Mikhalkova, Baranovskaya, Malysheva, Sever: stars appreciated the collections of young designers

Every time you come to the Russian Silhouette competition for young designers, you are amazed at how many talented artists live in our country. It would seem much better – but suddenly some new incredible collection appears on the catwalk. Numerous guests saw further confirmation of this during the gala display of collections as part of the finals of the XIII International Competition “Russian Silhouette”. The works were demonstrated by almost 60 participants from the most remote corners of our country and abroad: Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Makhachkala, Yakutsk, as well as Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. “Moskovsky Komsomolets”, of course, could not miss such an event.

The grand finale gathered a huge number of people wishing to join the world of fashion in a concert hall in the center of Moscow. Hundreds of spectators were in anticipation and discussed the latest fashion trends. At some point, celebrity style connoisseurs appeared in the hall: Elena Malysheva, Elena Sever and Yulya Baranovskaya, as well as eminent representatives of the industry: Tatyana Kotegova, Yana Raskovalova, Sergey Sysoev, Konstantin Andrikopoulos, Dmitry Parfenov and others. As it turned out, they not only came to join the high art of fashion, but also took upon themselves the courage to become members of the jury. Baranovskaya noted that she loves to dress up and enjoys wearing things by Russian designers.

“Of course, this is important for every woman, she wants to look good regardless of the circumstances, time of year, mood. We always want to be beautiful, attractive, sexy. It seems to me that the details are in the little things: look how beautiful it is from behind,” Baranovskaya twirled in her black flowered dress. — This is a Russian designer, it would be strange if I weren’t wearing a domestically produced dress today. Thanks to the organizers for the invitation. I hope I won’t let you down.”

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, final preparations were being completed. The models and designers were worried, the spectators were taking their seats. “MK” was able to communicate with the main people of the “Russian Silhouette”, who told a lot of interesting things about the competition and the current situation in the fashion world. Once we were frightened by sanctions, but, as the famous proverb says, whatever is done is all for the better. With the introduction of Western sanctions, the value of Russian designers has increased significantly. And, as practice has shown, ours can be no worse, and even better.

“A lot has changed this year. Once upon a time, we persuaded Russian fashion houses to take our designers for internships, today their representatives themselves strive to come to our competition in order to select the best, see themselves through the eyes of young artists and share invaluable experience,” said Alexander Mitroshenkov, founder of the Russian Silhouette Foundation. — Previously, it was difficult to imagine that Elena Malysheva would turn to an unfamiliar designer with a request to sew herself on-air clothes for a television program. And today she bought out entire collections of Russian Silhouette participants! It becomes obvious that we have a responsibility to give young designers the opportunity to work. For 20 years we said that this was how it should be, and finally the revolution happened. It has become fashionable to wear national clothes, to say that “I have clothes from the designer Alena Akhmadullina, Victoria Gazinskaya or Alexander Terekhov.” Young designers are full of fresh ideas. And these are not only national motives, these are ideas that go along with the works of the best European houses.”

President of the Russian Silhouette Foundation Tatyana Mikhalkova, who was one of the first to appear in front of journalists, completely agreed with Mitroshenkov’s words. On this day, by the way, she had a double holiday: in addition to congratulations on the final of the competition, she also accepted congratulations on her belated birthday. True, she preferred not to talk about this topic, since in the last days before the competition she had no time for celebrations. She appeared with a traditional bow in her hair – Mikhalkova’s calling card, and her stylish black dress from a Russian designer was complemented by a light, bright stole.

“I can proudly say that the competition is unique because the territory it covers is huge. From Murmansk, for example, it only took two days to get to us by train. Thousands of participants, about 200 educational institutions. Do you understand what a scope this is! — Tatyana Evgenievna said, recalling how the path of the “Russian Silhouette” began. — We started in the 90s, there were also difficulties, because then our market was opened, foreign brands came and took the best places. They had a lot of money – they could buy everything at once, but ours huddled in basements, and the names of Russian designers did not appear. Now everything has changed. We do everything possible to make it sound like “Made in Russia.” That’s why there is such attention now to young guys who are just starting to live. These are the stars that we light.”

Talking about the fashion world, Mikhalkova also admitted that changes are needed in the specialized education system. The professional training of fashion designers has undergone changes, but not all of them have been beneficial: “Unfortunately, the colleges that once trained sewing machine operators, furriers, and designers have left. These are in-demand professions. But now everyone somehow immediately wants to go to higher educational institutions, bypassing secondary schools, this cannot be done. For example, when we sent competition winners for internships abroad, do you think designers were needed there? No, what they needed was a seamstress-machine operator or a designer. They send a fax from Austria: we need designers. Because these are important and unique professions in the fashion world. It is dangerous that even furriers are disappearing, but Russia is a country of fur, and fur has again become fashionable. I believe that we must definitely pay attention to this and revive these professions.”

When it comes to a competition, many people often have a question: on what principle does the jury choose the best? The president of the foundation explained that everything is simple: “It is important that the collection is complete, there is an idea in it. Not just some five things that are combined in one collection. Now the works simply amaze with their beauty and creativity.” At the same time, Tatyana Evgenievna noted that throughout the existence of the International Competition, the winners were almost always from Russia.

“Even when China took part in our country, it did not receive any prizes, although it has newer technologies and better materials compared to Russian ones. But these participants do not have the flight of fancy that is inherent in the Russian soul. This is probably the influence of great Russian art, which the designers absorbed and reflected in their collections.

This year, by the way, they were also supposed to come from China, they always participated, but due to the celebration of the Chinese New Year they did not have time to issue visas. We will definitely be waiting for them at the next competition,” said Mikhalkova.

What about prizes? As it turned out, the participants were in for another surprise… with six zeros!

“This year there is another innovation. The Grand Prix of the competition is a million rubles so that a young designer can make an experimental collection. With the support of the fund, he will be able to purchase all the necessary materials and accessories, and no one will limit the designer in this. We will make sure that he spends this million on the collection and creating his own national brand,” assured Alexander Mitroshenkov.

…After all the designers’ works were shown, the jury retired to the meeting room. And this is where the serious debate began. It’s incredible, but the jury spent more than an hour choosing the best! As a result, Alexandra Gapanovich, who presented the Most collection, received the Grand Prix and the coveted million for the development of the brand. In addition, the participants were awarded the promised certificates for internships and participation in various Russian Fashion Weeks, and more. Several more talented young designers were given the opportunity to rent space for their work free of charge.