From October 21 to 24, Mercedes-Benz deployed catwalks, models, photographers and clouds of lacquer in Moscow for the 35th consecutive season. A Fashion Week under the banner of modernity, with a focus on young designers. The fight against AIDS also took center stage, as the number of people affected by the disease continues to rise. At the same time, the Russian system is cracking down on protests by LGBT activists, and homosexuals are victims of torture and even purges ( Chechnya, May 2017). Unacceptable violence, reflected in politicized movements but also in culture and clothing. Can we still wear sequins, turquoise, multiply embroidery and ornaments while Russia cries out for change?
Fashion allows us to dream, but also to denounce inequalities. During this fashion week, the Russian fashion industry combined innovation and classicism, so that everyone could take part in the dream.
70 shows and presentations featuring a total of 120 designers from Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Does Russian Fashion Week mean reading Tolstoi in tracksuits?
A week that aims to bring the past into the present.
Highlights in three points
AIDS, renewal and the preservation of know-how. These are the three main themes to emerge from this week. Coats, 80’s dresses and Babydoll blouses are tinged with the colors of the fight against AIDS. Next to this, Mercedes-Benz supported young designers. The last day of the show was dedicated to them, which helped to dust off stereotypes about Eastern European fashion. Fashion that has been enjoying a revival since the undeniable international success of Gosha Rubchinskiy and Demna Gvesalia ( CLOTHING, Balenciaga).
Lace, vinyl or embroidery. Opulence, minimalism or anti-fashion. Incandescent red animates the catwalks.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 23: A model walks the runway at the Bezgraniz Couture fashion show during day three of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 23, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 25: A model walks the runway at the MACH&MACH Fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 25, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 24: A model walks the runway at the N. LEGENDA fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 24, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 25: A model walks the runway at the SENSUS COUTURE fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 25, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 22: A model walks the runway at the Artem Shumov fashion show during day two of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 22, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 21: A model walks the runway at the Atelier B by Gala B fashion show during day one of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 21, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
The street is no longer the only alternative for young designers to express themselves. Their creations are less rigid, more eccentric: free and unconventional. Risk-taking that attracts Europeans. The whole scene is teeming, and it’s often in the most authoritarian countries that it’s most interesting. We see it in Korea, we see it in China.
The main obstacle for the young scene remains political: the various embargos prevent access to prenium-quality materials. 
Prestige and past vestiges
Moscow Fashion Week is not turning away from the past. On the contrary: it celebrates local know-how. A fashion week as a journey through time, skills and creative possibilities, and at the same time a confrontation with the barriers still present.
Consecration of the post-Soviet style or continuity in ostentation:
Do the trends at Russian Fashion Week reflect this gap between a generation that sees the angels of the firmament in ornaments and a youth flayed by inequality?
Itisi Bitsi Bikini, Hollywood femme fatale of fur and champagne or sci-fi heroines. Femininity in Russia is lived in extremes. From the very sexy to the very wise.
Femme fatale or Russian doll
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 21: A model walks the runway at the Julia Dilua fashion show during day one of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 21, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 24: A model walks the runway at the Collective show supported by the State Program of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan ‘Spiritual Renovation’ and Kazakhstan Fashion Week fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 24, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 21: A model walks the runway at the Collection of traditional Russian artistic crafts ‘Flax and Lace’ supported by Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation fashion show during day one of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 21, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
Turquoise palettes, psychedelic prints
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 24: A model walks the runway at the YASYA MINOCHKINA fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 24, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 24: A model walks the runway at the KETIone fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 24, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Dmitry Abaza/Artefact)
Young designers offer an in-between look. Dresses are often embroidered with sequins as a satire on opulence. Military prints and revolutionary symbols, like those ofTurbo Yulia, Alisa kuzembaeva, Alexandr Rogov and Mach&Mach , speak of new struggles.
Alexandr Rogov’s metallic sportswear
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 25: A model walks the runway at the ALEXANDR ROGOV Fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 25, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 25: A model walks the runway at the ALEXANDR ROGOV Fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 25, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
Mach&Mach Sequin 2.0
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 25: A model walks the runway at the MACH&MACH Fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 25, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 25: A model walks the runway at the MACH&MACH Fashion show during day four of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia S/S 2018 at Manege on October 25, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Artefact)
Hyperbole of life on the construction site: Turbo Yulia’s fluo look
Denouncing the opulence of evening gowns worn by the wealthy with reflective striped coats. On the catwalk Mercedes-Benzpodium, new ways of expressing Russian fashion came to the fore.
Mercedes-Benz is currently based in Kiev, Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin is currently supporting a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Dombass.
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