Vika Gazinskaya (Q3634)
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Vika Gazinskaya is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Vika Gazinskaya |
Vika Gazinskaya is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Call it a soft launch into menswear. When creating the hand-knit, made-in-Russia sweaters that figure prominently in this collection, Vika Gazinskaya realized that she could size them up for men. Apparently she’s been fielding requests for some time. Fashion devotees might recognize the guy modeling the black version: Gosha Rubchinskiy. Dance devotees might recognize the man in the gray: David Hallberg of American Ballet Theatre. Gazinskaya’s boyfriend was wearing the grey and neon yellow sweater version. Anyway, what’s funny is how her trenchcoats were often adapted from men’s proportions, so if she ventures further into menswear—all signs point to yes—she will now be working within a familiar framework.In fact, the deliberately slouchy sweaters were key to Gazinskaya’s direction this season, as she liked the idea of pairing them with flow-y printed skirts for which she developed custom prints and jacquards. Historically, she has gravitated toward stiffer fabrics, so the relaxed, draped volumes marked a shift of sorts. This carried over to the tiered, one-shoulder dresses and pants with an asymmetric inseam (black velvet originally seemed like an outlier in the collection, but as an evening option in Moscow or elsewhere,pourquoi pas). “I sometimes do exaggerated dresses; this summer I wanted to do something easy while staying beautiful,” said Gazinskaya. A micro-perforated white cotton shirt and dress could easily get passed over in these photos, yet they were polished and pleasing up close. Ditto the faux leather, which was remarkably subtle (as noted here previously, Gazinskaya is vegan, so it’s always been faux or nothing).While the offering was light on anything that would qualify as directional, the looks were more approachable and, she said, slightly more affordable—the result of gauging her customers online. Gazinskaya’s smiley face T-shirt is obviously a cheery entry and another foil for the flowery skirts. But was she forcing the happy message? “I’m in balance—in my fashion life and my personal life,” she said. Happiness from the inside out is the best kind.
1 October 2018
With this collection, Vika Gazinskaya returned to silhouettes that she’s been designing throughout the past decade; yes, it’s a big anniversary year. She included the extra-wide tent dress, this time punctuated with fabric ping-pong balls atop the shoulders—sweet and somewhat arty yet also superfluous, they easily snap off. She also included the mid-century modernized styles that suggest the hourglass femininity of early Dior, only less formal, more relaxed. And she revisited her minimalist normcore phase—casual ’80s looks in studied colorways.Gazinskaya definitely puts effort into her palette, and for this collection she found inspiration in a few David Hockney paintings, includingThe Room, Tarzana(1967) with its particular greens and pinkish skin tones. By adding in a deep red, she arrived at a more experimental accord that worked as an interesting alternative to all the black. Sleeves like sculpted flames reiterated the ’80s referencing as dramatic evening looks; given how ubiquitous the period has proven this season, her network of street style friends and Hollywood starlets is sure to opt in.A staunch vegetarian, Gazinskaya had been using faux fur well before its recent acceptance by luxury brands, so she was smart to push new versions here—all ample in shape and earthy in color. Her pattern focus featured hearts and spades that appeared as textured fil coupe and flocking, as well as a floaty chiffon print. This was a safe decision that probably reflected the negative attention she received after her Spring 2018 artist appropriation debacle. For Fall, on the balance, she played her cards right.
