“There is only one way for me to do interesting things,” explains Russian menswear maverick Gosha Rubchinskiy. “You learn many languages to show your ideas from different angles – clothing, music, casting, pictures and film.” Indeed, it is through photos, exhibitions and zines that Rubchinskiy has built his voice, becoming one of the most cult designers in fashion today. His portrayal of a post-Soviet generation and skate culture inspires queues round the block when a new collection is released.
What makes Rubchinskiy’s work layered is that this is seen through the eyes of a new Russia; adolescents for whom the weight of history is married to a new dawn of access. This is unlike the previous generations who experienced the censorship of Western culture, which only fetishised the desire for, say, American blue jeans.
His first foray into making clothes was in 2008, he produced four own-name collections showing in Moscow – and, as a one-off, in London under the Fashion East umbrella. In 2011 Rubchinskiy took a sabbatical away from designing and undertook his ambitious “Transfiguration” exhibition/photo workshop/skate bowl project on the island of New Holland in Saint Petersburg.
It was during this year that he met Comme des Garçons president Adrian Joffe. Upon hearing of the difficulties Rubchinskiy ran into producing and shipping his collection, Joffe suggested a partnership, where Comme des Garçons would take care of all that, and Rubchinskiy, who describes himself as ‘not a businessman’, would be free to create. Now Gosha Rubchinskiy (in cyrillic) as it says on the label, fuelling a bootleg trade for sportswear screenprinted with Russian text, is a satellite company of Comme des Garçons.
They do the sales, and you view Rubchinskiy’s clothes in their mythic Place Vendôme showroom. The irony is not lost that to get to £50 t-shirts, you have to walk through a square packed with the pinnacle of French haute jewelers, and to a Gosha fan, what he does is every bit as desired as diamonds.
Under the wing of Joffe, Rubchinskiy’s rise has been stratospheric. In June 2014 the designer held his first catwalk show in Paris, and by June 2016, he stormed Pitti Uomo in Florence with appropriated classic Italian sportswear brands such as Kappa, Sergio Tacchini and Fila, adding his own logo as a homage to the Russian counterfeit culture. January this year he presented off-schedule, bringing a cast of devotees to Kaliningrad, which sits between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast, ever changing the game, much like his mentors, Kawakubo and Joffe.
“I heard about Comme des Garçons for the first time in 1997,” remembers Rubchinskiy. I saw their ODEUR 53 perfume advertising in my favourite Muscovite magazine OM. It was a dream for me as a 13 year old to have this unique smell. Later I discovered the clothing.” What has Rubchinskiy learnt from Adrian and Rei? “You need to care about all details. Never compromise or limit yourself in your creative process. What I like about working with Comme des Garçons is freedom and enthusiasm.”
In terms of his future activities Rubchinskiy reveals that “I have also worked on the costumes for Renata Litvinova’s upcoming play Nord Wind for the Moscow Art Theatre,” Pay attention and you’ll see there are shades of the classical present throughout his work: like the art-feel of his photography; the tailoring that punctuates his sportswear; as well the elegant campaign for his perfume, shot by Rubchinskiy on a beach in Spain, and in the Comme des Garçons stable Gosha remains dedicated to the purity of his own vision – just as Kawakubo is, and it is this visionary approach, which groups them as a family, not the style of the clothes.