Irina Gusakova AW 16 by Igor Termenón
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A few weeks ago photographer Igor Termenón shared with me his latest shoot of the Irina Gusakova AW lookbook. Upon further research of the collection it resonated my own gender fluid side when it comes to fashion. Each season brings a new spirit and mental placement. I was intrigued to find out the story behind it.
Hear from Irina what inspired her latest collection.
If you could describe your new collection in three words what would it be?
Refined, functional, and versatile.
Is there a film or music video that you would say represents the story and inspiration behind the collection?
Not a direct inspiration but one of my favourite films ever is adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s novel ‘Les Enfants Terribles’. The inseparable androgynous looking brother and sister living in the same room are immersed in dangerous mind games that ends tragically for both of them. Sharing a wardrobe of heavy wool coats, striped dressing gowns and white shirts and an identical cropped tousled haircut, they have this very natural and not stylised unisex look that I wanted to achieve when making my collection.
What artists/musicians/designers are you inspired by?
Artists – I’m fascinated with Op Art movement and I looked at Op Art artists like Bridget Riley, Rafael Soto and Josef Albers whose work deals a lot with sensations of movement and rhythm for print inspiration for my past two collections.
I’m very taken with how they managed to create a an evocation of movement by repetition, interaction of geometric shapes and scale.
Designers – Raf Simons own line, it’s Menswear that looks equally good on women.
Helmut Lang’s 90s collections when he still was at the helm of the brand. What he did was so ahead of his time with his collections that mixed high fashion, utilitarian and uniform elements and that transcended the gendered norms of dressing. He started to incorporate menswear into the womens collections to show both at the same fashion week schedule like many designers nowadays started to do.
What music did you listen to while designing the collection?
Mostly Blood Orange’s new album. I got quite obsessed with it and listened to it on repeat for a coupe of months non-stop. Also on heavy rotation were Beach House, Solange and Julia Holter.
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Irina Gusakova A/W 2016 – irinagusakova.com @irinagusakova
Photographer: Igor Termenon – www.igortermenon.com – @igortermenon
Models: Hodan Omaar & Maurice Andresen @mofurky
Hair & Makeup: Caroline Mckeirnan – @carrimck
