Soviet symbolism from fashion designer Denis Simachev has become the most popular tendency of autumn

This fall, Denis Simachev was one of the most popular fashion designers in Russia, offering a coat with a sickle and a hammer on buttons, gold jewelry in the form of Soviet cents and shirts decorated with the coat of arms of the USSR with embroidered ears of wheat, writes The New York Times .

The 33-year-old Simachev himself notes that the symbolism offered to it gives consumers for 30 pleasant memories, for example, "About pioneer camps, where everyone lived together, ate together and played sports" (full text on the website inopressa.ru ).

He emphasizes that he does not belong to the Communists - if only because his coat cost about $ 2100 in retail, and t -shirts are about 600. Its boutique will be clamped between Hermès and Burberry stores in a pedestrian table lane - on one of the most expensive trading streets of the capital.

Simachev first attracted attention with his collection of Olympic tracksuits in the style of "Retro" with the inscriptions of the USSR and T -shirts with a portrait of President Vladimir Putin.

24-year-old interior designer Victoria Tirovskaya notes that she wears clothes from this designer, as she is trendy and bold. "I have a classic shirt and shorts from Simachev, but there is a sweatshirt with the inscription" USSR ". Before Simachev, no one dared to use the symbol of our country as a fashion sign," she said.

The only Russian designer whose clothes are faked abroad

Experts believe that after ten years of westernization, when the Russian market flooded foreign brands and the Russian elite took the custom to wear things from designers such as Valentino and Louis Vuitton, the movement of consumers back to the USSR looks a logical step. “At first, the people of my generation wanted to try what our parents could not afford, but now that we have watched other countries, we are returning to our roots,” said Evelina Khromchenko, editor -in -chief of the Russian version of the French glossy magazine,.

Simachev’s typical samples of Simachev’s fashionable clothing are wardrobe items for men: fur hats, non -screws, jackets with shoulders and low waist, tight -fitting pants. “We are from Russia, from the former Soviet Union,” he notes. “This is what I know, what inspires me, and now, after the many years of attempts by the Russians to lead the Western lifestyle and forget that they are Russians, people begin to cut into it.”

However, Simachev’s variations on the topics of the Fatherland often include jingoism elements. Over the past four years, he created collections inspired by the war in Chechnya, the 1980 Moscow Olympiad, which was subjected to boycott, the Soviet Navy, and this season-Moscow criminal groups of the 1990s.

Critics interpret his collections as a sign of approval of the current and previous regimes, then as a protest against them. But Simachev calls himself an apolitical person. “I am a mirror - I reflect what is happening around me,” he explains. “Nobody wants to return to the communist regime. But he had certain features and symbols that the young generation was associated not with the regime, but with our personal memories.”

The Russians, more "savvy" in the field of the history of the USSR, say that they are outraged by the commercialization of totalitarian symbols. “I personally will never wear clothes from Denis Simachev - for me these symbols mean the Stalinist terror, the communist regime, the KGB spying system and the Cold War,” says fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev, who issued 14 books in Russia. “I do not approve of this at all.”

Fans of the designer believe that he is guided exclusively in demand. “Why did Andy Warhol portray Mao Zedong or Lenin? Because these are very recognizable symbols,” explains Nicholas Ildin from Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which specializes in the Russian-American mutual support. “This is pure pop-nostalgia in the frivolous spirit. There is no deep meaning in it.”

However, while Label Simacheva is more likely to attract attention than it brings income. Since in Russia the average salary is about $ 550 per month, few can afford things from Simachev. His clothes are sold in about 30 multi -brand boutiques in Russia and about 15 stores abroad, said Anna Dulgherova Development Director.

Investors standing behind the brand are two Moscow businessmen, Vadim and Vyacheslav Aminov, who refused to disclose data on annual trade or the share of their capital in the company. 38-year-old Vadim Aminov says that they hope to make the name of Simachev the first Russian brand to gain worldwide recognition. Simachev already shows his collections of men's clothing on Milan's catwalks. His site is in English.

48 -year -old Vyacheslav Aminov believes that the brand is already quite promoted - it attracts the attention of producers of pirate products. “I was on the beach in Sardinia and saw merchants who sold fake T -shirts from Simachev,” he said. “I have no doubt: Simachev is the only Russian fashion designer whose products are falsified.”

Note that one of the fans of Simachev’s work is the owner of the Chelsea football club Roman Abramovich. Last year, he funded an exclusive event in the field of high fashion in the Stamford Bridge club. This show was presented a collection of autumn/winter of 2006.