Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Shapovalova AW2011, Volvo Fashion Week

I feel like I need to clarify at this stage that the reason that most of my reviews from Volvo Fashion Week are positive is because my approach not only to reviews but to blogging in general is "if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything". Having said that, there are some designers whose work I like and follow but whose particular collection may have, in my view, had some 'room for improvement'. In those cases, I voice my opinion loud and clear. To put it in perspective - I attended over 30 catwalk shows at Volvo Fashion Week and only the very few shows that I liked actually ended up on my blog. I just do not see the point in blasting a collection that I do not have the slightest interest in.

So now that I got that out of the way, I want to share another one of the shows from Volvo FW that I actually liked.

Shapovalova is a young brand that is only 2 years old and is a brainchild of Antonina Shapovalova who, at her tender age of 23, has presented her fourth collection at the VFW. In Russia her brand is a cause for varied sentiments as the brand's PR powerhouse manages to attract the attention of not only Russian pop stars and socialites but also the politicians which, lets face it, is strange even on a good day. Shapovalova's web-site boasts a story about how the then future president of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, bought one of the t-shirts and how various other Russian political figures own Shapovalova's propaganda t-shirts.

Whatever the sentiment, I had no idea about it until after the show when I, impressed by what had just seen, went on to do some digging on the designer.

I liked Shapovalova's AW2011 collection for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I think it was very well thought through, with a consistent theme throughout the collection. The collection was called "Airports. Pilots. Planes". What can I say? The catwalk was decorated as an airport runway with deep blue skies in the background. The music was perfectly matched - something that is rare for Russian designers who generally don't seem to think it's necessary to employ a production team who ensure that the whole show 'flows'. Shapovalova obviously had the luxury of having a stylist and a production team who did a brilliant job - didn't take the attention away from the clothes but rather made sure the clothes are complemented by the surroundings. The Dandy Warhols' The Last High was a good choice of soundtrack.

Then there were the clothes... Colour. Lots of nice colour. Not the citrusy summer colour but the deeper shades of  green, blue and burgundy dominated. The clothes were well-tailored, especially the menswear pieces, and well accessorised with bags, belts and leather halters. The halters, as I discovered a bit later on, were very similar to those of Marios Schwab. I very much liked that Shapovalova was bold with the colour in her menswear pieces. I am not entirely sure about the practicality of this collection for a Russian winter but the clothes sure do look great!

Here some photos (all photos and editing by me):



3 comments:

the nyanzi report said...

Thirty shows? You are super woman!

Sabrina Tassini said...

great post and great blog..i love it!!
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Sara Szatmary said...

looks at an amazing show!