Transcription
In this video, I would like to talk about such a controversial designer and personality, who once conquered the Western fashion industry, as Gosha Rubchinskiy, who was called almost the most important designer of modern Russian fashion, whose collections promoted Russian culture, its peculiarities and character to the whole world. A designer who literally achieved as much as no Russian person had ever achieved before on the world stage. It is thanks to Gosha that clothing with Cyrillic flooded the wardrobes of Western fashionistas alongside Rick, Raf, Simons, and the brand Supreme. And we will also talk about how he lost absolutely everything due to the cancellation in the West and accusations of pedophilia, as well as due to a creative dead end, which we will discuss in more detail a little later. We will analyze the essence of these accusations, what exactly changed in the industry, why literally everyone forgot about him, what he is doing now, and whether he has a chance to return given his new work.
To begin with, to make this video more complete and, if I may say so, more objective, it seems incredibly important to me to reveal and remind you, and myself as well, what Gosha is as a designer and creative unit. He was born, as many of you know, in Moscow in 1984, specifically in a district called Koptevo. A district that is a typical concrete Soviet housing development with all the features of such areas, with garages, gray walls, and abandoned buildings, where he not only hung out and spent his youth just like everyone else, but also expressed himself as best he could, in every possible way, while mingling with a group of local skaters, where he not only skated but also took an interest in clothing and brands to look good, and also learned to photograph and create looks for his photosets, while simultaneously graduating from a college of design technology, essentially a real diploma mill. And even then, not in a specialty related to sewing, but as a hairdresser-fashion designer. By the way, in his profession, for some time he even managed to work in a salon as a stylist and makeup artist called Toni & Guy. And after meeting Kirill Serebrennikov, Gosha became a stylist for his film titled *Playing the Victim*, after which he took his ambitions as a designer much more seriously. And by 2008, at the Moscow stadium Sokolniki, he presented his own first show, where only his friends, as well as familiar skaters and punks, served as models.
It is worth saying that despite the fact that even Jean Paul Gaultier himself once referenced Soviet culture in one of his shows, until 2008, what Gosha showed at this show was truly fresh. When everyone around was mostly inspired by Western aesthetics and American rap, Gosha showed what at that time wasn't yet being actively romanticized: the Soviet Union and the gray life in the concrete jungles of 1990s Russia. The clothing screamed Cyrillic, and the logos of the hammer and sickle coexisted with a bootleg aesthetic, while tracksuits and woolen socks became accent elements. It wasn't retro kitsch, but a communion with the past that Russia was trying to renounce at that moment. And importantly, Gosha showed a different perspective on post-Soviet aesthetics. Not imperial, not criminal or gangster, but rather a boyish, such a defenseless aesthetic of fragile creative youth who faced the harsh reality of the Soviet era. And in 2012, something truly unique happened, something so surreal that looking back, it's hard to believe. That very show fell into the hands of Adrian Joffe, if you didn't know, the husband of the founder of Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawakubo, who was touched to the depths of his soul. And not just by the clothing or anything else, but rather by the overall energy, which he considered very close to Comme des Garçons. After which he entered into a commercial agreement on unique terms. And, by the way, it's important to understand here that Comme des Garçons did not buy out Gosha, but offered an ideal collaboration, in which Comme des Garçons completely took over the production of clothing in Japan and Europe for his collections, which meant, by the way, impeccable quality of tailoring and fabrics that were simply unavailable in the CIS, especially at that time. Well, and of course, the brand financed his shows, lookbooks, and the work of designers. Moreover, under this arrangement, Gosha was given absolute creative freedom. And the sales of his clothing went through the Dover Street Market, which you all most likely already know, the flagship concept store owned by Rei Kawakubo and her husband. It was precisely thanks to the support of Comme des Garçons that Gosha moved to Paris, which played a very important role, essentially opening up the world stage and access to it for him. And the Japanese brand's approach itself was reflected in the designer's clothing, adding deconstruction, play with color, and a certain, if you will, intellectualism and conceptualism to his images. And by presenting the Soviet Union in such a context, many even major brands wanted to try it on themselves. For example, in 2015, Gosha had items in collaboration with the iconic Italian brand Sergio Tacchini. In 2016 with Levi's and Dr. Martens, in 2017 with Kappa, Adidas, and Fila, and a year later even with Burberry, essentially creating an interpretation of what similar brands would look like if local street kids had stumbled upon them, embedding them into a kind of stimulator of clothing from the Soviet era. And it is worth saying that Western consumers really liked this. Firstly, because there wasn't that much Soviet aesthetic in fashion then, and secondly, because it was still the same streetwear, but without the kitsch of, for example, the brand Supreme, but rather referencing a new sincerity of longing for sleeping districts, which are familiar not only to people from Russia but also from other countries. People were also won over by the fact that the designer did not use professional models, but kids from the streets. Now, of course, this no longer surprises anyone, but back then it was something new. His models were always thin, angular, tired of life, with short unkempt haircuts and sometimes scars. And it can be said that this approach even overturned, to some extent, the idea of male beauty. Rubchinskiy showed not a muscular macho or a glossy androgen, but a fragile, tender, sometimes aggressive teenager with such, if I may say so, even a certain homoerotic subtext, which, although felt, was actually never spoken out loud.
