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Orange blooms young fashions |
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2004-7-21
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You have guessed it right, Orange is Asya Kogel’s signature color. And, you''ll see it on her business cards, in her collections of women''s clothing, and splashed on the walls of her comfortable studio: bright orange, like the sunny hue you''d find in a child''s crayon box.
"Orange is the color of the sun, tropical fruit, optimists," says Kogel. "I always add a few drops of orange to every collection I do, whatever the color scheme."
Kogel is one of the few younger designers slugging it out in Russia''s fledgling fashion industry today. Although she graduated from the State Academy of Service and Economics with a degree in costume design only a year and a half ago, Kogel has now been working as a designer for almost five years. Between participating in leading St. Petersburg fashion shows like "Modny Desant" (Fashion Landing), "Defile na Neve" (Catwalk on the Neva), and Fashion Week at Lenexpo, as well as running her own label, Kogel finds time to work as a costume designer for various independent films. No small feat for a twenty-three year old.
"Russian designers have to work much harder than their Western counterparts to survive in this difficult market. They are heroes!" says Kogel. "Designing a collection is an amazing amount of work. It involves a lot more that just being creative. It''s technically very difficult, and, of course, there are financial considerations. The government and investors support the movie industry, because they consider it real art, but as for fashion design - they are as yet undecided."
Working from home together with her business partner, tailor Nadezhda Orlova for years, Kogel now rents a studio where she employs a team of five to cut fabrics and assemble her designs. She sells to both private clients and on consignment to boutiques.
"A few years ago, there was this stereotype that clothes made exclusively for you, even if they were cut from expensive fabrics, were inferior to that which you could buy in stores," she said. "Only now people are beginning to realize the true worth of designer-made clothing and are ready to pay for it."
Kogel''s latest spring collection numbering twenty different outfits sums up her fashion ideology of "originality combined with ultimate comfort." Kogel, who studied painting, is greatly inspired by color, and this collection features "rich dessert colors" like chocolate brown, deep cherry red, strawberries in cream, and of course, juicy orange. "I know exactly who I''m making clothes for," says Kogel. "Young women - not necessarily young age-wise, but at heart. Woman who are upbeat, mischievous, flirty, busy, optimistic, people of many interests." Knit and cotton fabrics are mixed with chiffon and silk, with clever detailing found in whimsical pockets and buttons.
"Ideas come from everywhere," she says. "I''ll walk to the car, and the wind will blow an idea into my head. Maybe I will see a tree at an usual angle, or see something on TV, listen to a concert, travel."
"I''d like to continue working as a costume designer; I will show a new collection in autumn; maybe I''ll get involved with graphic art. I hope I''ll never come to a point where I don''t know where to go next," she says. "I love my work." |
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