8 March 2018
Vika Gazinskaya’s normcore phase was short-lived. With her Spring ’18 collection, which she opted to present during the Resort period, she pulled from diverse source material—vintage dresses, choreographer William Forsythe, Katharine Hepburn—to produce looks that seemed more consistent with her grown-up gamine spirit. Surrounded by racks of clothes projecting buoyant, eye-catching colors (none more so than the tiled patchwork knit pieces), the Moscow-based designer began her summary of the season by explaining how a few designs were reimagined from thrift-store finds on trips to London and L.A. If you scroll back deep enough through her Instagram feed, you will see the original version of the ladylike hydrangea-pattern dress, which she said garnered so many compliments that she couldn’t help but make it available to a wider audience. Another example was the off-white dress in broderie anglaise, newly modified for gals who don’t want to overthink dressing up. Veronika Heilbrunner was already wearing it to this week’s Gaultier show, just as Gazinskaya did the couture rounds on Wednesday in a ‘50s-style frock bearing a lemon slice jacquard tinted neon orange, which she styled over a T-shirt. Cascading down an otherwise demure column dress, the motif had lively appeal.Amid all these properly feminine looks, plus the dance-inspired leotard and fluid skirt pairings, the designer was adamant that the ample tent and balloon shapes were no less womanly. If you don’t believe her, just find the recent Instagram post of her dancing around her hotel suite to Gloria Gaynor’s “First, Be a Woman” or else looking elegant yet cool outside the Musée Picasso.By now, and as usual, Gazinskaya has done a stellar job communicating how the clothes reflect her personality and style. But the expanded selection of evening dresses rendered distinctive by some combination of winged shoulders, softly sculpted sleeves, deep cowling back, or thoughtfully defined décolletage will have broad reach. Chances are, it won’t be long before the full-coverage organza dress enlivened with neon yellow stripes, her updated homage to Hepburn, makes a highly visible debut.
6 July 2017
Don’t expect themes or inspirations from Vika Gazinskaya this season. From a sleek hotel suite that served as her satellite showroom, the Russian designer explained how she began her Fall collection without any specific point of departure other than an attitude that took cues from the 1970s and early 1980s (as opposed to the 1990s, which she believes has reached saturation point). “Fashion for me can be simple things,” she said. “When I think of fashion that matters, I think of beautifully designed pieces.”To that end, she created an offering that, whether you relate to her retro-tinged volumes or not, showed how she can successfully execute an idea through essential construction rather than prints or surface details. And it was easy enough to single out pieces: for starters, a classic gray coat in Japanese wool made distinctive by its dramatic lapel and lowered buttons—she jokingly dubbed it the Raskolnikov (after Dostoyevsky's protagonist inCrime and Punishment). Also pretty great: the cropped perfecto in faux leather. Would you have guessed? Gazinskaya is a committed vegetarian, so she sourced an “eco” substitute in Russia that felt on par with the real thing and, evidently, was easy enough to manipulate because it was ubiquitous. As monochrome statements, the industrial green was the editorial choice, whereas the antique pink could prove surprisingly versatile. Their mere coexistence was a testament to Gazinskaya’s directional instinct. More grown-up, too; because where previous seasons conveyed an arty alternative to dressing up, many of these looks were still nonconformist but conceivably corner office (see the sloped-shoulder, belted dress in Wedgwood blue). This is bound to translate commercially without alienating those who enjoy her offbeat approach. For them, Gazinskaya developed mock shearling coats via machine-washed mohair.
9 March 2017
Vika Gazinskayais her own best advertisement. Sprightly, petite, and capable of pulling off acts of enormous fabric, she's the kind of oft-photographed tastemaker whose choices feel infectious. “Maybe I can pull off a giant bow,” you think, or ”Why don't I own a trenchcoat in pearlescent pale pink?” This is to her benefit, of course, as a businesswoman selling her wares, and she's found that stores come to her for both her elaborate party dresses (in the metallic-accented jacquards and figure-flattering A-line fit that have become her signature) and for her statement-making outré shapes (those volumes! Those bows!). For Spring, she's got both covered.An 18th century–inspired blouse was the starting point for her Spring collection, which took shape after Gazinskaya rewatched Peter Greenaway's 1982 filmThe Draughtsman's Contract. Elsewhere, the aesthetic took a turn into John Hughes territory, right down to the thick, Easter egg–colored cardigans tossed over a series of prim shirtdresses. “It’s a late ’80s thing,” Gazinskaya explained, and she also duplicated the scratched graffiti from outside Soviet buildings onto a few cutoff T-shirts that she paired with feminine skirts (though, she changed the words on the tees to depict messages of peace). Exaggerated sleeves echoed through several looks, typically in full-skirted dresses, but the best frock of the bunch was a dropped-waist eyelet box pleat shirtdress with only the slightest oomph to the arm; it hung gracefully off the body and was just the thing for next summer's languid, scorching days.