And it is worth saying that, among other things, he came into the industry at a very opportune time, because at the beginning of the 2010s, world fashion was experiencing a crisis of meaning. The glamour of the 2000s was rapidly dying at that time, and in the art scene of music and photography, a wave of interest in the real emerged, along with a demand for post-Soviet aesthetics, which were reflected, for example, in the interest in Russian post-punk in the West, doomer remixes, as well as Russian cinema with films by Tarkovsky and Balabanov. And Gosha's aesthetic perfectly fit into the trend of new ugliness, which was preached by Prada and Vetements. But unlike Mowalola, who worked with irony and exaggeration, Gosha spoke without quotation marks, but rather as it is, gradually building around himself not just a brand, but a separate universe. Because he was not just a designer, but a photographer, publisher, director, and curator. He shot his lookbooks himself, published photobooks, directed short films, and even launched a publishing house. A person bought not just a tracksuit with Cyrillic; he bought a ticket to the post-Soviet world of youth, which was as exotic for the Western audience as Japanese culture is for us, for example.
And before we move on to the issues surrounding Gosha as a designer, I would like to recommend to you a small project by some guys called Dismas Gestus, a brand run by friends who sew absolutely everything themselves in their workshop in Moscow without huge stocks. There, by the way, they also apply all the prints and dye the clothing. In July, they are releasing a huge amount of different clothing. Everything from sweaters, zip-ups, and pants to hoodies with detachable hoods and a belt made from a bicycle inner tube and pony skin. And in their latest lookbook, which they shot in caves, the model was even styled by Nespend Janaksrs. Anyway, if you like unique small projects, you can follow the link in the description and check out what they do. And we continue.
But, let's be honest, for most people from the CIS, all this looked like a caricature chewed over a thousand times, which long ago ceased to evoke absolutely any emotions. Because although Gosha somewhat rethought the mood of the Soviet Union, he still limited himself to primitive images of Soviet culture. For example, using images of the most pop avant-garde artists of that era, such as Malevich, El Lissitzky, Tatlin, and many others. And although it is worth saying that he did flirt with less popular authors, in any case it all looked like an endless repetition of what had already been exploited a thousand times in culture. That is, a streetwear brand that appeared alongside projects like Volchok, Yunost, Peterburgskiy Schit, and so on, was able to reach the world stage thanks to Comme des Garçons. Overnight, it gained such quotability and respect in the West as no other Russian brand had before.
Well, as a result, the funniest thing in this whole story is that, at the peak of his popularity, Gosha did not expand his brand further, but abruptly announced his departure in 2018, when his name was thundering around the world, and items from the collaboration with Burberry were selling out in seconds. With the words, quote: "I'm tired, I want to do only what I love." By the way, later we will discuss with you how much he just happened to leave the industry by accident. After that, every new rumor about his return or collaboration caused tectonic shifts, precisely because he became a ghost of his own success. Although, by the way, it is also worth mentioning that he also had a project called GR Uniforma, which lasted until 2021, within which he created stage costumes and uniforms mainly in limited quantities. Though, practically no one knows about this brand.
