Tatyana Parfenova on the influence of art on fashion
The fashion house of Tatiana Parfenova is one of the oldest in St. Petersburg and in the country. The fashion designer showed her first collection, Safron, in 1995 in Vilnius and received the Golden Button prize from Paco Raban's hands. Then she created a dress of 74 details - this item from the Marat Mountain collection immediately came to the Russian Museum. Tatyana Parfenova has always been an innovator - curious fashion critics can see many of her ideas from past seasons on world catwalks. 20 years have passed since the first collection. The couture line is in incredible demand among the creative and business elite of Russia. It is understandable, all things - collectible masterpieces. In addition to the couture, Parfenova develops the Home collection, which includes clothing for the home and interior items, and produces sets together with the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Recently, the house launched a line of ballet clothing in collaboration with ballet dancer Diana Vishneva - Diana Vishneva by Parfionova for Grishko - and 13 years later resumed the prêt-à-porter WHITE by Parfionova line, which had already been brought to Paris’s Tranoï exhibition, where the house received buyers orders. And that is not all. Perhaps Parfenova is one of the few who is engaged in art every day: he writes canvases, books, arranges theatrical performances in Tsarskoe Selo, participates in exhibitions and collaborates with the Hermitage and the Russian Museum. She is an artist and fashion designer who runs a real fashion house, where about 30 seamstresses work, 4 designers, 10 needlewomen and a whole team of young assistants. We talked with Tatiana Parfenova about the influence of art, the younger generation, and about who needs couture today.
You are an artist by training, your paintings are in the Russian Museum. Art is what you do all your life. At the same time, we see that now fashion houses actively exploit the theme of modern art. why it happens? Why literally everyone became interested in art. Why do people get closer to him? Someone decided to open a gallery for himself, someone went to study at the art critic.
Yes, I have absolutely no designer education, I always wanted to go away from fashion and turned not to costume design, but to art history: to painting, sculpture. In order to have a footing. Art today is an insane, massive phenomenon: such a fever of creativity and image has captured everyone. If you think about it, art has become massive, it has approached a wide circle of people through photography. Because the photo is covered by the fever of all the mass absolutely. Every second has an iPhone that allows you to shoot anything and anytime. Sometimes it turns out frames - masterpieces that can be put up in the gallery. So, a person, even unaware of it, became infected with creativity. Very many people who do not know how to draw, make stunning perfectly, stunning primitive pictures. There are opera singers, and there are those who sing as they please, they sing with operatic voices in their soul. In general, in principle, life for the sake of art, I must say, a happy life, but we all are in search of happiness. Even those who are in search of suitors are still looking for happiness.
What is your favorite artist?
Rather, it is impossible to say which artist you do not like. A lot of luxury Western European painting. Here's a walk through the Hermitage - just hair will stand on end, what a beauty. And the Russian Museum, too - there are good Russian artists and bring luxurious exhibitions. It seems that there are so many things. It is possible, for example, to build a collection on one painting by Bazarova, filling it with an infinitely beautiful blue color, with all the shades of the sky. Very beautiful. I really like Matisse. I really like Matisse's Red Room, Talk. For me, Matisse is a very close style artist. I love his drawings, graphics, painting of any period. I like both “Dance” and “Music”. I believe that art education would be necessary for everyone. I would call it basic education. Not legal, as everyone wants you not to be deceived and you, God forbid, did not deceive anyone, but art. After all, this is just an amazing job and the foundation of all knowledge. Through the history of art should be taught the history of mankind.
It is believed that over the past 20 years, the generation of visuals has grown, which perceive information through a picture. Among them are many designers, photographers, many people who aspire to the fashion industry. They work with the image, and we get a wave of visual, but impractical. Why is image important?
It is impossible to understand how life works without accepting it through the outside. Now, among the young, many extraordinary views have arisen - this contributes to discoveries, the birth of paradoxical thinking, which is now necessary. After all, the birth of art of the new century. True, the young blood in the pursuit of paradoxical forgets about the picturesque, but these things must coincide: then the grace that is necessary after kitsch and chaos, which have run before our eyes over the past 10-15 years, will come.
