DESIGNERS FIND INSPIRATION IN SHAKESPEARE

As reported in 'The St. Petersburg Times' : DESIGNERS FIND INSPIRATION IN SHAKESPEARE By Galina Stolyarova The St. Petersburg Times Published: June 25, 2014 (Issue # 1817)

How does a collection of fashionable garments inspired by Shakespeare’s verse shown by a romantic pond in a suburban park housing one of the former imperial residences sound? This is exactly the experience that awaits fashion-conscious and curious locals at Catherine Park in Tsarskoye Selo on Saturday, June 28 as five premier St. Petersburg fashion designers indulge in a sophisticated game called “Anglomania.” The fashion show has become part of the annual Associations project, run by the Tsarskoye Selo museum, and is being held for the sixth time this year. Every year, the show celebrates an epoch or style in art — as seen through fashion — and is put together by the finest fashion talent from Russia’s cultural capital. The theme is proposed to interested designers by the management of Tsarskoye Selo, the host of the beautiful event that was first held in 2009. The designers create haute couture collections specifically for the project and show their work at various venues in Catherine’s Park, taking inspiration in the vast collections and archives of the Tsarskoye Selo museum estate. Previous events have been dedicated to baroque, art nouveau, military style and antiquity. The 2013 event was devoted to the different styles of diplomatic presents awarded to the members of royal and aristocratic families in different countries. The five participating designers this year include the creme of the crop of the St. Petersburg fashion scene. Tatyana Parfionona, Lilia Kisselenko, Yelena Badmayeva, Ianis Chamalidy and Stas Lopatkin have created capsule collections specifically for the exciting event. This year the designers sought inspiration in the vast cultural legacy of Great Britain — and more specifically in Shakespeare’s poetry. Each show is inspired by a particular work of Shakespeare, including, the example, “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “The Tempest.” The British angle was suggested to the designers as a reverence to the UK-Russia Year of Culture that is taking place this year. The British connection is by no means small in Tsarskoye Selo as it is linked to Great Britain in many different ways, from Charles James Fox, a prominent British Whig statesman of the 1700s whose bust is set up at the Cameron Gallery, to Charles Sydney Gibbes, the English tutor for the children of Nicholas II, who stayed loyal to the tsar’s family till the end, said Irina Nacharova, the spokeswoman of the museum estate. “During the reign of Catherine II, the residence received many pieces of the famous Wedgwood pottery and a collection of English engravings from the 1750s-90s. One of the most romantic parts of the Tsarskoye Selo palace-and-park complex is the English landscape garden.” The brain behind the project is Olga Taratynova, the director of the Tsarskoye Selo museum estate. “This collaboration between the art historians and the fashion designers is an attempt to bridge the history and the modernity,” she said. “It is also an exciting form of reaching out to the new audiences. Indeed, a theatrical show is different from a standard museum tour as it gives you different emotions and different experiences. During the shows of the Associations project, the spectators immerse themselves in the atmosphere of a suburban imperial residence and look at the historical and artistic legacy in a fresh and different way, through the eyes of the fashion designers. It is at this precious moment when the tradition and classics embrace contemporary art and modern attitudes, and this is when a new art form, a new creative space and a new artistic interpretation is being born.” While in the previous years the locations for the fashion shows have varied, and are typically shown simultaneously at different venues throughout Catherine Park, this time round, the whole event will be held at the same venue, at the Mirror Ponds. The visual spectacular that will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. will be directed by Vasily Barkhatov, the aspiring theatrical director, who has staged productions for some of Russia’s finest theaters, including Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater. Tickets cost 300 rubles ($8.72), and can be purchased on arrival from the ticket booths at Catherine Park on Saturday, June 28.