It is worth saying that Gosha's first problems began long before the accusations and global cancellation. And for the most part, all these accusations were actually built on very understandable ground. The very aesthetic that Gosha built, especially looking back, looks very strange and disturbing, because absolutely all of his shoots were focused on very young guys, and his models were often minors. Of course, Gosha always tried to emphasize the idea of wild Russian youth, but the problem was that he has not been a teenager for a long time. And the very fact that an adult man went around photographing schoolchildren in his clothing, at the very least, raised various very strange thoughts, especially given this slightly slippery subtext, so to speak, of vulnerability, which was always present in one way or another. But it is worth saying that at this stage, the fashion industry mostly still defended Gosha. The defense was built on arguments about art, the reflection of reality, growing up, innocence, and any hints of sexualization were mostly dismissed as projection by the viewer. Until everything suddenly changed in 2018. Yes, in that very year, what a strange coincidence, he left the industry. The most serious accusation was not about specific actions, but that Rubchinskiy consciously used a system of hidden signals and codes understandable to the pedophile community. If you suddenly don't understand what I'm talking about, that's what they usually call such hidden motives or signs that are understood precisely in such circles. And many began to notice that most of the scenes Gosha created were exactly like that. But the most painful scandal for his reputation was the correspondence with a sixteen-year-old model, in which Gosha asked him to send naked photos in the bathroom. And after this got onto the internet, the designer himself categorically denied everything, claiming that the correspondence was altered, and that it was just a casting, exactly the same as before. But again, reading this screenshot honestly looks like, well, complete bullshit. Simply because Gosha literally almost forces the boy, who can't take a photo of himself because his mom is in the room, to do it in the bathroom, and then after the refusal, he literally tries to persuade him. It's just disgusting.
To say that this situation destroyed Gosha's career and perception in the West is like saying nothing. He literally got banned from the industry, he stopped being invited anywhere. The Adidas company, with which Gosha had a long-term and very successful collaboration, promptly announced the termination of the relationship. Dover Street Market, which had supported Gosha throughout his entire career, as well as other key retailers, removed all the brand's items from stores. But, by the way, despite the fact that Comme des Garçons also had the opportunity to end their collaboration with him, in the end they did not bring any accusations, because there was no direct evidence that Gosha was a pedophile, except for one screenshot. And their termination of work was precisely a means of the designer closing his own brand, not the other way around. Moreover, they supported his projects even after the cancellation. And, by the way, the same Adidas that stopped collaborating with him eventually did a collaboration with GR Uniforma. That's a bit about the hypocrisy of the industry. And GR Uniforma, if you didn't understand, is also a brand of Gosha Rubchinskiy.
But, as you might have guessed, there is another quite important moment in this whole story that became a turning point for Gosha, namely the collaboration with this man. He literally built his entire career in recent years on repeatedly inviting everyone who was ever canceled to collaborate with him. Marilyn Manson, who was accused of sexual violence, whose case, by the way, was eventually dropped. DaBaby, who was canceled after negative comments about gays and HIV-infected people, and many other artists who no longer had the opportunity to work with anyone because the industry had rejected them. Kanye constantly probed the boundaries of how far he could go with his provocations. That's why, personally, in my opinion, he chose Gosha for the post of chief designer of Yeezy in 2023. Kanye himself commented on this on his social media, calling Gosha a legend. And this event is great for Russian design and important within the framework of, quote, the cancel culture of talented people. And in essence, this collab was absolutely, fucking obvious, because at that moment the whole world hated Kanye for his anti-Semitic statements and endless provocations, where he did everything to smear all of Western culture with shit, and of course, first and foremost himself. And to his right is Gosha, who was also kicked out from everywhere for suspicion of an unhealthy interest in overly young boys. Fuck, he was probably the only major designer who could agree to such a deal. As a result, a pretty strong handshake between two outcasts came out. The first collection, titled *Black Dogs*, is a mixture of Cyrillic, prison uniforms, and absolute utilitarian minimalism taken to such an extreme that the clothing had almost no seams except for the side ones. And the concept itself, according to smart guys on Reddit, is a reference to Winston Churchill's metaphor for depression, which is in line with Kanye's emotional state. But I think it's all, of course, complete bullshit, and it's just a reference to the fact that he's a fucking Nazi. Now I could go on a lot about how Kanye always advocated for utilitarian fashion. And that the low price was because fashion was meant to be accessible to everyone and all that. But, fuck, this video is actually not about Kanye West, but about Gosha, and therefore I don't see the point in going on separately about it here.
