The thing about symbols is that once you become aware of them, they seem to appear everywhere, all the time.
For the Fall 2020 WOS collection, designer Andrey Artyomov toyed with the clichés of Russia, a country of contradictions big and small, a deep and old soul hidden in the shifting patterns of the world. They appear as graphic patterns, but only if you are looking for them: the birch tree, its austere but never lonely silhouette in the moving verticality of a pleated dress; traditional patterns, in the curves of an almost abstract 17th century print that becomes the sinuous cut of a neckline.
Mixing references of the demanding exercise of figure skating and the utility-driven elegance of hard times, Andrey Artyomov offers a reflection on what luxury truly means. The fall season’s interplay of textures and patterns expresses the wealth of imagination, the ability to move freely, the tactile landscape of the WOS aesthetic. The Russian winter reveals its ever-changing kaleidoscope that holds the richness of a continent-sized country, then and now. In this collection, Andrey Artyomov sends a love letter to his roots, in all their deeply complex reality – a reminder that individualities are more than the sum of their parts.
