deep-dive interview for non magazine
In the heart of Paris, where the Seine river flows gently under the watchful gaze of centuries-old architecture, resides a creative force that defies boundaries. Liza Ostanina, affectionately known as RED, is a Russian-born filmmaker, photographer, and multidisciplinary artist whose work transcends mediums and captivates audiences around the globe. With a portfolio that spans movies, paintings, digital art, and photography, RED’s creations are a testament to her boundless imagination and unwavering commitment to exploration.
Her art is a symphony of bold strokes and vibrant hues, often underscored by the signature crimson that permeates her pieces. Through her work, RED delves into the intricate interplay between the digital realm and physical existence, delving into themes ranging from sexual desires to manic episodes, from social media to mental health and beauty. With a prestigious list of collaborators including Off-White, Comme Des Garçons, Vogue, and Nike, and exhibitions in Paris, Moscow, and New York, RED’s influence in the art world is undeniable.
Anna Masó: Your journey from a small city in Russia to the epicenter of the art world in Paris is nothing short of remarkable. Can you share with us how this transition has influenced your creative journey?
Liza Ostanina: I was born in a small town in Russia where hardly anything happened culturally, and I was dreaming to move to New York as long as I can remember. In reality I worked hard and was able to move to Moscow first where I started my fashion and art career in Vogue Russia and assisting my director best friend, and later on Paris happened to be more realistic for me to move so I decided to take this step and leave everything behind. Paris is the place where I feel free and this is the most important feeling as an artist and a human being.
AM: Your latest project, «Many Reds,» is a multimedia exploration of the intersection between the digital and physical realms, offering viewers a glimpse into your world of self-praise, self-destruction, and everything in between. Could you tell us more about the inspiration behind this project and what audiences can expect to experience?
LO: “MANY REDS” is an ode to many personalities of mine and celebration of being “too much”. I started working on “MANY REDS” a bit more than a year ago, but inspirations behind it been in my art for a while. I was so happy to start painting and having the right support around me to do so, and fully embrace the process.
AM: The exhibition is divided into two parts, «Physical» and «Digital,» each offering a unique perspective on your artistic expression. How do these two realms intersect within the context of «Many Reds,» and what message do you hope to convey through this dichotomy?
LO: I have been inspired by the digital world for a really long time and I wanted to implement the feeling of experiences through the screen vs. experiences in real life. So “MANY REDS” has both the feeling of “real” life moments and the emotions that go through the messages, videos, social media, dms and tweets. I had many relationships in the past that were based on the digital more than physical, this is why sometimes the screenshots can mean more than hugs to me. “MANY REDS” is all about the mix of both and the influence of one to another.
AM: What initially drew you to the world of filmmaking, photography, and multidisciplinary art? Was there a specific moment or experience that ignited your passion for these mediums?
LO: I started making art as long as I remember and always switched up between mediums. I feel like my brain is very versatile and choosing one would be unfair, so I decided to try whatever I want whenever I want. At the end of the day, it’s the ideas that are important and some mediums express it better than others. I started painting very recently because I feel like I have those few ideas that I can’t express with anything else, so I just took a brush and knife, went with the flow and fell in love with it.
AM: Your use of the color red seems to be a central theme in your work. Can you share with us the significance of this color in your art and how it influences your creative process?
LO: My whole story with red started simply by dyeing my hair, people randomly started to call me RED outside, I wore a lot of red clothes and at some point it became my brand to the level that everyone been sending pictures of every red thing they saw. The color also just speaks to me itself, as it is the color of danger, passion, aggression, beauty and love. It brings me comfort and disturbance at the same time, I even paint in red lights so I hardly see undertones or my paintings until the morning – this is what I think feels like spending time with me.
AM: Mental health and beauty are recurring themes in your work. Can you elaborate on the significance of these themes in your art and the message you hope to convey to your audience?
LO: Mental health has been an important part of my personal and professional journey. As a teen I have been battling serious illness and wasn’t sure if I will be alive by 20, so this obviously affected me in many ways and I started to develop some inner struggles. I was not diagnosed with bipolar disorder until a bit more than a year ago and it all made sense then. During my darkest times I worked on a documentary of mental health struggles of young creatives and this helped me a lot. I owe art everything including my life and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I think it is important to be open about your mental health struggles to erase the stigma and better connect with others: like yes I might be in psychiatric urgent care today and open the craziest exhibition in Paris tomorrow, what now?
What about beauty – and I don’t want to sound too full of myself because beauty is not important to me – is that when you have been beautiful all your life it creates the certain view of the world. You can have anyone at all times, but also you can feel like hell and no one will believe you just because of the way you look. You fight to be taken seriously as an artist for years. There is a lot of darkness in beauty and I want to transfer this through my art as well. Beauty to me is more demonic than angelic and this is something that I also try to explore more in the future.
