moscow fashion week: davidova
one of the things i love most about slavic fashion's more ostentatious moments is that designers tend to follow through--they don't pair some innocent, flippy, and basic little dress with the kind of makeup we usually only see at an urban circus presentation in a warehouse; instead, the beauty looks tend to compliment the daring fashions, as was the case with moscow fashion week visiting designer marina davidova's (Марины Давыдовой) amazing a/w 2012 collection.
hailing from belarus, and presenting, as the delectable russian site intermoda pointed out, as part of the 'belarus fashion gala show', she also showed the same range at the minsk collections, and it is from these sources that i've drawn most of my information. thus, as the belarus fashion week site explained, the fall range was titled 'incognito.'
as they went on to describe, the designer's concept for the season was one of "… concealing the name … travelling under the pseudonym, still not being recognized ….Hiding the look … but thus leaving a trail of everybody's admiration, temptation and a greater desire to get to know….know HER?...." and she worked with materials including leather, wool, suede, lace, and viscose.
i found the davidova presentation so compelling because it did that thing we've lately seen a lot of designers striving for and not quite pulling off--the juxtaposition of something a bit ethnic, a bit centered around a particular culture, and yet cool, western-ized, appropriate for others going to work and about their days without looking as though they're trying to join the costume parade. and okay, it was a little daring at times, but still lavish, detailed, and beautiful (see additional images at anna timoshenko).
(watch the full collection video here)
