Natalie Leskova about the oddities of teaching design clothes

Natasha Leskova is a very young designer. She creates simple things with prints of St. Petersburg: St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the Neva, and stones of the Peter and Paul Fortress. This simple idea immediately brought success and customers to the designer. Now the Natali Leskova brand is based in the showroom in the center of St. Petersburg, in the educational house "Benoit", and is selling through its VKontakte page. We talked with the designer about how to make a brand alone and what Russian education in fashion looks like.

How did you, a young designer, decide to launch a brand name yourself?

I studied at the Stieglitz Academy at the Costume Design Department. It was the 4th or 5th course, when it came to the realization that with obtaining a diploma nothing will change and that you need to start working on your brand, the sooner the better. I was lucky, I got an internship at the Domus Academy in Milan; Two weeks spent there gave me tremendous knowledge and experience. I drew attention to the fact that abroad focus on the practice, which I lacked. There they explained to me who my target audience was, how to communicate with it, what channels of interaction existed, how to present everything correctly. In addition, people who work in the field of fashion are teaching there. In Russia, only theories are taught and taught by people who have not worked in the fashion industry for at least thirty years. Therefore, they both have views and a program of 20-30 years old.

Wildness.

This is very sad. In fashion, everything changes every day. It is necessary to keep a hand on the pulse and stew in all this constantly. People pulled out of the industry cannot teach well.

But is something we teach well?

We have a strong school in painting and drawing, with this knowledge it’s good to go abroad. Your sketches there delight everyone, because European students have, instead, all clippings of some kind or just some Malyaka made on a computer. We are taught to understand human anatomy well, but they spend too much time on these things: I studied for six years, five of them went to drawing and painting. But here we have no economy. And how will the designer sell his stuff, not understanding how the price is made? From here, it seems to me, all the problems are - dresses of 25 thousand each from designers who produce the first collection. When I started, my dresses cost 1200-2500, like this.

And how much do you think the clothes of a young designer should cost?

Well, some adequate money. At least on a par with the mass market. It is clear that much depends on the materials. If expensive materials are used immediately, then you shouldn’t work in the minus. But at the same time we must realize that from the first collection you will not get rich and you will not pay for everything at once. Therefore, you need to think ahead and invest some money, knowing that they will return to you a little later.

When did you start, did you have a strategy?

I sold my first things through social networks. It was a very small women's collection: two suits, a sweater, skirts and trousers, a jumpsuit and several dresses. Rather, not even a collection, but just a set of things that we made a good shooting. I immediately understood that when you sell through social networks, the main thing is a good picture. It often happens that things are beautiful in life, and they are very badly removed. It discourages buyers. The designer must first sell the picture, and then the thing itself. I took off the collection, put it in VKontakte, and from there began to receive the first orders. Things cost between 2,000 and 3,000 rubles, and I sewed everything myself, since the scale was appropriate.

Things from the Natali Leskova collection

Footwear: Banya Concept Store

What advice would you give young designers on how to promote your clothes?

Do not stop. There are also failures in super-successful designers - in terms of sales, and in terms of promotion, and in terms of the success of the collection. The main thing is to continue to do everything and do it all the time, without looking at the fact that something has more success, and something less.

Now you continue to sew yourself?

No, now I have a production. Not directly mine personally - these same people take orders from other designers, but they also include part of my team: a professional cutter, a seamstress and a designer. I could not sew myself right now, because the volumes are not the same. I, in turn, are engaged in promotion and new projects.

What kind of clothes did you want to create initially and how did you get the idea to do things with prints of St. Petersburg?

I always wanted to make clothes that would be comfortable for girls. Something simple in design, from good fabrics, but with its own chip. At some point I had beautiful photos of Peter in my arms, and I thought - why not put them on the skirt. So was born the first skirt, "Fontanka", it is produced until now. Now I have a capsule collection with prints of Milan - I collected them for several trips. I just release some things outside the collection when I realize that there is a need for it.

Do you arrange shows?

Impressions are not my story. I am for presentations, for communicating with clients, I like it a lot more, and, in my opinion, it makes more sense. I meet with editors, buyers, and those I need, and the rest will find me with the development of the brand.

Does your brand make a profit?

Yes. True, I immediately invest everything in further development, but there is a profit.

What budget did you start with?

