Exclusive : Georgy Baratashvili
Hot designer Georgy Baratashvili studied fashion in his native Russia before moving to the UK to study at the London College of Fashion and Central St Martin's. With a few prestigious awards under his belt, including the Puma Bursary Award and the Puma Olympics award, and a documentary about him for Russian TV before he'd even completed his MA, is this young designer ready for world domination?
Georgy kindly invites me to his house come atelier for afternoon coffee and pastries. Here I'm able to grill him about his very fast ascent to fashion success and I'm also allowed to snoop around through his past and present work.
If you never thought that Romans and chavs could go together think again....because with hi current menswear collection being inspired by both, who would have thought tracksuits and drapes could ooze so much sex?
The designer lets me into his sitting room, scented with the smell of brewing coffee. He's very beautiful, with brown eyes and clear olive skin. He's secretive about his age, but I'm guessing he's in his late 20s, although he could definitely be younger. He looks very athletic and toned, thanks to years of training as a dancer and has an effervescent personality, he's funny and likes a chat. The perfect interviewee then.
You approached fashion at 16 for the first time, when you entered the competition Step into the Future:
Yes. I entered it and that allowed me to study fashion at university in Russia, despite having no formal training. Step into the Future is an international competition. It's not just aimed at fashion, but at other disciplines too. It's for talented youngsters, whether they do fashion or science or other projects. This was in the mid 90s and that year the competition had anenvironmental theme. I designed a dress using recycled fabric. It was in the shape of a flower, but it was stylised. It had a futuristic Paco Rabanne-ish look to it, very different from my designs now! I used some pottery from my gran's kitchen to create the structure of the dress. It was quite an architectural piece!
Very interesting considering that you had no fashion training.
Exactly! That's why I used pottery from the kitchen! I found a pattern & cutting book from the 50s that belonged to my grandmother and I read through it.
And with that creation, your first, you scooped the third prize...
Yes! And that helped me get into university. I first went to a private university in Russia where I did my BA. In Russia one can't choose to do menswear or womenswear, you are taught everything. It's very technical so when I then did a BA at London College of Fashion, it was easier for me. In the UK there's more emphasis on creative ideas and design, so I think it's great to have both,technical skills and imagination, you can demand and expect more.
You are now a menswear designer, what attracted you to it instead womenswear?
I find menswear more challenging. It's more interesting these days because you can do what you want with it. Menswear now is pretty open to everything but men aren't. You have to be really smart and creative
to get a man to buy an item of clothing.
Most men don't seem to like shopping...
Exactly. They wouldn't buy an item just because it's pretty or they love the colour. It's a lot more difficult to convince a man to buy something. As a designer you really need to make an effort and I love challenges.
Do you think the way men buy fashion has changed in the last few years? And has men's attitude to fashion has changed?
Definitely. It's a cultural thing. Men's attitude now is very laid back, they can wear anything without getting strange looks.
Maybe in London...
It's changing all over the world. London is more progressive than other places, but you can see it everywhere. There are new fabrics, shapes, technologies now. It's cool.
For your final BA collection at The London College of Fashion you took inspiration from microsurgery and face transplantation.
Basically I watched a programme on TV about face
transplants. Then they'd not been done yet, but the technology was there. A year after I showed my collection a face transplant was performed for the first time (in France, on 38 year old Isabelle Dinoir). I was really interested in it. I was wondering, would it change one's identity? When they carry out a face transplant they only transplant the skin, but basically your muscle structure stays the same. So if someone else's face was transplanted onto yours, you wouldn't look exactly the same as the donor.
So my collection was based on the notion of identity. It was reflected on the textile prints I used: fingerprints, barcodes, things that can identify a person. I used muscle shapes and body shapes in the pattern
cutting. I designed a pair of trousers that reproduced the leg muscles. To recreate that I used a mixture of leather, wool, jersey... I did the same with a face pattern I used on a funky jacket.The face was right on the sleeves.
Can you tell me more about your MA in menswear at Central St Martins and the Puma 2007 and 2008 Bursary Award?
The Puma Bursary is in collaboration with Central St Martin and it's open to MA students. The winner gets the prize money and world fame (laughs). In the 2007 competition we had to redesign a Puma shoe of
our choice and I chose their London Trail Boot. I ended up winning and my creation was sold in Puma stores worldwide. That gave me so much recognition and publicity!
Did you have much creative freedom with your design?
Yes. The only thing we couldn't do was redesign the sole because it's a very long and expensive process to make soles. I think one of the reasons why I won was because I designed a unisex trainer.
What happened after you won?
The shoe was sold in Puma stores all over the world. It was featured in several magazines and a Russian TV crew also did a documentary about me. It put me under the spotlight and it was a really great start for my career.
And then in 2008 you won the Puma Award again!
Yes! This time we had to design a unisex bag from scratch for the Jamaican Olympic team, which Puma was sponsoring. The bag had to be functional to keep their sport gear in, but also luxurious. So I thought of a bag that could combine both, not something just for sport activities, but something that could be used in the city too. I won and the bag sold out!
Tell me about your current collection..
It features a lot of soft jersey and draping. I was really interested in the concept of the English chav. I did a take on tracksuits, the chav's wardrobe staple piece. When I started working on that I travelled to Italy. I was inspired by Italian history and culture. I liked the Roman tunics and togas and if you think about it they were everyday items that the common man would wear, like tracksuits today. Things have changed of course, but why not adapt these things for our times?
I think fashion is a reflection of what happens around us, it mirrors the society we live in. Every little thing that I see that upsets me or makes me happy is reflected in my work. Sometimes it's unconscious, sometimes not.
What inspires you to design?
It's hard to say as it's different things all the time. Sometimes I can be inspired by some tragedy, but I don't have this.. (place).. where I go to when I need inspiration. Last week for example I went to
Bath and the bed I had was so hard that I couldn't sleep, so I endedup designing a concept car!
Which designers do you admire?
Bits and pieces from many designers... . I like (American designer) Rick Owens for his proportions, washed fabrics and the feeling he gives to his collections. Nicolas Ghesquiere for his work for
Balenciaga which is absolutely admirable. And old couturiers, like Madame Gres for her use of draping.
If you had a dream catwalk show, what would it be like?
When I was a kid I watched Thierry Mugler's 10th anniversary show. It was enormous and spectacular, it blew my mind with its use of dancers, costumes and supermodels. I think one day I wouldn't mind
having a big show, but not all the time. It should be about the clothes really, but one day I wouldn't mind having a big one...
What do you think is the main difference between the Russians and Britons' attitude to fashion?
Well, they are different cultures and there's a different mentality. Russians wouldn't buy certain styles or certain more intellectual designers that would sell in the UK. There's a lot of new, young money in Russia and people want to show it off, so they buy all the big
designers, the bright, sparkling stuff, things that can be seen from afar so that at first sight people will know that you are filthy rich. It's changing a little, but slowly. It'll take Russians another 10 years to get it right! It's more Gucci and Dior over there than smaller, more subdued labels.
And the fashion business in general is different over there. In the UK if you are a young designer you get lots of support. There's a chance for everybody. In Russia you don't have that, you must have money behind you. I think that needs to change.
So Georgy, what are your plans now?
I have customers in London, the US and Russia and my collection is available for private orders. I'm also setting up my company right now and starting my Spring/Summer 2010 collection which will be retailed
in the UK. Watch this space!
See Georgy's current collection here
www.georgybaratashvili.com
www.myspace.com/baratashvili
For all the gossip from London Fashion Week see here
