New Ideas From Fashion Designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev

On November 1, an exhibition called "Folk Traditions in Present-Day Fashion" opened at the All-Russian Exhibition Centre, arranged by the Culture Pavilion together with Vyacheslav Zaitsev's Moscow Fashion House. As conceived by its organisers, the show is to demonstrate "new ideas, modern interpretation, and original creative reading of folk art traditions and national costumes of Russia's peoples". "Throughout all my work I have addressed myself to this theme," Russia's leading designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev said at the opening of the exhibition. His collections, "Russian Seasons" and "Recalling the Future", some fragments of which are shown, are a kind of account of what the designer has done. "It is worthwhile departing from the classic principles of the national costume - it already belongs to history," Zaitsev urged young designers. "One cannot keep to felt boots and nested dolls all the time," he said. "It is important not only to use all the best accumulated down the centuries, but also to find entirely new forms". A lot of space in the display is given over to works by young authors - participants in Russian and international festivals and contests, graduates and students of fashion and design schools. Among the most interesting models are multi-layer male outfits, made from viscose and natural fibre, trimmed with fish skin and decorated with 12-13th century amulet designs, articles from silk in batik style (artistic decoration on silk), scarves, fur tippets, ladies' suits, and also hand-made outfits from wool and cotton decorated with embroidery, and woven and knitted lace.