Why Nestor Rotsen dedicated a fashionable collection to the mothers of Beslan
At fourteen, Nestor Rotsen graduated from the very firstrecruiting school Fashion Factory; in the group that Lyudmila Norsoyan supervised, she studied with him, for example, the talented Asiya Bareeva. The designer has long complained that he is unable to find an official job or take part in design competitions because of too young age. Now, eighteen-year-old Nestor is studying at the Design Department at the Moscow Art and Industry Institute and is working as a full-time photographer at the Theater.doc.
As part of the Futurum Moscow project, organized by the joint efforts of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, the National Chamber of Fashion and the Fashion Museum, he showed his adult collection for the first time. It was dedicated to the terrorist attack in Beslan school No. 1 and the events that occurred at the bottom of the memory almost two years ago. On the podium as a model for the show, in particular, Nestor's mother appeared. We talked with the designer about how fashion and art reflect tragedies, T-shirts with femlosungs and a new generation.
You dedicated the collection to the mothers of Beslan schoolchildren - why did you choose this topic? You must have been quite small when tragedy happened?
I am often asked this question - they say, I could not make such a collection, because I was too young - but it remains a mystery to me, what is the age here? Okay, I did not sit in front of the TV in those days of the terrorist attack, and even if I did, I don’t remember. But I do not forget the tragedy itself, they do not let me forget, I personally was at the meeting with the mothers of Beslan - thanks to Theatre.doc for this opportunity(in the theater they staged the play "New Antigone", which was based on documented events: severe detention and trial of women who wore T-shirts with the inscription "Putin - Beslan's Executioner" on the day of mourning.).
I studied a large amount of material, listened to the victims of the terrorist attack - but still: “He was four years old then, as he can, he doesn’t even remember”. And to you, who were twenty, thirty, or forty, and you watched the news in those days — can you? But these arguments have nothing to do with reality. For me, the choice was completely obvious. I do not accept torture, drug throwing, discrimination - terrible and popular things in Russia. And there is a plank, dropping below which you simply grope the bottom. For me, this happened when the mothers of Beslan were beaten. Many approach me and tell about their impressions when they saw this news, and how they, like me, twisted from the inside. And it seems to me that what really causes a storm of emotions in you - positive, negative, protesting, no matter - must find a way out, spill over into something. For example, in the collection.
How do you think the fashion industry should respond to political squabbles, to social conflicts? How to do this so that the tragedy does not turn into a circus performance?
I’ll say, probably the obvious, but I am very skeptical about the feminist trend in the mass market. Or in Dior. I do not understand what feminism is here, if this citizen of Bangladesh sewed this shirt at the seventeenth consecutive hour of work and at any time the building of her factory could collapse. Just because this T-shirt is obliged to be on the counter, and whether its performer survives is the tenth matter. This is such an insincere, unprocessed thing that exacerbates the possibility - or impossibility - of raising serious topics, because fashion is built on contradictions.
That is, to fashion, to the industry in general, a lot of questions. On the other hand, it allows you to freely express yourself. So if the author really tried to do a great job of studying the problem - and this is understandable even with a superficial look at the collection - then, of course, fashion can and should open up conflicts. But this is not about hooded #grlpwr or Ievolution.
It seems to me that most well-known designers have ceased to climb into the socio-political jungle, since luxury buyers prefer to live in the world of pink ponies. And that the new generation - those who are now sixteen or eighteen years old - on the contrary, is ready to raise uncomfortable topics, even in social networks, even in work.
This is not the case at the same time. Among the protesters, among those who do not support the current regime, there are people of different generations. Conversely, sometimes a blind love for Putin among young people is stronger than the love of a grandmother from a neighboring entrance. Similarly, in the works. Yes, much more among my peers of people with free views. We just do not need to overestimate us: if you keep young people pressed to the nail all the time, interfere with the expression of their thoughts, block them from honest information, much of them can also be in a comfortable neutrality.
It is very difficult for me to speak on behalf of the entire generation, because it is like believing that all members of the LGBT community are liberals. Or everyone in Texas is a conservative. My generation is as diverse as any other group of people, united by conditional parameters. Age is a convention. There are guys who have absolutely hedonistic position - "just chill" and that's it. I communicate with such terribly hard. But there are guys who support me, work more than me, know more than me, travel around the world and live by a million percent. There are guys who are for power, for the king, terrible militarists. There are anarchists. In my childhood there was no such amount of equipment yet - and now a generation has come that has been holding the tablet since childhood. For example, I already don’t understand at all what the friends of the younger sister of my girlfriend are - what they think, how to communicate with them. And we have a total difference of five years.
