Vilshenko (Q3639)
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Vilshenko is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Vilshenko |
Vilshenko is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
For her Fall collection Olga Vilshenko was inspired by the work of Ukrainian artist Yelena Yemchuk. “I like her dark romanticism,” she said. Yemchuk is both a photographer and a skilled painter; her series of watercolorsThe Dream Readershas humans wearing rabbit or zebra masks and engaging in twirling dances. They exude a slight erotic subtext. “They look delicate and childish, but they’re quite provocative,” mused the designer.Vilshenko had Yemchuk’s drawings translated into surrealistic, lovely prints, gracing silk jacquard bicolor dresses with black or turquoise backgrounds; they were cut loose, with tiered, flowing lines. Dresses are the designer’s forte and every season she works on updating shapes and prints with a gentle hand. There’s always a hint of the ’70s in her style, with a gentle bohemian spirit.Yet despite the bohemia, Vilshenko’s approach to design is quite practical; her collections are always punctuated by everyday outerwear propositions. Fall was no exception. She introduced faux fur as a playful texture for a belted tiger-print robe-coat and a soft leopard-print jacket. A bomber with blue zebra motifs had oversize proportions in a nod to modern street style. Fair Isle intarsia knits looked cheerful in a bright shade of raspberry. They nicely complemented Vilshenko’s signature long, flowing dresses, where flame red poppies bloomed and little girls wearing bunny headdresses played ball in the garden.
4 March 2018
Olga Vilshenko is a delicate beauty—she’s the perfect ambassador for her whimsical dresses, which she designs according to what looks good on her. But underneath her calm, graceful demeanor, you can feel a firm determination and a lot of stamina. “I grew up during the Soviet Communist era; life wasn’t easy then,” she mused. Her mother was an accountant that made ends meet working as a seamstress. She started making dresses for her family, but became so skilled (she could even cut a mean lingerie ensemble, fully embroidered with the most decadent motifs) that soon a business was in place and expanding outside the Vilshenkos’ flat. “My father always complained, ‘This house isn’t a house anymore! It has become an atelier!’ ” said Vilshenko, whose mother passed her love of fashion to her daughter.Vilshenko’s first collection was in 2011: “I started from my Russian heritage, something I felt familiar with, something I was really sentimental about and deeply connected to,” she said. Yet her collections bear no excess of retro-folkloric references. Her style is romantic and delicate, but feels modern in its somewhat purist approach. It is also quite conservative and modest—Vilshenko doesn’t like to show off, at least when too much skin is concerned. Her clothes definitely look expensive; the only touch of nostalgia is a whiff of ’70s bohemia.For Spring, the designer referenced the opulent era of Russian empress Catherine the Great, who was known for imperial palaces and a fondness for lavish fashion and exquisite artworks. But Vilshenko was also inspired by more modest, familiar, almost domestic atmospheres. In St. Petersburg she found an 18th-century embroidered tablecloth in a flea market, which, like a Proustian madeleine, brought her back to her childhood. She translated this sentimental mood into light, billowy dresses in flimsy silk georgette, fluid silk crepe, or fil coupe, printed with dainty florals. You could’ve pictured a girl walking in a dreamy landscape, a light breeze ruffling her long tresses and her flowing dress, but the reality is that Vilshenko’s dresses, despite all their whimsy, are put to work, mainly when the dreamy girl in question has to face practical matters. Vilshenko has three kids and, as she’s keen to clarify, “When you wear one of my dresses, you’ve also got to be able to change the lightbulb or climb a ladder if you need to.” Even if you sometimes decide to look like a fragile doll, it doesn’t mean you actually are one.
22 September 2017
In a fashion world where streetwear and athleisure are the current language, the Russian designer Olga Vilshenko is a rare breed. Beautiful, floaty dresses in imaginative prints, often inspired by her country’s folk imagery, are her stock-in-trade. For Pre-Fall, she found a vintage wallpaper on one of her frequent flea market expeditions, and turned it into a print of a magical autumnal woodland, with birds chirping and leaves falling, rendered in shades of coral, mint, and royal blue. Elsewhere, there were long printed kaftans, languid black velvet jumpsuits, short frilly tunics with smocked bibs, and silk jacquard palazzo pants worn with soft cashmere sweaters.Vilshenko is a mother of three with a very active life spent commuting between Moscow and London. It’s not surprising that there’s a very perceptible British flair in her bohemian creations. This season, she was inspired by the Scottish artist Lindsey Carr, whose whimsical illustrations were translated into motifs infused with a magical realism. Printed on silk or georgette, they made for delightful long pleated shirtdresses with embroidered little collars. Counterbalancing the romance, the designer filled the collection with sensible, more substantial daywear pieces, always retaining her folksy sensibility yet working on modern shapes and proportions. A slightly oversize belted trenchcoat in navy blue wool gabardine and an embroidered wool felt cape nicely complemented long wool skirts and folk-inspired waistcoats, while chunky cashmere sweaters were hand-embroidered with floral motifs. “I feel sad without decoration,” said Vilshenko.
23 January 2018
With not much fanfare—no runway shows, not even a formal presentation in London, one of her two home bases—Olga Vilshenko has become a favorite dressmaker of fashion insiders. She learned the art from her mother, before receiving training in her native Russia, and that homegrown sensibility shines through in the folksy embroideries she often uses, yes, but more so in the unreconstructed loveliness of all that she makes. There’s no edge to Vilshenko’s dresses, and that suits her (and her growing client base) just fine.Resort found Vilshenko in typical form. She took inspiration from artist Michelle Morin, whose dense paintings depict the beauty of nature, often where land meets the sea. Used as a print, elements of Morin’s works decorated a delicately waisted dress. Elsewhere, her motifs were used as clustered bead embroideries. The prettiest dress in a lineup of sweet options was midi length with gentle three-quarter-length sleeves and featured birds in flight on the front panel. Morin’s seascapes made a feminine complement to the more tailored part of the collection, which was inspired by 18th-century Russian adventurers. Vilshenko is less known for this category, and it’s questionable that she needs to be as diversified as she’s trying to be. Among the tailored pieces, the best was a pair of easy striped pirate’s pants that shared a softness with her dresses.
12 June 2017