To Anna Wintour: tell designer Daniil Antsiferov about working with archives, finding inspiration and the main failure in his career

Recently, local brands have been rapidly gaining momentum, weight and importance. Almost every week, new players with big ambitions and bright talents appear on the fashion scene. We always follow such projects closely, introduce you to the most promising ones and boldly convey the names worth knowing to Anna Wintour.

The new hero of our column is special; has been in the industry for many years. The designer studied at Central Saint Martins in London, founded two successful brands and won the admiration of the capital’s (and not only) fashion scene. Probably everyone guessed that we would talk about Daniil Antsiferov, who did not accept a superficial approach, paid special attention to archives and proved that fashion is a separate form of art. And he really loves women and, most importantly, admires them.

This love and admiration can be seen in bright corsets with accent lacing, crumpled dresses full of (literally) freedom and carelessness, jackets with distinctive buttons and much more. To make sure of all of the above, we invite you to get to know Daniil better. Shall we begin?

Daniil Antsiferov and Les Archives

Why would I invent something if I have a wonderful name that my parents gave me? I don’t hide myself. Nowadays, it is generally fashionable to develop a personal brand, but I do not do this specifically because I think my works and designs describe me much better and clearly.

As for the brand Les Archives, this name came up during a brainstorming session with my partners Sergei and Margot. Sergey collected all the information, analyzed it, and Les Archives was created. If the Daniil Antsiferov brand is very personal, Les Archives is a faceless brand in a good sense, very collective, and the archives carry information about the history of French fashion. By the way, in Paris there is a street of the same name where all the archives are stored.

Daniil Antsiferov in 2009 and Les Archives in 2021.

This is a rethinking of the fashion of historical periods through the prism of modernity with a subtle touch of irony. In general, brands have a great mission – to evoke simple and human, sincere, good emotions in people. Like a delicious cinnamon roll for breakfast. (laughing.)

I remember there being a creepy brown dress I cut on a doll when I was a kid. (laughing.) It probably all started with that. If we talk about the brand, it was a denim collection. There was a lot of influence from the retrofuturism era.

It is such a wrong position imposed by marketing textbooks that a brand needs a clear target audience. I wholeheartedly believe that if you feel compatible in any image, you should not be limited to a certain age, height or weight in society. Why not look like a luxurious diva for breakfast or show up to a dinner party in cool tights and make yourself a jeweled belt? The daughters of Daniil Antsiferov and Les Archives are also different, but each of them is self-confident and clearly knows what she wants from life.

There was no clear beginning. Since childhood I have always had a constant feeling of what I like. And as I got older, I learned why I draw girls in beautiful dresses, why I like to cut dolls’ dresses, etc. I started to understand. I remember peeling the curls from cucumbers and putting them on dolls as hair when I was a child. Of course I killed the harvest, but it was nice. (laughing.)

I don’t want to list the standard set. Therefore, I will say this: we are currently working on the SS25 collection, and I have three fashion encyclopedias that my assistant, designer and I are literally “shoveling” to find the necessary visualization and references to periods. Creating a collection where every detail is important can be likened to creating a movie. So inspiration is a lot of work. For example, our current summer collection is 100% island Asia, sea, flowers, scents, Buddhism and a huge history that cannot be described in one word as “inspiration”.

John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. You can say that I grew up with their collections and was shaped by their influence. I’m sure I’ll never recover from the baroque England Westwood quotes, and I’ll never forget Galliano’s theatrics. All of this is forever embedded in the subcortex.

Love, Sex, Disco – these are written on every Daniil Antsiferov label. But for Les Archives, “voulez-vous is champagne?”

The main “trick” of Les Archives is that any girl can at any time feel as if all her wardrobe problems have been solved. But Daniil Antsiferov’s “trick” is sincerity and courage.

I won’t say that because everything can be rethought and everything can suddenly become relevant. Fashion is so versatile that it is impossible to limit yourself.

Opening of a fashion house in Moscow in 2024. This is bold, this is cool, this is indicative of the great and honest work we have achieved together with this team.

Any failure can ultimately turn into a success. But to be honest, one day we were in a hurry, did not fully study the technology and printed a kilometer of fabric with a press that was impossible to use. I finally had to get rid of it. This is a huge disappointment. But it’s good that we have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them.

First of all, talent. It needs to be valued, cherished, nurtured, nourished and developed. Second, education and perspective. Because it is impossible to design if you do not understand art or do not know history. It is also important not to be liked by yourself, not to look the other way, but to do what reflects yourself.

I want to develop in two directions. The first is ideological, creative, I put my whole soul into it, I spare neither time nor money for production. The second is regional. I dream of dressing women all over the world. We are already working with all the great projects in Russia, we need to move on. There are many countries around us that we can develop as markets.

Manifestation of simple human instincts.

What a sneaky, self-serving question. (laughing.) I would probably enjoy life, work and try new directions, invest in projects that will help me achieve something that I could not do without money. I sought out new talents and helped them realize their potential.

Although no. If I had this much money, I would only think about how to manage this huge capital.

The most sought-after model of the season or a diva who inspires me.

Grotesque corset. He is currently very interested in the subject and his business perspective could be great for promotion and marketing.

Even the worst and most mediocre designer had to exist to show what not to do.

There is no such thing. Everything can be played coolly.

Let it be rocker products. In the style of Kiss or Guns’n’Roses.

Vlad Roslyakova.