HSE Art and Design School Graduates Put On Fashion Show
On July 11, the last day of classes, graduates of the bachelor’s and master’s programmes in Fashion held a fashion show at the HSE Art and Design School. Young designers presented collections that reflected their personal experiences—from contemplations of difficult teenage years to worries about modern realities.
Ksenia Galkina, graduate of the Bachelor’s in Fashion, spent quite a long time choosing her theme. She sketched out more than 20 different collections, but it was only in early March that she arrived at the one she presented at the show. ‘Nothing had worked out. I’d rejected everything, then at some point I arrived at the theme of information noise—the idea that we want to take blinders and shut ourselves out from the information around us, the thing that pressures us and makes us want to hide away from it all.’
However, given the chance to continue developing her collection, the early-career designer would do so without hesitation. ‘Of course, like any creative person, I think that I could improve the collection endlessly. I am satisfied with the result, but at the same time, after defending my thesis, I immediately thought that I would like to do it all differently,’ she said.
She is happy with her studies at HSE University and has made a lot of friends here. ‘I’m delighted,’ she said. ‘I adore the university and I don’t want to leave. I like the warm atmosphere—you have friends all around you.’
Igor Panfilov, graduate of the Master’s in Fashion, examines the theme of growing up in his work. He spent six months creating his graduation collection—he created 15 looks, six of which were presented at the show. ‘Specifically, this collection is dedicated to male initiation. I work with imagery of the 20th century—boys that must work to feed their families. That’s where these silhouettes, these careless little boys, originate. I think this is quire relevant to the contentious and vague times we are living in.’
Anzor Kankulov, Head of the Fashion programme at HSE University, says that lately, the most beautiful thing to him in art is the creativity of young people: ‘They can’t do everything just yet, but their art is very pure and real. The express what they see and think.’ He also considers fashion shows to be an important part of the design profession: ‘Shows are as important to designers as exhibitions are to painters,’ he explains. ‘They are events that crown a designer’s creative work.’
Putting on a fashion show is complex and laborious work, he notes. In the early stages, it is difficult to get into the profession and start building a career. The university strives to help its students by supporting their participation in events. ‘The show’s format is what fashion should like like—what it looks like at its best.’
Anzor Kankulov likes to tell applicants that at the HSE School of Art and Design, you become a designer the moment you begin your first year. ‘There is still a lot you can’t do, but you learn and transform into an increasingly interesting creator who needs to know what they want.’ Being a clothing designer involves constant learning, and one can never stop in their tracks. ‘It’s a process. It’s not like learning to tighten a screw and then you can do anything,’ he explains. ‘It is the path of an artist, who can spend their whole life painting a single canvas.’