Vika Gazinskaya is her own best advertisement. Sprightly, petite, and capable of pulling off acts of enormous fabric, she’s the kind of oft-photographed tastemaker whose choices feel infectious. “Maybe I can pull off a giant bow,” you think, or ”Why don’t I own a trenchcoat in pearlescent pale pink?” This is to her benefit, of course, as a businesswoman selling her wares, and she’s found that stores come to her for both her elaborate party dresses (in the metallic-accented jacquards and figure-flattering A-line fit that have become her signature) and for her statement-making outré shapes (those volumes! Those bows!). For Spring, she’s got both covered.
An 18th century–inspired blouse was the starting point for her Spring collection, which took shape after Gazinskaya rewatched Peter Greenaway’s 1982 film The Draughtsman’s Contract. Elsewhere, the aesthetic took a turn into John Hughes territory, right down to the thick, Easter egg–colored cardigans tossed over a series of prim shirtdresses. “It’s a late ’80s thing,” Gazinskaya explained, and she also duplicated the scratched graffiti from outside Soviet buildings onto a few cutoff T-shirts that she paired with feminine skirts (though, she changed the words on the tees to depict messages of peace). Exaggerated sleeves echoed through several looks, typically in full-skirted dresses, but the best frock of the bunch was a dropped-waist eyelet box pleat shirtdress with only the slightest oomph to the arm; it hung gracefully off the body and was just the thing for next summer’s languid, scorching days.
Comments