Victoria Andreyanova was born in the former Soviet Union. She is one of the most significant Russian fashion designers and the winner of multiple prestigious fashion awards in Russia.
Her company has successfully operated in the Russian market for more than 10 years and every season since 1999, she has shown her collections at the Moscow Fashion Week. Her conceptual art exhibitions and installations are marked by a creative approach to important social issues. Victoria Andreyanova’s philosophy in life is to maintain natural food habits and a respect for the environment. This lifestyle allows her to focus on designing clothes using best quality fabrics and producing exceptional cuts with an eye for detail.
She designs simple and clean lines using delicate colours and fabrics to achieve clean sharp collections, noted for their effortless feminine elegance. Victoria believes that functionality and comfort should go hand in hand with beauty. Simplicity, Style and Quality are the core values of her brand and her business.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. I am a fashion designer. I have a fashion house and a staff of 70 people. I really appreciate and value my team. After all, I could do nothing without them and their input. We produce four collections a year. There is a premium line called Parole by VA and designer line called VICTORIA ANDREYANOVA.
What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? I had my defile on March 26 — I am going to show my Fall-Winter 2016 collection at the Moscow Fashion Week, however, the new SS16 collection in the form of sketches is already launched for sample production.
How did your interest in art or fashion begin? This was something that always thrilled me. There were collections simply inspired by a white mohair fabric-think snow-think Snowman, or take my super successful Travelling Aristocrat collection (it was about the woman and her rational, pragmatic yet romantic wardrobe), the Population Count collection had models aged 14-80, etcetera. For me, often it is the story, not the style that becomes the defining limit.
#1 fashion don’t? Don’t drag your favourite things from one collection into the next.
If you had to explain your work or brand to a stranger, what would you say? I do not decorate a woman, I dress her up. These are two fundamentally different things!
What materials do you use in your work and what is your process like? This is definitely a deeply emotional internal process. First there should be stress, shock, protest, love, illness…or something else. And then I really can’t do anything about it, and it spills into a collection!
What artists or designers are you interested in right now? My all-time favourites are and have always been Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Balenciaga – “the old guard”. And right now I am into the Antwerp bunch; I have just visited Dries Van Noten’s exhibition in Belgium. And I saw that he turned to the film Clockwork Orange in the 80s. My new collection’s styling has also been inspired by Kubrick’s film. It really struck me!
What’s your favorite thing about your city? The people and the old parts of Moscow.
What are your thoughts about the fashion scene in Moscow? It undoubtedly exists. Ноwever, it is not about the hard everyday work. It’s about non-stop parties and endless whoop-de-doo.
What was the last collection you saw that stuck out to you? It was the 3D works of young British artists (refers to the exhibition in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow).
What is your beverage of choice when working in your studio? I make detox greens and fruit cocktails every morning and I bring them to work and then drink throughout the day.
What are you really excited about right now? My forthcoming trip to Japan (my brand is taking part in the Fashion World Tokyo trade show for the first time ever and we are all very excited about it).
If you hadn’t become a designer what do you think you’d be doing? I would have a lot of children (I have two daughters), I would cook endless soups for my family (I am famous for my borsch — really yummy beetroot soup, traditional for Russia and Ukraine) and would be madly in love with my husband (I was married twice). And I wouldn’t have a single second of spare time in order to give interviews!
What are you listening to right now? I’s Bach as well as the Clockwork Orange soundtrack. Its remix was used as a soundtrack for my defile.
Can you share one of the best or worst reactions you have gotten as a result of your work? Yes, it is always the corporate uniforms I have been designing (I used to dress Aeroflot, Moscow metro and Russian railways staff members). There are so many times, I received compliments on designing the best (or the worst) suit, although it was always one design and the same suit, just worn by different people!