From Russia With Love

By Marina Rybak

At first I brushed off the latest wave of Russian textile and stylistic influences that resurfaced in the design world.  I am fluent in Russian and the culture is already under my skin. I was not feeling nostalgic for the “good old days”, especially on demand. That being said, the current Russian tide that is sweeping the mainstream media finally caught my attention.

In politics the philosophy of Russian–born Ayn Rand was briefly revisited and in international affairs the fate of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot is still stirring up the global music community. To top it off Keira Knightly, decked out in Chanel fine jewelry, is about to shine in the lavish film adaptation of the beloved Russian novel Anna Karenina, which opens in November. Banana Republic is chiming in with the capsule collection, curated by Jacqueline Durran – the film’s costume designer.

But the icing on the cake for me is a sumptuous book, which I spotted around town about the legendary Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The book came out a year ago, is written by Andre Tubeuf and is published by Assouline. The luxurious limited edition is the size and the price of the coffee table and is on the shelves. Bergdorf Goodman’s bookshop is a stimulating environment to peruse through its magnificent pages. The Ballet Russes seductive costume designs by Leon Bakst are one of my favorite inspirations. At last I was tempted to hop on the Russian train.

The Ballets Russes was the revolutionary and groundbreaking dance company that reinvented the art form of dance and collaborated with renowned composers, artists and designers of the time. Heightening the senses, it electrified and unleashed the passions of its audiences. Marcel Proust described the staging of Scheherazade as “a prodigious orgy of gleaming colors, rhythms and contrasting movements”.

I relaxed with the book from my own library and leisurely immersed myself in the dreamy and provoking images of the drawings by Leon Bakst. They are beaming with overt sexuality, subtle eroticism and sensuous androgyny.

The process of rebooting my Russian roots reminded me to stay attuned to my emotional core and continue to feel “out loud”, creating from the gut and trusting those feelings that guide me from the ethereal into the physical reality.

And if you want to channel your own passionate, romantic Russian soul that yearns to love freely, the key word is passion.  Passion connects you to your soul and lights up the journey of the creative process and it is ultimately what is felt by the consumer.