Gosha Rubchinskiy
Georgiy Aleksandrovich Rubchinskiy (; born 29 June 1984), known as Gosha Rubchinskiy (), is a Russian fashion designer, photographer and the founder of his eponymous brand (ГОША РУБЧИНСКИЙ). Rubchinskiy takes inspiration from the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russian street and youth culture, and his experiences to create his collections, pushing Russian iconography, both past and present, onto the world stage through his runway shows and his imagery. Early life Rubchinskiy was born in Moscow in 1984, in Russian family, and later attended the Moscow College of Technology and Design. Rubchinskiy wanted to work in fashion at a young age, and in college began hairdressing and makeup, which put him in the fashion circles of Russia. Brand Referencing Ronald Reagan's Cold War-description of the USSR, Rubchinskiy's first collection, Empire of Evil was presented at the end of 2008 for SS/09. His second collection, Growing and Expanding, was shown in a disused Orthodox church-turned-gym in Moscow’s suburbs. Rubchinskiy's third collection, The sunrise is not far behind the mountains, consisted of three parts: a video shot in St. Petersburg, a book of photographs and the collection itself. In 2010, the designer presented his forth collection, Slave, as a part of Fashion East Menswear Installation. Rubchinskiy has been working with Comme des Garçons since 2012. In the summer of 2011, Gosha launched the project Transfiguration in a gallery space attached to a photography workshop and skate-park on the island of New Holland in Saint Petersburg, Russia - area that had been closed to the public for the previous 300 years. The Transfiguration book, made with the help of publisher Junsuke Yamasaki and art director Pavel Milkyakov was published in 2012. It was followed by the film two years later that epitomised his brand identity: strong young men with vulnerable expressions wearing a uniform derived from 80s punk music and 90s skate culture. Making reference to Russia's orthodox past through glimpses of religious paintings, and a soundtrack ranging from Igor Stravinsky's Firebird suite to t.A.T.u., the film illuminates a country undergoing political, economic and cultural turmoil whilst proving that its maker belongs to a post-Soviet generation bent on creative change. In August 2014, IDEA Books published Crimea/Kids, an 80-page photozine that explored Rubchinskiy's fascination with Russia's rebellious youth and their outlets through smoking, skateboarding and graffiti. For the next book Youth Hotel Rubchinskiy re-visits the Soviet themes he pursued in his recent 1984 collection, where he drew parallels between George Orwell's fictional totalitarian surveillance society and that of his homeland today. For his SS17 show staged at Pitti Uomo, Gosha Rubchinskiy presented a collection in three parts – a runway show, a film, and a series of photos, both entitled The Day of My Death, exhibited at the fair and later published as a book by IDEA. Florence's Manifattura Tabacchi provided the backdrop for them all; an abandoned factory built in the 1930s by the State's Fascist regime, which bears a striking resemblance to Soviet architecture. In this show Rubchinskiy also partnered with the