Why did you decide to do exactly the design of clothes? Considering that you work with the modern theater - why not the way of social art, performance for example?
I really love fashion, clothes, trying to take steps in developing myself as a designer, a tailor. I just like to sew-sew-design-simulate. And even in this collection there were not just T-shirts and some elementary things. Yes, the silhouettes were simple, but in each work was invested, each thing tells about something. I do not know what will happen next, but I know that for the time being, all this is very interesting for me, and I have many new topics.
Of course, this is a kind of social performance, but only partially. How this collection was perceived is about the form of the project. This is about the fact that many in the hall cried because they did not know or because they had forgotten. Many have condemned me for PR on blood. But my goal is to make talking about the attack. About mistakes, about guilty, about people. About the mothers who were beaten. About journalists. This is just my way to reveal important topics for me. And the comments are part of the project. Part of what fashion, as you say, may be perceived as overkill or circus. Although it is naturally strange for me to think of fashion as a circus. Just look at the people. How many guys walk in millenial color(shade of pink, which is called "millennial pink". - Approx. Ed.), although literally five years ago, I was simply pushed into the wall for this at school.
I remember when you were in school, then you considered different options for profile education - why did you choose the Moscow Art Institute?
I went there a long time ago for sewing courses. I wanted to get a base of skills in sewing, designing, prototyping - everything is fine here. With the creative part, alas, it is more difficult, but we, the students, are trying to influence it. I always felt at home at MHPI, probably because of the constant support of the leadership and the really good people with whom I study. This is not an advertisement - it just happened.
The design department at the Higher School of Economics at first, when I had a million options, did not suit me at all. What they are doing now is good. About the "British" keep silent. As about MSTU. Kosygin. But everywhere there will always be talented guys who, wherever they study, will make their way, and those who won't make it, even if they study in St. Martins. Although, of course, I am upset by the lack of professionals. There is no prestige in professions like tailor or designer. We have no reputation at all.
You started very early. What were your first projects?
I started early, but it was emotional and abstract work. I did not need a weighty argument to be inspired. And this is for the best, because now I have a lot of experience - after all, I've been doing fashion for seven years now. In parallel, I am interested in photography, but rather as a design work. I am wildly happy to be part of Theater.doc - shoot their performances and work with designers. But I can't do it all the time, because in photography there comes a moment for me when inspiration disappears.
How do you evaluate the state of Russian fashion? What designers are following?
I'd better tell you about the love for Ukrainian fashion, for Ukrainian designers. Of course, there are the same brands as everywhere else, which simply use knurled formats, but there are many and very cool guys. Anton Belinsky is my favorite. I think that Gosh Rubchinsky loses much to him, although it seems that they are on the same side. Lily Pustovit - this is already a classic. And Bevza? And Lake Studio? And pascal? Fedor Vozianov more. And Jean Gritsfeldt. There, most designers are "poor, but cool". Although in Russia I have my favorite and dear Ksenia Seraya or Anton Galetsky, who is now completely out of sight. I remember the collection he dedicated to repressions of LGBT people in Nazi Germany. It was ethically controversial even for me, but it was incredibly beautiful.
My close friend Milke, for example, also inspires me a lot, because we work side by side from morning to night and try to help each other in everything. Often we wake up, take a glass of coffee and sew from the very morning until late at night. I think that only fanatical work can change something in the industry, which, in fact, we do not yet have.
And what are you wearing?
Recently I was at the show of Yulia Nikolaeva - that's who I would dress. But in general, the most pleasant thing for me is things from second-hand. They are absolutely alive for me, and the materials used to be noticeably better. Plus price. In my wardrobe are huge coats, huge shirts, huge pants. I may like something from very fashionable pieces, but I will not wear them, not mine.
I am absolutely not in the subject of what my peers love - this is also very non-uniform. Someone is standing in line for sneakers, and someone goes to the "Frill" and enjoys a coat that is four times older than the owner. Someone loves fashion so much that he is not ready to eat, just to save up for a Gucci belt, and someone generally believes that fashion is the lot of the bourgeoisie and there are more important things to do.
Individuality is what matters. Or not important - because Alena Shishkova has six million subscribers on instagram. This I learned today from another younger sister of another friend. I do not distinguish some popular people from each other, but for some it is the meaning of life - to get an autograph from them. This is all in the treasury of arguments that even in my generation, all people are different.
Cover: Press office