The "Fashion" zone by the RUSSIA Department Store at the National Centre

Guests of the National Centre can explore the connection between architecture and fashion trends at Sergey Sysoev’s exposition in the new "Fashion" section. For the spring season, this area features the designer Sergey Sysoev’s own collection for the Autumn-Winter 2024/25 season alongside works by students from the SERGEY SYSOEV Fashion School at Kosygin State University of Russia. The exhibits tell the story of how architecture is perceived by the mentor and his students. The exhibition curator is Olga Sysoeva — an art strategist, member of the Union of Designers of Russia, and associate professor of the Costume Design department at Kosygin State University of Russia.

From the author

SERGEY SYSOEV Fashion School KOSYGIN UNIVERSITY is the signature school of the fashion artist, Candidate of Art History, and Professor Sergey Sysoev. Here, the renowned designer shares his professional expertise, involving successful insiders of the fashion industry in the educational process. The best students get the opportunity to take their first professional steps on the country’s main runways and expositions.

Studying architecture is an important part of developing the professional competencies of a fashion designer. Following similar principles of form creation, architecture and costume reflect the philosophy of their time, establishing concepts of harmony, perfection, and the aesthetic ideal of their era through unique stylistic solutions.

For a long time in the history of art, architecture was considered the defining element of style, with other art forms following to shape new styles. At that time, fashion was absent from the academic list as an independent form of art.

At the end of the 20th century, when architecture lost its universal appeal and ceased to express the individuality of the creator, fashion began to generate stylistic trends, speaking in a new, accessible visual language. The protagonists of the fashion process in the second half of the 20th century were fashion artists with architectural education, as well as those deeply passionate about studying this art form or coming from the architectural environment: Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, Pierre Balmain, Gianfranco Ferré, Tom Ford, Rei Kawakubo, Hussein Chalayan, Virgil Abloh...

Thus, a costume designer’s turn to architectural sources allows for new discoveries: revealing details hidden in blind spots, drawing unexpected parallels, and generating new stylistic solutions.

SERGEY SYSOEV FW 2024/25

Photographs taken during a walk around VDNH were masterfully transformed into signature prints for the seasonal collection. Still lifes featuring gifts of nature from the union republics, stucco in the style of Stalinist Empire, bronze sculptures — all tell the story of iconic architects, sculptors, and artists of the majestic 1950s in the USSR. Details of the ceramic panel made of cereals, vegetables, and fruits, as well as the floral decoration adorning the façade of the largest building at VDNH — the Pavilion of Agriculture, formerly the pavilion of the Ukrainian SSR — were transformed into coats and dresses in the designer’s collection.

Diana Koltashova

The thematic line of the outerwear collection is built around a house in the village of Kunara in the Sverdlovsk region. The building was created by a simple blacksmith, Sergei Ivanovich Kirillov. He dedicated 13 years of his life to decorating the house during the most intense period of the fight against architectural excesses in the USSR — from 1954 to 1967. Sergei Ivanovich transformed a dark and gloomy log cabin into a fairy-tale terem. A bright and life-affirming world of fantasies, realised through hard work and the hands of an ordinary man, continued in the models of the collection by this emerging designer. The colourful house became the palette of the looks, the carved ornament of the façade was embodied in the prints of jackets and down coats, while the wrought-iron decorative elements of the house — pioneers, pigeons, flowers — were turned into accessories. Wrought-iron flowers scattered across the clothing as voluminous padded decorations, made using the traditional craft technique of trapunto. Thus, what began as a naive fairy tale about a simple blacksmith’s house turned into a heroic epic and part of the story of contemporary Russian fashion design.

Ksenia Dukhanova

All collections by this young designer are dedicated to the theme of space. Printed on a voluminous white coat, the designer’s sketch of a rocket recalls one of the tallest monuments of the USSR — a 108-metre steel rocket with a titanium smoke trail, located at the main entrance of VDNH. The designer considers real superheroes to be both those who launched humanity’s space era, created satellites, designed spacecraft, and personally went into orbit, and those who brought to life the idea of the giant curved monument "To the Conquerors of Space" — great engineers, designers, and architects who reflected the space achievements of our country. Embroidered patches featuring original sketches continue the story of space exploration through the language of fashion design. The upward vector of the rocket is a metaphor for the designer’s own life stance and a visualisation of the potential of the fashion industry in Russia.

Lev Khlebnikov

Romanticising the panel high-rises of the 1990s, the young designer sees them not only as a lived monument to the socialist era and a cultural legacy site. As a representative of the homelander generation, raised in a typical district of a typical city, the young designer feels nostalgia for the cosy box-like apartments with two-and-a-half-metre ceilings, where crystal and carpets were symbols of luxury. The beauty of uniformity and repeated patterns is expressed in the designer’s prints featured in the collection, a look from which is presented at the exposition.

Yevgenia Makarova

The designer was inspired by a magnificent example of metamodern architecture in Moscow — the multifunctional complex Zaryadye with its park area. The dome covering the open-air amphitheatre became not only the source of inspiration for a dress from the young designer’s collection but also a detail of the garment itself. The print of the dome image is placed on the lower part of the skirt, while the glass volume of the roof is reflected in the semi-transparent texture of the garment with soft curves.

