Natasha Zinko recalled her youth in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and her family’s and the wider community’s make-do-and-mend approach to dressing. “Today, we talk about upcycling, recycling and circularity – then, it was just how we lived,” she said.
Zinko called the show “Family Bizness,” a reference to her family’s work in denim, which they started from their living room in Odessa, and to the colorful characters living in their apartment building. It was a place where the nosy neighbors would watch out for each other, get inventive with dressing and swap clothing they were tired of, or that no longer fit.
Like most Zinko efforts, it was kooky and thought-provoking. Models wearing giant curlers, plastic rain kerchiefs and oven mitts as mittens strode down the runway in pencil skirts made from flower-print tablecloths, and fur-trimmed quilted coats that may once have been bedcovers.
There was lots of hasty patchwork, too, including belted coats with mismatched check patterns and polo shirts with different-colored stripes veering every which way. A sultry fur dress with straps was held together by a corset running down the back.
Zinko transformed lacy lingerie into sheer minidresses, and used fur offcuts of different sizes to make coats.
What a resourceful bunch those Odessa folks were. While it wasn’t all wearable, there was good energy galore, especially when Mel B of the Spice Girls bounced down the runway in fur-covered heels and a short plaid bathrobe with a comical hemline that was stuffed like a sausage.
The collection should play well with the reduce, reuse, recycle generation, and also make the fast-fashion fans pause for thought.