Close Up: Fashion Week in Russia

Major Fashion Week of the Eastern Europe through the lens of four photographers from the USA and Russia: Adam Katz Sinding, Craig Arend, Diego Zuko, Maxim Gagarin

As part of the Ninth Moscow International Biennale ‘Fashion and Style in Photography 2015’ the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow and the Merceedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia present the ‘Close Up: Fashion Week’ exhibition, featuring the best backstage photographs from the most important fashion event in Russia, a point of attraction for talented Russian and international designers.

The support and promotion of Russian designers has always been one of the main aims of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. Such Russian brands as Alexander Terekhov, FRESH ART, Konstant in Gayday, Julia Kalmanovich and Masha Tsigal held their first fashion shows at Russian Fashion Week (later Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia). Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia traditionally opens with the SLAVA ZAITSEV show and regular participants such as Alena Akhmadullina, Dasha Gauser, VIVA VOX, PIROSMANI and many others also present their collections. The Fashion Week welcomes western Fashion Houses as well. In different years the designers Vivienne Westwood (UK), Catherine Malandrino (USA), Costume National (Italy), JC de Castelbajac (France) and Frankie Morello (Italy) were first on the catwalk at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. From 26 to 31 March 2015 the 30th anniversary season of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia will take place at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall.

The ‘Close Up: Fashion Week in Russia’ project spotlights the biggest Fashion Week in Eastern Europe through the lens of four photographers from the USA and Russia: Adam Katz Sinding, Craig Arend, Diego Zuko and Maxim Gagarin. Several hundred photographs selected by MAMM director and project curator Olga Sviblova will transport the audience to the backstage world of the fashion show.

Adam Katz Sinding is the founder of the popular Le21eme blog and author of photo reports for Style.com and T Magazine. In the words of the photographer himself, he is not concerned with street style, but instead brings us his own personal vision of fashion in different parts of the world. Adam’s passion for photography started in 2004 in Seattle, where he was mostly drawn to surrounding buildings and urban landscapes. After studying in Paris the photographer returned to his home city with a fresh view of fashion and people. Today he travels the world and captures the major Fashion Weeks.

Craig Arend has worked for The New York Times for many years and his impressive list of clients includes L’Oreal and NET-A-PORTER. Craig was one of the first street style bloggers, writing under the name ALTAMIRA. He began snapping fashionistas in Soho back in 2007 and can now boast of publications in leading fashion resources such as refinery29.com, NYMAG.com and The New York Times. Craig specialises in shooting models off-duty. He thinks the most important element of photography is to capture real human emotions and convey the individuality of each person in the image.

Diego Zuko is the author of street style fashion blog The Outsider, the main platform for posting images of It girls from all over the world. Diego was born and raised in Buenos Aires. When his father gave him his first camera, a Canon A-1, he began snapping everything around him. After graduating from business school he got a job in a photo studio where he was responsible for fashion content. That was when he fell in love with fashion. Soon he was helping out at photo shoots and went on to become the most popular fashion photographer in Brazil. Later he moved to New York and worked for Lloyd&Co Ad, where his clients included Oscar de la Renta, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, ICB, Estée Lauder and French Connection. He then started work at Harper’s Bazaar, shooting street style for the principle Fashion Weeks, which he still enjoys doing.

Maxim Gagarin is a Russian fashion photographer and one of the first photographers working for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. Maxim’s experience includes work with major Russian designers and a personal exhibition for last year’s Space Backstage art project. Maxim was awarded first prize for 2013-2014 at BEST OF RUSSIA, an annual open project organised by the WINZAVOD Centre for Contemporary Art and supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.