Then a lot more came out in their tandem, but for the most part it was all the same blank as in *Black Dogs*, only with different prints. In 2024, the most successful drop of their collab came out. Merch for the album *Vultures* with a cover inspired by the album cover of the project Burzum by Varg Vikernes. And again, you can say whatever you want about the depth of the reference and so on, but I am literally convinced that Kanye chose Varg as a reference precisely because he, too, is a fan of the Austrian artist, just like himself. But the most important thing about this drop is that all the items in the collection cost $20. And even the previous drop, *Black Dogs*, which originally cost $200, dropped in price tenfold. But all this is not so important; what matters here is that, in my opinion, Gosha didn't even realize how much of a fucking Nazi Kanye was when he started working with him. And 2025, apparently, was the last straw in their collaboration, because, most likely, Kanye insisted that Yeezy release t-shirts with a swastika. But before that happened, Gosha, in order not to get caught up in another ultimatum scandal, and to have the opportunity to return to Russia, where for such symbols he could also be seriously impaled on a bottle, he simply decided to bail out of the brand. And immediately after his departure, this appeared on the website. And then he was blocked altogether. >> Oh, and there's a ban, you bastard. And I'm not even mentioning what absolute fucking chaos was happening in Kanye's Twitter at that moment, which could also have influenced the designer's departure. That is, so you understand how ironic and funny this is from the perspective of Gosha's entire career: in the West, he literally instantly became fucking useless to anyone. The only person who, so to speak, picked him up, turned out to be a fucking schizophrenic, because of whom he could have gotten even more problems. Such is the bitter fate, the bitter cancellation.
After that, literally nothing was heard from Gosha for a while, but the funniest thing is that back in 2025 he announced the relaunch of his own brand, but after the time of silence and cancellation, it just passed people by, and practically no one even discussed it except the same *Hypebeast* magazine. He decided to relaunch it with basic items like t-shirts, hoodies, and so on, and stated that he was pursuing a new policy regarding models, which was essentially a direct reaction to his cancellation in 2018. And the first thing you could see from him was a small collection called *Peresvet*, which looks about the same as everything he has basically done before. Though, all these items were not produced at the Comme des Garçons factory, as before, but simply in China. And the inscription itself is possibly a reference to the brand *Rassvet*, in which he once took a direct part. Besides clothing, Gosha also focused on his second main passion, namely photography. If earlier his lens mainly captured his skater friends, now it's various schoolchildren, rappers like Ninemayz, Egor Kreed, Kirkorov, and some TikTokers. And this might sound pretentious, but personally, it all looks to me simply like an attempt by the designer to remind people of himself in Russia, since, apparently, he no longer harbors hopes that his career will ever recover after the cancellation abroad. And all these photos, which I'm sure you've seen, were simply a big warm-up before his latest collection called *Forum*, which shows, in my opinion, in all its glory what Gosha has become after the cancellation and the reboot in Russia. Despite the fact that everyone was expecting something fundamentally new from Rubchinskiy, looking at his show, it is, in fact, quite difficult to distinguish it from everything that came before. By the way, if only because the models there are, fuck, again, for some reason, children. And personally, in my opinion, it doesn't look like a rebirth at all, because in this collection Gosha uses all the same patterns and themes that we have seen a million times already. As if it's another episode of the series *Slovo Patsana*, a mashup of bandits, gopniks, judoists, pioneers, Soviet military uniforms, and the same fucking Suprematism on prints that was present in many previous shows. Yes, maybe it all became a little less on the nose, but that doesn't change the fact that in almost 10 years after closing his brand, Gosha seems not to have come up with anything more creative or interesting than continuing to milk the fucking doomer corpse of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Yes, actually, I can note that some things in this show look interesting. For example, I liked the shorts and this jumpsuit. The color palette is also quite atypical, with bright contrasts. And the location also, in fact, deserves special attention and gives the feeling of a children's section, like the creaks as audio accompaniment along with the monologue in the spirit of Tarkovsky. "So the thought of the noose transforms everything and withers like a flower. Our determination is in a dead end without a podium." But looking at this, it's impossible not to catch yourself thinking that Gosha has finally run out of ideas. Everything he is doing now is trying to sell again what once worked. But instead of trying to create something more complex and interesting, he simply decided to use so-called Russian celebrities to promote it, actively collaborating with idols of a very young audience, bluntly inserting at the end of his show for some reason the track of Tyomny Prints.