AM: Looking ahead, what projects or collaborations are you most excited about, and what direction do you see your art taking in the future?
LO: This exhibition gave me so much inspiration and new ideas, I feel truly unstoppable! I am currently working on documentary about creatives with Russian/Ukrainian origins that I started filming in Moscow; and also I got a book deal thankful to “MANY REDS” – those are two things I am working on right now, but I am also very excited to take on some commercial shoots to photograph and direct. Can’t wait to work with some of my favorite brands and artists, can’t say much more for now yet!
AM: If you could invite three artists, living or deceased, to a dinner party, who would they be and why?
LO: Ye, Andy Warhol and Marina Abramovic, no doubt. I would want some chaos. I would have Teezo Touchdown too, but just as my date.
AM: What’s a piece of art (whether it’s a film, painting, photograph, etc.) that has had a profound impact on you personally? How has it influenced your own work?
LO: First one that comes in mind is Yeezus, this album has not stop to amaze me ten years after. It reflects my personality a lot, chaotic yet passionate. I have sex to it, I paint to it, it is deeply encrusted in my mind.
I think I really try not to let other visual pieces of art influence me too much because I don’t want them to reflect in my work, but my favorites of all times are George Condo and Tracy Emin and their work speaks to me profoundly. I love movies too and I think recently I been onto David Lynch – his colors and scripts are out of this world and I am proud to show my first three films in his theatre Silencio in Paris.
AM: We all have moments of self-doubt and creative blocks. How do you overcome these challenges and reignite your passion for creating?
LO: My secret is I let them be. This is how they don’t happen. I tell myself it’s fine to take a break and two days after I am already organizing a whole movie shoot. Making art is like breathing to me and I never stop or I will die.
AM: Imagine you’re granted the opportunity to collaborate with any artist or creative professional, living or deceased. Who would you choose, and what type of project would you envision working on together?
LO: My longest dream has been making a music video/short film with Ye, Runaway type but even more surreal and scripted. I think we would kill it. And I’d love to shoot for Maison Martin Margiela while he was still in the brand, he is one of a kind to me forever. I can make the whole list but those are definitely in my top. Would walk a runway for Rick Owens too, I love wearing it but visually our aesthetics don’t match much so I’d just wear a red dress with kiss boots on a runway instead.
AM: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice when you were just starting your artistic journey, what would it be?
LO: Honestly I am very proud of myself for never selling my brain out artistically. I always created what I wanted and I cannot say that there would be much more to change. Just maybe get deeper in my influencer bag at 17 so I would never have to have a day job, but that is also a part of my path and I don’t regret anything.
AM: Finally, if you had to describe your artistic style and ethos in just three words, what would they be?
LO: Passion, power, insanity.
paris fashion week diary for hypebeast
Trying my best to save all my articles in one place - here is my Hypebeast feature covering fashion week on film a while ago. I used to work in production company that does live streaming for big fashion shows, so during the whole fashion week I was around at backstages and had a chance to take some photos with my lovely 35mm cam.
Alors que la Fashion Week de Paris s’est clôturée il y a quelques semaines, la réalisatrice Liza Ostanina nous offre un autre regard sur cet événement mode. La jeune femme s’est glissée dans les coulisses des shows pour capturer à l’argentique tout le tohu-bohu de cette semaine intense. Des coulisses du défilé Off-White™ à ceux de Sankuanz en passant par l’after party de L’Art de l’automobile, Liza Ostanina vous invite dans sa virée nostalgique.
Découvrez également le film co-réalisé par Liza Ostanina pour la griffe Premier Amour.
JANUARY FILM
I shoot film all the time, I have my amazing 35mm point+shoot in my Prada bag 7/7 24/7. Sometimes I forget about it, but when I don’t I capture the moments and places around me. I wish I had more of them and I promised myself to shoot more. This last film I developed is so brilliant that I decided to share it fully. Love each and every shot.
5 references of the day
Maison Margiela spring 2006 Every outfit came with one side finished and the other melting off into raw fabric. A couple of dresses still had bolts of fabric attached. And then, to underline the theme, there was the extraordinary jewelry—necklaces and bracelets made of ice cubes, which, in the process of melting, marked the clothes with streaks of blue or magenta.
If all that sounds like a crazy intellectual essay on work in progress, don't be too put off. This was also a hot display of grittily glamorous womanhood, as exemplified by the strong-featured, grown-up yet languorous models Margiela had selected from street castings. As they shifted their slick bodies and shook their tousled hair, they radiated enough sexual heat to reduce any man to a pool of water at their feet. As for fashion content: In a season when the stock of pantsuits is steeply on the rise, Margiela’s masterful tailoring is some of the most sophisticated around.
