From Vetements and Balenciaga’s stylist Lotta Volkova Adam, to menswear designer, Gosha Rubchinskiy, it seems that fashion cannot get enough of post-Soviet style.
We talk to Martyna Sowik a Polish designer who has caught our attention with her first line entitled ‘United States of Poland’, the newest designer raiding her heritage and reappropriating Eastern-Bloc sportswear for the style set.
What is the concept behind the collection?
I‘ve been interested in “glocation” (a combination of globalization and locality), social deconstruction and I wanted to visualize this with clothing. My starting point was the Kappa logo, it reminds me of a couple talking on their mobile phones – a metaphor for modern relationships that lack in “real life” contact. I also looked at a series of performances from Marina Abramovic and Ulay. My hoodies and gloves that literally join bring people together.
My work is a melancholic, sometimes pretentious critique of the harsh Polish reality, accompanied with a large dose of self-irony and humor.
What is it like to be a designer in Poland today?
People think that Polish fashion is undeveloped which is frustrating. There are a lot of talented people, but it’s not really the Polish way to come out and show-off your work.
I try to focus on the benefits of working in a market that is not saturated with young talent like London or Paris. Poland is a place with soul and ambiguous energy, even though it is sometimes brutal and ugly.
What inspires your work?
I get inspired by people and their problems; my friends, random people I have met on the street, or on Instagram. I also draw from club culture and electronic music. Everything I do is related to music, sometimes indirectly, sometimes explicitly; without it I can not imagine my work. I like to think about clothes only as a medium to a wider expression and I would like my fashion to be presented as a sensory experience accompanied by sound and image. I also practice painting, experimental textiles and video making so all these coincide with each other in my work.
Some of the T-shirts are printed with “DEPRESJA 2016” (DEPRESSION 2016) graphic. What does this mean?
The focus of the collection is the problems that face our generation. It’s inspired by Ken In the Jowitt’s provocative book, New World Disorder, everyone should read it. The picture of the Hotel Centrum that was knocked down in 2015 is a symbol of the old PRL (Polish People’s Republic).
What do you think about current trend for Post-soviet aesthetics in fashion?
Fashion needs sincerity or at least create a pretense of authenticity, The new is the old; the new is forgotten.
I believe the blow of Eastern wind has refreshed fashion. I’m really glad that Polish and Ukrainian fashion designers can be finally recognized.
What are your plans?
I plan to move to Berlin. I want to develop constantly; that’s my only framework. When it comes to specific plans it is difficult to say… but I think that the upcoming months will be crucial for me.