Tell Anna Wintour: An interview with the founder of the Fashion Rebels brand about fashion, failures and inspiration

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, bring you the most promising ones, and boldly convey the names worth knowing to Anna Wintour.

The new hero of the column is Valentina Mukhovikova, the founder of the Fashion Rebels brand, who was not afraid to open a business in a difficult pandemic year and proved to the entire fashion community that being a rebel is very cool. The brand’s collections consist not only of clothes, but also include an individual approach to their selection. About how important it is that the style matches the character and internal qualities.

Today we invite you to get to know Valentina better, learn a little more about what inspires her, how the brand name appeared, where her fashion journey began and what her main career failure was. So let’s get started?

Fashion Rebels.

The literal translation of the brand name is “Fashion Rebels”. But for me, rebellion in fashion is about the courage to go beyond the generally accepted format of beauty and absolute freedom and be yourself. Fashion Rebels is not about clothes, it’s about lifestyle, rebels living with their emotions. That’s why we carry courage, not destructive protest, in our philosophy. The courage to make mistakes, be brilliant and destroy stereotypes.

In 2020.

Intellectual sexuality.

Red suit with tail. The color red symbolizes decision, going beyond standards, courage for self-expression, confidence, temptation and play. Anyone close to creativity notices that the most striking things happen when you create playfully, without pain, without paying attention to others, when colors determine the rhythm of the project.

For true aesthetics, for those who are ready to discover and try new things. Arguably the style could be called bohemian and avant-garde, with a slight flair of ethnicity and vintage; This is definitely not about fast fashion or plus size, it’s about poetry and eclectic aesthetics.

From realizing that I want this and that I can create it. Elegance makes all girls beautiful, but in the current rhythm, women are lost and try with all their might to preserve and reveal their feminine essence with the help of psychologists, trainings, meditations and women’s communities. At some point I realized that choosing clothes was becoming difficult and I decided to create them.

Confidence. It occurred to me that my education, experience and perception of the world might be sufficient support.

Magda Butrim, Phoebe Philo, Gilles Sander, Miuccia Prada.

Courage, lightness, emotionality.

We don’t limit ourselves to standard basic collections, we experiment with incompatible things and combine them elegantly to create clothes that you want to live in and celebrate this life.

Never say never, the world is changing; we are changing.

I am proud that I did not stray from the path despite all the difficulties and endless crises, paradigm shifts, political events we encountered immediately after the launch of the brand. Everything in this world started with a dream and it is very important that you hold on tightly to your dream. Of course I’m proud of my team, every day I realize that this puzzle fits together better and better.

First collection. I’m not from the fashion world, I did everything alone, based on my own intuition, which is where I made most of my mistakes, but it was an impetus for growth.

Don’t look around, don’t measure yourself by the achievements of others, love what you’ve created and be sure to trust the analysis.

We will strengthen and develop online channels next year.

A world where there are no rules, but where there is true freedom and life in its various complex manifestations. Clothes convey what we think, what we worry about, what we dream about here and now. There’s a lot you can tell people through a collection.

Shall we dream? I would establish a “Fashion City” where children could learn fashion from a young age. It is a city with specialized and higher education institutions where students can immediately do their internships, factories, and streets with showcases of our Russian brands. Of course, this city would have been built in Russia. We no longer really have the basic support that Europeans have developed over centuries, and Russian fashion is now being built brick by brick; Every brand invests all the materials, power, knowledge and money it has accumulated to create this foundation.

Cate Blanchett too. I love her look and philosophy: “For me, looks have never come first. Of course, like any woman, especially an actress, you always want to look good. But I never bet on my appearance. On the contrary, it was important for me to work, improve my talent and strive to become a better person instead of going crazy about my appearance every second.”

In connection with professional deformation, something grotesque comes to mind regarding the solution of everyday problems, such as exaggeration and exaggeration. I’d probably come up with a slightly ridiculous and very bright redneck hat to wear when you’re fed up with everything around you. They may also have fringes to scare people away or slits for eyes to limit contact with others. Everyone needs to have one at some point.

Clothing is a separate art. However, no single work, even the most beautiful, can please everyone. Rei Kawakubo said it well: “Beauty is what everyone thinks about at least once: “Beautiful!” That’s why I sympathize with brands I would never wear.

Trends are a guide to where the world is going, what is happening in the Universe here and now. For me, anti-trend is when a person wears a super-trend product that is absolutely incompatible with his essence, thereby devaluing his “I”.

I really love vintage movies, especially movies from the 1960s and 1970s. In the spring, our “Manon” collection will include three versions of the print of the movie of the same name, with perfect lyrics in the spirit of “I love you too much to marry you.”

Meryl Streep. And he is 75 years old. With a mysterious squint and dimples. Like a true rebel, he fought either the arms race or the amount of nitrates in his food. Now, as I see it, he is no longer fighting anything, he is just helping our planet through deeds and charity. It changes the world with its existence, this is the motto of our brand. I’m sure any archive or current Fashion Rebels look would definitely look good on her.