Things from the WHITE by Parfionova SS14 collection
What kind of chaos?
Since the end of the 90s there has been a tremendous release of energy: artistic, of different ages and variegated, educated and uneducated. This energy was influenced by negative people - adult artists of the old school, now living. They have a good school, but a negative look. They experienced the difference between Soviet times and the euphoria of perestroika. Not having time to open the borders, they faced a crisis and capitalism and their view became pessimistic. On the other hand, absolutely puppy euphoria of the young generation, contrary to the old school. Young lucky: no control. There is a large information field that allows you to see anything, any artist. As a result, all this should crystallize into a new, interesting form, because, in addition, a lot of new technologies have appeared. The XXI century in search of its beauty should give the world new styles and forms.
Is it necessary for a designer or fashion designer to have an art education today in order to make beautiful things? To see beyond the depth of things, not a utilitarian function?
Make art for the sake of art is difficult. Moreover, it does not need to live in mass popular fashion. The fashion still has a utilitarian, practical purpose. Moreover, as an art, fashion is absolutely avant-garde in terms of all directions: the development of suprematism, images, phenomena, physics and metaphysics. All that you can wish for a fashion designer is everything: sculptural, color, and even such proximity to a person, such dependence on a person. Perhaps the second such art as fashion, no.
There are two trends. On the one hand, designers compensate for the lack of ideas with complaints that there is no access to fabrics in Russia. On the other - ideas are going wild and they are too carried away by the vanguard. who is right?
Well, first, you can create fabrics yourself, even germinate them, duplicate, merge, dye. It is not necessary to simply come to the warehouse, buy 40 meters of blue knitwear and make a collection, inspired by the work of predecessors, put models in huge geisha platforms and let everyone go on the runway to psychedelic music. Think better about cutting things, about proportions.
I know that in the Antwerp School of Design and Arts, the graduation collection of young designers do not have the right to sew from ready-made fabrics, they must do something with it, modify it themselves. Well, what to do with strange clothes?
Designer - the author. It is necessary that the author was sincere, and then, if there are those to whom it is put on, it is generally wonderful. Another thing, deconstruction does not always come from the constructive mind. Plus, some simply do not own a cut and they do not have people, designers, cutters to embody what they want. But there must be illusions. Nothing will happen without illusions. For example, at first a couple of friends work with you, you pay them a salary. They may not receive it for three months, live on parental money, because they know that you are a genius.
It seems to me that couture won't die in the next at least ten years.
In your studio, only 10 people - it is only those who are engaged in manual embroidery, create a decor. Do you work only with Russian masters? Watch for new technologies, trying to implement them?
You know, we have a lot of handmade cloths embroidered by the French. We use Swiss fabrics, high-quality laser prints, high-tech fabrics: knitted fabric, dubbed with foam rubber, fabrics with a reflecting effect (with retroreflective properties), application, welded threads of all kinds. We worked with the French company Henri Portier, who make a lot of fabrics for the Japanese - very beautiful. We have tissue crunched, flowed, shine through. We even made evening dresses from thick Scottish mohair. A lot of things. In terms of materials, we are absolutely free. I believe that it is possible to create beautiful things from both simple coarse calico and luxurious French silks. The main thing is to have an idea.
Your fashion house, first of all, is associated with couture. You manage to keep the tradition of tailoring and crafts for many years. While large houses like Givenchy close their couture lines, you calmly work on one dress for up to four months, And then this dress gets on display at the Russian Museum and becomes history. Couture today is more alive than dead?
In Russia, couture is paradoxically claimed. There are a huge number of girls who want special dresses and haute couture dresses - this is what interests them. In addition, such a house, like ours, to make twice a year the display of 20 couture dresses is simple. These are frankly beautiful things that do not hide behind any trends, technologies, any sales or production volumes. Silk, beads, embroidery - it's such a pleasure. In some companies, couture has grown into a whole mass market, such as that of Chanel. It seems to me that couture will definitely not die in the next at least ten years. Then, couture does not harm either the environment or humanity. Although, of course, it is conceited - to wear something special, worth a lot of money. Maybe this is not a good feeling. Well, I do not know. First of all, haute couture is a piece of tailoring art, this is fine sewing. A work of art balances vanity. Here the designer is not a person in the search for new forms, but a person in the search for a new image and the creation of an unshakable classic.