"Fucking Tyomny Prints. I was never right. Forgotten details, I'm paranoid. Hid bags with things."
This, so you understand, is a person whose cover of one of his tracks is a Mayhem t-shirt with words about guts, blood, and so on. Personally, for me, all the mystery and taciturnity that created Gosha's aura literally dissolved in an instant along with this, well, apparently very fucking smart strategy for promoting his clothing.
Truthfully, the problem is that Gosha's success in the West was exclusively due to the fact that people outside the CIS really like a caricature of Russia. And literally all authors who transmit it as bluntly as possible gather a huge audience around themselves. As an example of this, but in music, I can cite the same Alex Terrible, who literally fights bears, plays the balalaika, and performs other circus acts that people from the US and Europe gobble up with great pleasure. Or Molchat Doma, who in their last album, for example, completely moved away from the Soviet aesthetic. And Gosha is actually exactly the same thematic designer, who, let's be honest, was very lucky to have been noticed by such an influential person in the industry, giving him the opportunity to work for a huge audience. And this audience didn't need Gosha so much as it needed just a mashup of the Soviet Union, which, as I repeat, bongos love very much. But for some reason it seems to me that this will hardly ever work in Russia as well. Firstly, because, in my opinion, this remained far in the 2016-2018 years along with brands like Volchok, Peterburgskiye Schity, and the like. And secondly, again I repeat, people in the CIS tend more towards Western culture rather than the fucking Soviet Union, in which, it seems to me, we are forever stuck. And the consumer in Russia has changed a lot over the last 10 years, because many who started to take an interest in fashion during the bright period of 2016 have managed to gain sophistication over these years. It is unlikely that they can be surprised by prints with Malevich. As a result, cancel culture in this case actually worked. And everything that Gosha is doing now is not covered anywhere at all. And judging by the popularity of the latest collection among the Russian-speaking audience, he is no longer interesting either. Personally, I am quite curious to see how Gosha will develop exactly as a designer and what else he can offer within his brand. But so far, all this looks, to be honest, extremely, extremely sad. Perhaps I haven't said much specifically about the scandal that happened to him, but, honestly, I just didn't really want to dive too deep into it, because although he was not legally convicted for his actions, I also wouldn't want to justify or try to understand whether it was right that he was canceled. In any case, using underage models is definitely not the best decision. And as a result of such, so to speak, a naive act, if it even was one, it was absolutely logical. Perhaps Gosha also wanted to return because he feels that the country is closing off, and people will still need some kind of clothing and brands. But, honestly, I'm very interested in how profitable this will be in the current situation, given the crisis and the active war.
And what you see right now here is our promo video, which we shot with friends, in order to invite you to our event, which will take place this month, that is, on July 31st. If you suddenly didn't know, Performa is another project in which I am directly involved. This is a project that we are building together with my friends. If you are suddenly tired of typical parties, if you don't like raves and you want something more interesting, experimental, please come on the 31st. On July 31st, it will all happen in Minsk, specifically at a club called Modul. If you are interested, if you suddenly want, perhaps, to meet someone there, find like-minded people, or just have an interesting time, see some new side of so-called music raves, come, we welcome everyone. And, I love everyone, I kiss everyone, goodbye everyone.