5 October 2016
There is a certain penchant among the young and oft-photographed—and you can feel free to call this theYeezy effect—for unitards worn under overcoats. It is, perhaps, a nod to both the comfort and “just doing the school pickup” utility of athleisure and the archly modern minimalism of, say, Rudi Gernreich. It is also, in all likelihood, incredibly comfortable, in the way that only stretch fabrics can be.Vika Gazinskayais no stranger to a style blogger’s lens, but for Fall, her take on the onesie was wider, ribbed, and done in soft cotton jersey, like what a baby might be swaddled in. Less sporty, more sleepy—or anyway, decidedly discreet, save for the kelly green ushanka it was shown with. “This is maybe a Russian thing,” she said of the look at an intimate presentation in Paris’s First Arrondissement. So it may be, but the overcoat—soft heather gray and generous in its dimensions—was ready to go international.Outerwear is Gazinskaya’s strong suit. She had several fur coats (made of humanely sourced boiled alpaca and mohair in keeping with the designer’s vegan principles) that are sure to fly off the racks, from a fawn-color teddy bear topper to a cropped cloudy blue bomber jacket. (And the bomber, by the way, is officially the must-have jacket of the season.) The lines were appealingly minimal and ultimately easy to wear. Dramatic lamé dresses with asymmetrical peaked bodices were a bit harder to imagine going mainstream, but cropped boiled wool knits with graphic lamé squiggle embroidery were a happy medium that’s sure to excite the fashion bloggers and regular folks alike.
8 March 2016
A collection starring crochet and pleated slacks might intimidate all but the most intrepid fashion enthusiast (retailers included). But leave it to Russian designerVika Gazinskayato turn challenging ideas into charming clothes. She did this by stripping away the corresponding clichés: Her Spring outing was neither stuck in the ’80s nor weighed down with craft. Rather, she relied on brushed cotton and crisp silk as her two blank slates from which to experiment with volume, color, and the placement of colorful appliqués, some backed with functioning pockets.It’s just too bad that the collection is handicapped by photos that flatten the dimension of her ample silhouettes and fail to capture the humble appeal of the crochet (the flower placket and two-tone scalloped hem among the standouts). Photos also don’t do justice to the rigor of Gazinskaya’s construction—those sculpturally fronted tops and feminine trenches do not assume their shapes by accident. Fortunately, she has a sixth styling sense, aware that pairing the trousers with an embellished T-shirt or silk camisole is as important at entry level (price and aesthetic) as the crochet bib over the folksy dress is at the advanced. Gazinskaya remains her own most convincing muse, so it will be interesting to see how soon she wears Look 6, with its odd color pairing of chocolate and peanut butter. In the meantime, toward the end of the walk-through, she lifted up a full skirt to expose a crinoline. Also under there: her enduring joie de vivre.
7 October 2015
First things first: The red fruits dotting dresses and coats from Vika Gazinskaya's latest collection come from hawthorn trees. When the Russian designer noticed how her mother had set them on a white kitchen cloth—they can be dried and prepared for tea—she was struck by the image and realized they could look as beautiful on wearable cloth. So the jacquard you see, that's what happens when everyday life gets transposed into fashion. Likewise the stylized snowflakes with their micro geometries writ large. You can also see, however, how Gazinskaya is reassessing her silhouettes, streamlining some of the fins and frills that were so distinctive in the past. One might argue that she is forsaking some of her playfulness—an early signature—for more polish. But in fact, the exaggerated '90s slouch of her boxy coat is both in equal measure. If the double-face, reversible robe coat makes a softer impression, it happens to be a strong contender as a travel standby. Tops with removable zippered peplums confirm that Gazinskaya increasingly warrants her whimsy as optional, not imperative. And in eliminating some of the extraneous elements, she has no choice but to focus on the cleanest construction; this is where her technical advancement is most evident.As a staunch vegan, Gazinskaya continues to put out clothes that are animal-free, which means teddy bear outerwear in a luxe mix of mohair and alpaca, and imitation leather—as gaucho pants and a tiny Perfecto—that seems in no way inferior. Her emphasis on coats and dresses rather than separates suggests a response to the uncertainty in her home country. Which perhaps also explains why such statement pieces convey enhanced comfort this season— thankfully, in a cup-half-full kind of way.