Fashion house parfenovoy in the center of St. Petersburg, indeed, the house. You live and work here.are constantly in the process of creativity. work is life?
I just have such a lifestyle. I don’t know of another, because I’ve grown up so much, I’ve been so brought up and I think that an artist somehow shouldn’t have another way. What could be his other life? Only this.
Do you distinguish any of your lines as the main one? Or do you have time and work at once on everything?
I take turns doing everything in a row.
It is impressive.
A person has a lot of time, and we waste a lot of it. I, if I had taken myself in hand, would have found time, at least for another couple of serious classes. I carefully think about what I am doing, and then I do everything quickly and immediately neatly. And I think a lot and constantly on various topics in the process of life. You never know at what point something might come in handy.
And instagram Do you own?
Yes of course.
Up to date!
My perception of life is very young. I have long been no age. I do not pretend to be a teenager and do not speak their slang, but I see and feel very many things. Nothing special happens during the life of a person - only physics is aging. And the rest is knowledge, experience. I have a perception of life as joy, as happiness. My generation, breaking through to the music of The Rolling Stones, to the works of Andy Warhol, has already grown on a new culture. Maybe you do not even know many things. Who allows appearance, he does not change, he also wears jeans, as he wore 10-30 years ago. Then we are the hippie generation. We need to look at the pictures of our parents. The most beautiful people are the generation of our parents. I had a taste in childhood. And there was someone to form it. I saw that something beautiful flew across the sky - as I see now. As I liked the shades, combinations of certain colors - this is how I love everything since childhood.
You have renewed the prêt-à-porter line, which has not been released for the past 13 years, since 2001. White by Tatyana Parfenova surprised me that you showed clothes that look fresh and modern. It can be seen that they want to wear it, and it is ten times cheaper than things from your main line..
Until 2001, we had the line prêt-à-porter. Then there was a crisis and the law did not allow at that moment to sell clothes openly and carry them for export. We left the seasons and began to engage in couture and atelier. WHITE by Parfionova - new line. It is massive and will develop as a line for mass production, for stores, step by step, gradually increasing their interests and capacities. All things in it are made of 100 percent organic cotton, high-quality wool, and my drawings are painted on top. The WHITE by Parfionova philosophy is adding every season, not an update.
What is it like?
The following is superimposed on the color. Then the color goes inside those things that were top. Summer collections are lower winter. This is how it is.
Now everyone is talking about denial, fatigue from fashion. Do you see this process?
I have been engaged in fashion for twenty years and I can say that fashion fatigue lasts all twenty years. This trend is very old: the denial of fashion, the influence of the streets. All this is not new. It has always been. They always said that fashion comes from the streets and goes to the podium. Comes out from the podium - goes out. How can it be different? No There is always something you get used to. And there is something that becomes a challenge that makes you look at the world differently. I would not say that some special connection is happening now. Not yet. Everything is quite pragmatic. Even those companies that were at the forefront, they were considered the strangest and most unusual, are now becoming more and more bourgeois, for example, like Comme des Garçons. There are a lot of commercial things, because sales growth is important. There are many shops, and no one wants to miss their customer. In principle, leather jackets, Cossack boots, both were and are. A lot of things that have come and over the past 20-30 years have not changed. The same baseball caps and other things. Mass of everything. And wearing scarves around the neck loop. I would not refuse things. I would give up the fierce seasons that simply twist the hands of people.
Things designer can be found in St. Petersburg: Fashion house "Tatyana Parfenova": Nevsky prospect, 51, +7 (812) 713-36-69
Thanks for the help in organizing the shooting and interviews with the Aurora Fashion Week team