Alexandra Popadko

The look in the cape dress is inspired by the architecture of the building on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, constructed between 1938 and 1952. Just as Stalin-era architecture, mixing monumentalism with avant-garde, illustrated the power of the Soviet regime and the superiority of the victors, the young designer’s dress, made from men’s suiting fabric, tells the story of the triumph of a strong and striking woman. The exaggeratedly sharp shoulders combined with clear proportions are less an homage to the fashion trends of the late 1940s and more an emphasis on the scale of ambitions and achievements of the modern woman.

Alisa Getalova

The look featuring a black dress with a sharp shoulder line is inspired by the architectural concept of brutalism: a colour palette combining dark grey with black, straight repetitive lines, exposed structural elements, and a lack of refinement. Beneath the deliberately prominent zippers cutting through the dress lies the reliability and honesty of a somewhat cold, quite unwelcoming, uncomfortable, and imperfect girl...

Five looks from the project "Renaissance. Transformation," presented in the SERGEY SYSOEV FASHION SCHOOL runway show as part of the Autumn-Winter 2025/26 Moscow Fashion Week, tell the story of iconic Renaissance architecture and the core of Roman architecture — the arch construction inherited by the Romans from the Etruscans.

The arch — a bridge. The arch — an aqueduct. The arch — the Colosseum. The triumphal arch. The arch is not just an architectural work; it is an idea and philosophy of the Roman, a symbol of the threshold of change.

Canvases by famous Renaissance artists Fra Angelico ("Annunciation"), Botticelli ("The Birth of Venus," "Primavera"), Raphael (fresco "Disputa"), Michelangelo (frescoes of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican), Leonardo da Vinci ("Madonna of the Rocks," "Annunciation") — these works were created by artists thinking compositionally in terms of arch design...

Yulia Kopylova

The look is based on the painting "Annunciation" (1426) by the Proto-Renaissance artist Fra Angelico, which is transformed into a dress. The Annunciation scene is often depicted against the backdrop of an arch — a symbol of the transition from the human world to the Heavenly Kingdom. The look was created using draping modelling on a mannequin.

Anastasia Gurtovaya

The bright red dress created by Anastasia Gurtovaya is inspired by Leonardo’s engineering thought, which permeates all his work. In the artist’s painting "Madonna of the Rocks" (1486), Elisabeth — mother of John the Baptist — is depicted. Her red cloak clearly reflects the artist’s work on the invention of the parachute, just as in the painting "Annunciation" (1472–1475), which shows an angel with technological engineering wings.

Yekaterina Prigonyuk

The look is inspired by the frescoes of the great Michelangelo — the Sistine Chapel (Vatican, 1481). The fresco scenes are transformed into a print on a cloak with a striking train.

Safdari Kabudsor

The basic prints of the sporty look are plant ornaments inlaid in the marble of the entrance area of the Vatican Library. The designer explored this architectural theme through the painting by Melozzo da Forlì, "Sixtus IV Appoints Platina Prefect of the Library" (1477).

Irina Vasyutina

After carefully studying the ceiling of the Uffizi Gallery (Florence, 1581), the designer developed a print with grotesque ornamentation for a dress with a cape. The whimsical ornaments of plant shoots, zoomorphic motifs, and chimeric figures, united by a fantastic storyline, were detailed by the designer into a repeat pattern. Viewers accustomed to looking at paintings can now focus on the details of the historical architecture’s decoration of the old museum thanks to this cocktail dress.

The "Fashion" zone also features dresses from other collections by young designers.

Ulyana Vasenkova

The dress from the "Mint Yard" collection tells the story of the money yard located on Varvarka Street, known since the 14th century. Coins and half-kopecks, as well as wire rods — blanks for old Russian "wire" coins — were minted from silver at the Tsar’s money yard during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. In Ulyana Vasenkova’s collection, these elements become a tactile decoration printed on a 3D printer from biodegradable plastic, inviting immersion into the history of the monetary reform of Ivan the Terrible’s times, the relocation of the Varvarka Mint to the Kremlin, and details of the Monetary Order of Boris Godunov, created around 1595.

Valentina Nikitina

The designer touches on the theme of social nihilism, drawing visual parallels with the images of nihilist women from the mid-19th century. In their desire to separate from all social layers, they saw clothing — a dress or coat — as a cocoon, blanket, or quilted cover, in which one could wrap up and live an introverted life. In architecture, nihilism did not fully blossom, but in clumsy buildings made of reinforced concrete frames filled with glass, there is also a sense of disregard for architectural experience accumulated over centuries. The role of the architect in these buildings is questioned, illustrating the concept of the self-sufficiency of the engineer-builder, who rationally executes the technical task. The designer’s main idea is that the attempt to abstract from historical experience and social layers forms a new historical experience and social layer. But without the designer, just like without the architect, we would not be able to live in beautiful cities, wear beautiful clothes, and remain beautiful people.