscow
Russian girl wouldn’t be caught dead in austere, military River at the entire length of a building advertising a Simachev-
Prada. “Save all the princesses from the bewitched castles of branded PlayStation, must have a touch of Denis envy.
unisex,” the designer exhorted in his “Made in Moscow” col- “I’m not going to just say ‘Let’s love Russia’ or ‘Yay, Putin!’”
lection. his girls strut down the catwalk in gold lamé track- the artist concludes. “People always accept things more
suits and high heels, with shirts cooing that enticing slogan, easily when you give it to them with a smiley face.” To wit, the
“From Rasha Viz Lave.” he also doesn’t pander to trifling en- Kremlin, constantly plagued by PR problems, might do well
vironmental concerns: PETA activists would seethe at the to hire a cultural attaché like Simachev, a man who makes
sight of his pterodactyl-esque fur earflaps, an essential for sur- even patriotism look edgy and hip. Maybe it hasn’t reached the
viving cold northern winters. president yet, but Simachev’s message has already trickled
While Simachev doesn’t deign to talk much about the ra- down from the elite hipster circles to the unwashed masses
tionale behind his designs—too cool—and comes up with an who can’t afford his t-shirts: Russia is cool again. T
impressive range of throwaway answers (“I just make clothes
readrussia.com/2008/WiNTer/ 56
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