23 March 2015
Vika Gazinskaya didn't need to mount a show or even stage a presentation during Paris fashion week; she simply needed to wear her clothes. To the Valentino show, she stepped out in a gathered paisley tunic over a T-shirt and cropped pants. To Elie Saab, she donned a dark striped suit topped with a paisley chiffon robe that trailed like a serif flourish when buoyed by the wind. To Hermès, she opted for a white blouse punctuated with two paisley droplets and a jacquard paisley skirt. Her pal, Russian fashion director Anya Ziourova, also helped spread Gazinskaya's Spring '15 message, appearing one day in a flounced brick red top held up by a linear array of straps arching over the right shoulder.Gazinskaya says she played with a loosely colonial theme—think East India Company rather than early American—and you could see it not just in her hand-drawn paisley illustrations but also in the way she appropriated wrapping and draping techniques. Straight-leg pants with a diagonal panel and pleated waist confirmed that the designer puts effort into precise construction. The same could be said for the "curtain" blouse, which integrated a white cotton body and black silk and wool overlay, the latter drawn to one side, to achieve an elegant, sash-like silhouette.Gazinskaya successfully bounced between masculine and feminine codes, showing a black wool evening gown with a sweetheart neckline and delicate crisscross straps on the one hand, and on the other, a notch-collar, single-vent suit jacket. This season she also respected the balance between solids, prints, and no color at all. Most of all, though, her whimsical touches—a floral appliqué complete with stem or a rogue paisley on the back of a dress—conveyed a distinct cheeriness that persists whether or not it's Gazinskaya wearing them.
15 October 2014
Vika Gazinskaya has a small fear of tattoos, but that didn't stop her from positioning them throughout her Fall collection. They appear as vintage emblems, with both "Vika" and "Viktory" on scrolls wrapping around hearts or held up by multicolored swallows. Last week, the Russian designer learned she's among the finalists for the generous LVMH Prize (which will be awarded for the first time in May), so the motif could prove self-fulfilling. But in any case, she staggered them judiciously enough—here on a gray felt baseball cap, there as a trompe l'oeil effect on a stretch bodysuit—that they didn't steal attention from the collection's other strong elements. Strongest of all: the almond-shaped shoulder cutouts that transformed a high-necked sweatshirt or blouse into a vaguely 1950s look. ThinkRoman Holidayredux. Gazinskaya extended this sensibility to a soft-washed wool dress and pleated tapered pants. Then she pushed it from nostalgic to new with an oversize, ruffled gingham placket tunic dress and a bell-shaped shearling vest hand-painted an ombré surf green.The tattooed "Vika" lettering, by the way, has one additional meaning: a nod to the influential Russian rock artist Viktor Tsoi, who died in 1990 at the age of 28. Gazinskaya said she kept returning to his Soviet poetry on love and death. Such overarching themes were barely obvious in her nuanced collection—although the shimmery, champagne-hued tattoo dress did signal a certain desire to lay everything bare. It conveyed the sophisticating of an ingenue.
18 March 2014
This was a very impressive outing from Vika Gazinskaya. In the past few seasons, she has really nailed down the signatures of her look—the naïveté of her prints and embroideries, and the expansive volumes of her shapes. Feeling very much at home here in her brand vocabulary, she found ways to deploy it with more subtlety than usual, elevating the tone of her clothes in the process. Gazinskaya's use of volume was a case in point: Although a few garments were exaggerated in the typical Gazinskaya way, more of them had a light touch, like the strapless dresses that floated off the body a bit, or the spaghetti-strap blouses and dresses with ballooning, off-the-shoulder sleeves. Elsewhere, the designer dispensed with volume altogether and focused on texture; her strongest look may have been the lean pencil skirt in ribbed cotton worn with a superb pleated halter top. (That halter should be a favorite among celebrities and street-style stars.) Another outfit, with a similar sense of simplicity, was a pair of slouchy striped cotton pants paired with one of the collection's suspended blouses; it had a really modern ease. Gazinskaya finally seems to have gotten comfortable with casualness, and even her dressy wares benefited from that. Nicely done.
