Gosha Rubchinsky's articulation of post-Soviet youth

At the ripe age of twenty six (an age shared by this blogger) and having only completed three collections since the founding of his eponymous label in 2008, Gosha Rubchinskiy has enthused something of a cult following both at home in Moscow and abroad for his articulation of post-Soviet youth. I first stumbled across this all encompassing creative last season, when the young Russian menswear designer set up a teenage bedroom at the Fashion East Menswear installations for AW10. As with previous collections, Rubchinsky dealt with themes of youth culture struggling in post Soviet, modern-day Russia and with an almost solitary outlook that translated well to his soulful sportswear. However, it soon became quite clear as I wandered the space that by mixing influences from the streets of Moscow and the surrounding subcultures, Gosha Rubchinskiy creates more than fashion. I was hooked. Now, Gosha Rubchinskiy’s photography of Russian youth is currently being exhibited at 032c workshop / Joerg Koch until August 21^st 2010. The cult German fashion and culture magazine invited Rubinskiy to show a retrospective of his work. Fortunately for us, our ever eager menswear correspondent, Susie, took a few photos of the exhibition space for the blog...

Rubchinksiy grew up in the aftermath of Gorbachev’s political and economic restructuring, or Perestroika—a key factor in the fall of Communism. Once an avid reader of OM magazine, Russia’s answer to The Face, Rubchinskiy infiltrated his country’s burgeoning fashion scene as a stylist and makeup artist, and after five years on the circuit, he decided to begin his own label, thereby splitting with Moscow’s sartorial glamor. His work has been described as '"a personal take on the 'fetishistic uniformity of Moscow street gangs’ suburb sportswear, mixed with political paraphernalia.”

The 032c vitrine included Rubchinsky’s photography of his subjects, photo-collages vividly colliding Russian architecture—both Orthodox and Soviet—with skate culture, and the designer’s own esoterica-inspired accessories and streetwear. To accompany the exhibition, 032c and Motto Distribition will co-publish a catalogue edition of Rubchinskiy’s photography in a limited print-run of three hundred. Susie was kind enough to pick one up for me. Below are a few of my favourite scans...

Going further than a label might, his work is a totality, where orthodoxy meets black metal, sports and skateboard culture; a "gesamtkunstwerk" involving casting photography, design and artistic direction.

“Fashion is just a part of this world I’m building. The kids that inspire me are the goal of my work, I do it for them first of all.”

Gosha Rubchinskiy