I did not have any initial capital. It was just money that I did not spend on clothes, on some entertainment, instead I bought cloth. Then I bought a little bit, looked like everything goes, and moved in small steps. There was no point in rushing, I just wanted to stand up. I still think that the main thing is to act and not to stop. If you are not behind any investors or big family money, you can still succeed. On the Internet for this a million roads - you can show people your clothes. The main thing is to understand what you are doing and continue to do it at a good level, not to deceive people.

Our students lack practical knowledge related to the fashion industry.

Let's go back to education. Today, every second - a designer.

It's true. If you call yourself a designer, no one will take this title away from you, but usually it costs little. With education, everything is sad. Not everyone has the opportunity to go abroad, and it also costs incredible money. The year before last I was at Seliger and saw designers and fashion designers from the provinces there, not even from one million people, but from very small towns. They know how to sew, make a bunch of some stuff, but in the end there is no taste in it. It all looks sad because why do they do it? We must always include the brain and adequately relate to the work done.

Our students lack practical knowledge related to the fashion industry: how to sell, to whom - these are important points. I tried to discuss with the fellow students the latest show of Louis Vuitton, so they don’t even know what Louis Vuitton is, not to mention who the brand designers are. This is generally terrible - and this is happening in St. Petersburg, and not in some small city. Or here we were taught the history of fashion, but at such a level that I learned more from books. It is very important to engage in self-education, to buy albums on art and fashion, or at least go to the library.

What other disciplines taught?

The first two years of study we were forbidden to paint specific costumes. When I broke this ban, they said to me: "What is this Barbie suit? Sit down, two." And then in the third year we began to prepare for industrial design - this is when you paint a suit, make a technical sketch, draw a shelf, a backrest separately, so that you can go to the designers with these sketches and talk about the backing of things. Students can not take it and rebuild, after all these misunderstandings and abstractions in specifics. Or, in composition, we had tasks of this type: in industrial design, you take a mass market brand — Mango or H & M — and make for them a collection of 6-7 things.

Why the mass market? There's no design there, it's just basic clothes.

Why not dior? I've been to Dior, but they still don't know most of the brands. As an example, we were given mostly a mass market. There was one teacher who later became my artistic director for a diploma, so she regularly said: "Go to Mango, go to the Gallery, go shopping, take a look." At some classes, we turned to the past, to famous brands, but all the examples again ended in the 20th century, but nothing was said about modernity.

And they told you how to show what a bowbook is?

Not. When I used the words "inspiration", "lookbook", "mudboard" in my vocabulary, I heard in response: "You can not say this - not a bow, but an image." In general, during the five years of study, I never received information on how to shoot a book, how to combine and present my things. A diploma, which is devoted to work on a whole year, all students sew in April. Models for its demonstration are isolated in limited quantities and are divided into the whole issue; they cannot be dyed in their own way and you can make some hairstyles. Therefore, I was looking for models from the side. We had a show in one of the halls of the academy, everything was bad: there was no podium, no backstage, no conditions.

How was the annual work on the graduation collection built?

The collection includes only seven bows, so everyone sewed in April. In theory, the system is as follows: in September you are assigned an artistic director, you start working with him on sketches and selection of fabrics. In December, the first rector's show, during which you defend the chosen topic. I had a flight theme - clouds, sky, that's all. One girl made a whole collection of old parachutes. This is a typical illustration of how we love the avant-garde and do not like what can be worn.

Are the avant-garde ideas specific too?

It is believed that the more frills, the better: 8 sleeves, 50 pockets on one leg, rhinestones, feathers. Designers with whom I studied, sincerely believed that they were inventing something new. And the teachers praised them that you are well done, so much work. Nobody thought that later you would not sell it, and you could not even put it on a second time, because it would all fall apart - such is the quality of performance. At the same time under the ban, we had the word "wearable." When I said: “My clothes are wearable. They can be worn in life. This is a simple set, I took this skirt, put it on with this top, I took a jacket from here. Everything is like this,” she answered: “No, I can't. There is no such word, go change your concept. "

Why, then, are taught by the Mango collections?

It is hard to say. Even my teacher seems to be trying to push on things that will be in demand, which can be sold, which ordinary people will wear. But the more she saw the absurd in the collection, the more she rejoiced. It would be funny if it were not so sad.

Natali Leskova

Items designer can be found in St. Petersburg:

Showroom Natali Leskova, Kamennoostrovsky Ave., 26/28

Thanks for the help in organizing the shooting and interviews with the Aurora Fashion Week team