13 October 2013
Vika Gazinskaya is without a doubt a whimsical designer. But her whimsy sometimes betrays a subversive streak, as it did this season. The most impression-making pieces in Gazinskaya's new collection were her "fur" stoles, stuffed-animal-like scarves that looked like fox, raccoon, etc. They were witty, and a little silly, those stoles, and you could say much the same of Gazinskaya's mannish overcoat in curly Steiff-teddy-bear fur, and herFlintstones-worthy orange faux-fur vest, with its little detachable fox tail in back. But as Gazinskaya explained, her intent was a serious one: This was her whimsical way of commenting on the everywhere-ness of fur these days, as well as the offer of an alternative. The fact that the most meaningful critique of fashion's fur obsession has come from a Russian rather beggars belief. But then, Gazinskaya is a hard character to pin down.The faux-fur elements in this collection were prominent but hardly defining. Gazinskaya continued to elaborate her interest in exaggerated silhouettes, notably in stiff skirts with zigzag hems that were almost cartoonishly A-line. Elsewhere, she magnified details, extending the length of sleeves, or placing a spine of emphatic bows on the back of a blouse. Cleverly, she also embroidered rather naive-looking oversize jewelry onto her collars. All told, there was a feeling of things being just ever-so-slightly out of proportion here, in an interesting fun-house-mirror way. But Gazinskaya's strongest pieces had the tang of normality. To wit, the standout item in this collection may have been her not-quite-culottes, voluminous cropped pants that sat high on the waist. Bicolored trousers with a similar cut were nearly as good, and among Gazinskaya's coats, a simple single-button model, in white faux fur or fuzzy gray wool, was the definite best. All told, this collection suggested that although it may sometimes seem that Vika Gazinskaya has her head in the stars, the plain fact is that she's got her eyes wide open and her feet on the ground.
17 March 2013
Though you might think it to see the scribbled clouds and raindrops all over her new collection, Vika Gazinskaya was emphatically not having a depressive episode when she designed her clothes for Spring '13. Rather, the Moscow-based Gazinskaya explained, she found herself traveling quite a bit this past year, and the sketched skies are a record of the things she saw from airplane windows.Gazinskaya is one of the most interesting designers to come out of Russia, emerging with a fully formed aesthetic when she debuted her label five years ago. Her clothes are sculpturally ladylike and a little silly; she brings a certain naïveté to bear on her collections, but they shouldn't be mistaken for naive. There's a ton of design sophistication undergirding her signature doodle prints, which this season have developed into doodle jacquards. She also has a taste for surreal exaggeration. Plenty of hard thought about patternmaking went into the creation of the giant ruffle running along the collar and sleeve of a cloud jacquard cocktail dress, for instance. Likewise, a flounced shift with a storybook landscape patchworked across it revealed elaborate construction: The flounce was asymmetric and the patchworking built the garment as opposed to being appliquéd on top of it.But Gazinskaya also has it in her to be straightforwardly appealing. This season, she's got a surefire hit on her hands in the form of her tweed bell dresses, which came in a strapless white and a black tank version. Likewise, a simple gray shift with two oversized ruffles—one at the waist and one at the hem—mixed cuteness and elegance in just the right proportion. You could imagine the iconic,Breakfast at Tiffany's-era Audrey Hepburn in that dress—and, actually, it wasn't too hard to imagine her wearing Gazinskaya's cloud turtleneck and wavy raindrop skirt, either. Humor and chic can sometimes go hand in hand.
18 October 2012