In yesterday's post we looked at the connections between the Sots-Art movement and fashion through an exhibition currently on at Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia. As stated in that feature, among the designers involved in the event there are Moscow-based Nina Donis.
Nina Neretina and Donis Pouppis don't like extremely long collections, they prefer well-edited selections of functional designs that they consider as building blocks.
You can indeed mix and match their versatile and functional pieces very easily as they are timeless and can't be pigeonholed in any particular trend.
Their A/W 19-20 collection is a perfect example of this concept: the duo moved from the classic diamond shapes of Argyle patterns, but combined them with checkerboard diagrams, architectural images of checkered floors, Harlequin prints and circus inspired graphics.
Then they added a further touch of colour via the Wiphala, a square emblem used as a flag and representing some of the native peoples of the Andes, Mark Farrow's graphic design for the Pet Shop Boys' album "Yes" and the decorative motifs on the drum in Volker Schlöndorff's 1979 film "The Tin Drum".
These inspirations produced padded jackets and vests in bright or muted colours or in a basic combination of beige, red, white and black, and ample sweats more inspired by Argyle patterns.
The Harlequin inspiration can be tricky and generate rather Carnivalesque designs, but Nina Donis avoided this undesired effect by playing around with the dimensions of the geometrical patterns on their clothes, at times creating pieces reminiscent of American quilts.
The silhouettes suggested are also sensible and basic, with light sleeveless coats that can be used in mild temperatures or as an extra layer when outside it is colder.
In yesterday's post we looked at how critics often called Sots-Art "anti-art", should we consider Nina Donis' designs as anti-fashion? Absolutely not, as the designers explain.
"Today the meaning and definition of fashion is so indefinable and uncertain that we don't really know what anti-fashion should be," Nina Donis state.
"Probably, anti-fashion should be something that is not interesting right now, at this very moment. And, if we go with this meaning, then most of what is presented now in the fashion weeks is 'anti-fashion' for us as it is not interesting."
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