Brand: Katerina Levina
Katerina Levina is one of the few young designers who are trying to work on several lines at once. Under the brand name Katerina Levina, based in London and St. Petersburg, there are collections of men's and women's clothing, as well as shoes and accessories. Despite the fact that the brand exists only a year, the seasonality of the designer is strictly observed - hence the favorable attitude of buyers, by the way, not only Russian ones.
Designer: Catherine Levin Year of foundation: 2009 A place: Saint-Petersburg, Russia Site: katerinalevina.org"My brand is first and foremost men's clothing and unisex, supplemented by a female line. I also make shoes and accessories. Every season we try to invent something new. Since, in addition to design, I am seriously engaged in graphics, there are always graphic components in collections, whether it be embroidery according to my drawings or prints. For example, for the first summer collection we first ordered fabrics with my prints in Italy, chose silk and cotton: 2 different patterns - 2 different prints. "
I was not always interested in fashion design. Before the institute, I was seriously engaged in music, but at some point I realized that I wanted something else. I entered the University of Technology and Design in St. Petersburg, struggled for a long time with the circumstances, because I was the only student without any training in academic drawing and painting. For three years I was independently engaged in all this, until I caught up with the others. Once it happened that I went to an interview with a teacher from Saint Martins. And they took me. And they immediately took the third course - I could not refuse such an opportunity.
I've been in London for three years. I studied in college for two years and was in practice in fashion houses. She interned first at the Spanish designer Emilio de la Morena, based in London. When I came to him, he was in his third season, de la Morena gave very high hopes. He was one of those called the young generation. His sponsorship was serious too. With Emilio, I worked on prints, embroidery, and clothing design. We worked very closely, like a real design team.
Prints of Katerina Levina for Hussein Chalayan FW'08
The internship with Hussein Chalayan was absolutely wonderful.. I worked for him exactly one season. I was an assistant to the designer of the main line and designed prints. That is, prints of that season are completely my work under the leadership of Hussein himself. He gave instructions on what to look for and where, supervised the work, led her to the right direction for him. For me, it was a great few months when I didn’t want to leave the studio, I just wanted to work and show everything I could do. I went to Paris with Chalayan: I took part in the preparations for the show.
Bound FW 11
Peter Jensen was also interesting in his own way, but I didn’t spend much time there. At Jensen, during the internship it was possible to deal not only with the collection, but also with some kind of parallel projects. They shot the film, and it was incredibly entertaining to participate in it. It was the experience of something new, not directly related to the development of the collection. At that time, I already perfectly understood how work was being done on the collection during the season, where it begins and ends.
My last practice was with Vivienne Westwood. I was lucky to go with her team to my native city of St. Petersburg, since that year the Vivienne Westwood show was held in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. I also took a direct part in the development and preparation for the show: I was coordinating the Russian side - at that time I already had similar experience, my English was also useful. It was intense, but fun.
My brand was founded in 2009. Even before showing my graduate work, I understood that I would return and would make clothes under my own brand. I understood where, with whom, from what and how. I was very lucky to find a team. Returning home, I started working in the studio. But I still travel to London regularly.
The most important thing for me is men's clothing. From the development of the male line, a unisex and a female line. They are connected with each other, and, in principle, it is equally pleasant for me to work on each one. There is a time frame in which you need to fit in to be in time, but this is not always possible. As part of the design, I do everything myself. All clothes are sewn in my studio, I do not have any remote production. Therefore, I follow the process of creating each thing - from sketches to directly finished product.
Shell
My clothes are now sold in St. Petersburg stores "Kultur", Banya, BackstageThere are several more shops on the agenda, negotiations are underway with them. In Moscow, the Katerina Levina brand can be found in the Fourth Floor, before it was presented in the “Place” shop. Well, in London in the store Machine A, which is located in Soho. Buyers in London, unlike ours, are more interested in men's clothes than in women’s, so there are mainly men’s clothing and shoes.
Dday three SS 2011
My studio is partially located in London, but ideally you want it, of course, to transfer there completely, and to establish production in Europe and St. Petersburg. At the moment, high quality clothes are made in my studio, and I see no reason to change the situation. But, unfortunately, there is not enough space to create clothes for two lines at once, so the expansion is in the plans. And, of course, I do not forget about the studio in London.
In the future I want to do a clearer division into three lines, elaborate pricing policy and, accordingly, make the brand more accessible. Perhaps there will be some sort of separation between stores and customers. And, of course, development towards Europe.
I am infected with the idea of combining fashion and art. No wonder I worked with Hussein Chalayan. Fashion and art will never become one, they will always argue with each other. But this is a very exciting game, which I think I will never get tired of playing.
In the Mood For You
Accessories