Abstracts
Russia on Edge: Reclaiming the Periphery in Contemporary Russian Culture
Interdisciplinary Workshop, 11-12 December 2009 (CRASSH, University of Cambridge)
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University College London / SSEES
Fashion with Edge: Siberian Designers in Moscow
In the past few years, more and more young designers born and trained in the outer reaches of the Russian Federation have begun to make their mark on the centralised and dynastic world of Moscow fashion. My presentation will examine two labels- the streetwear design collective White Trash for Cash, from Krasnoyarsk, and the designer and milliner Konstantin Gayday, from Novosibirsk- and analyse how their sense of being on the periphery informs their aesthetic, and influences their interaction with the bling consumerism of the Moscow fashion world. As Siberian designers working in Moscow, their work represents an unusual tension between centre and periphery: self-defined outsiders, they are dependent on and complicit in the centralised nature of the Moscow fashion scene. I hope to analyse the aesthetic results of this tension, and demonstrate how these designers are forging a new Russian fashion scene that both engages with and rejects the dominant "Moscow Style."