I shot this Marine Serre show of ss2020 right before the pandemic hit: with models in masks and apocalyptic tendency it felt very predictive. Serre is part of a new wave of young designers who’ve taken matters into their own hands by quietly and intuitively embedding sustainable values into the seams of their clothes.
The title of her latest collection, Marée Noire, means oil spill in English, though the literal translation has an even more ominous ring to it: black tide. The show began at the toll of what sounded like a death knell with a series of slick all-black looks that included recycled plastic raincoats accessorized with reclaimed metal hardware belts, seashells hung on hoop earrings, and reusable water canister holders. Speaking before the show, Serre explained that the collection was conceived as the aftermath of an apocalypse in which only a handful of people have survived devastating climate wars and mass extinction. Though the designer rarely works in black, this season the funereal tones made perfect sense.
Les Oréades is an oil painting by the French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau, painted in 1902. The Oreads is a mythological painting and it is one of Bouguereau's best-known works. The painting includes many nude females, a characteristic seen in many of Bouguereau's artworks. It is painted in a Neoclassical style which features mythological Roman and Greek nymphs and satyrs.[2]
The Oreads is named after the nymph of the mountains, the Oreads, also known as Orestiads. In Greek mythology, these creatures are led by the Greek Moon goddess of the hunt named Artemis, one of the most venerated ancient Greekdeities. In ancient Rome she was known as Diana. Artemis or Diana prefers to stay on the mountainside; that is the reason the Oreads are always her companion. Oreads are lively creatures who hunt wild animals such as boar and birds with their arrows. Under Diana's guidance, the Oreads line themselves behind her in a luminous form. The painting shows the Oreads ascending into the sky while three satyrs watch them, seemingly mystified at the sight.
On ‘Hell Shell’ Young Nudy raps about truth and honesty in gang life, and the consequences that come from betraying your ‘dawgs’ (gang).
A notable feature of the song is the ‘bouncing beat’ that can be felt when listening to the song with headphones on. The beat purposely ‘ricochets’ between the listener’s ears to explain the ‘Shell’ part of the song, where Nudy is intending his shotgun shells are ricocheting all over the place. This is done by stereo recording, which has two tracks on which you can record your music rather than one.
Pi'erre has done this by recording beats on the left track and the right track separately, so that in turn they will appear at the opposite sides of your headphones.
And it’s fire.
Nam June Paik, ‘Blue Buddha’, 1992–1996, mixed media, 250 x 15.5 x 20 cm. Installation view at Shanghai Himalayas Museum, “Dunhuang: Song of Living Beings”.
Watch The Throne
8th of august 2011 we got one of the most hard-to-believe collab albums in modern hip-hop history. Yes, Kanye and Jay-Z are long time collaborators: first beats he produced for Jay-Z was 2001’s “Izzo“ and “Heart of the City“, and since then they got a good rollout of features from College Dropout's "Never Let Me Down" to MBDTF “So Appalled“ and hip-hop Avengers equivalent “Monster“. It is easy to imagine now as we live in the era of collabs - in fashion, music or pretty much anything. Now it is normal to have Future and Drake joint tape, or have Young Thug working with Future, Chris Brown or his whole record label. But before in the era of beefs and rap battles it was hard to imagine two biggest hip-hop stars jump on a tape together. Album production includes our all-time favourites Mike Dean, Swizz Beatz, Tyler Pase, Pete Rock, RZA, Jeff Bhasker, The Neptunes, and Q-Tip. But it’s not about that.
I remember the day they dropped Otis - I physically couldn’t stop playing the video. It is a directorial genre masterpiece directed by Kanye’s long time collaborator Spike Jonze (who directed the brilliant “Flashing Lights“ and "We were once a fairytale“ - a short film featuring Kanye in 808 era, if you never seen it, go watch!) (and who also never replied to my Raya dm request and I’m still mad about it). Otis sampling “Try a little tenderness“ by Otis Redding produced solely by West himself made us directly think they didn’t come to play.
The album starts with frank Ocean vocals and Jay-Z jumping on the beat produced by 88-Keys, Kanye West and Mike Dean. Music video as well deserve the mention: the cinematic excellence directed by french filmmaker Romain Gavras - year after his feature film “Our Day Will Come“ with Vincent Cassel - and same year he directed one of my favorite music videos of all times “Bad Girls” by M.I.A. Kanye’s opening verse is still in my head til this day. You can’t remake the greatness. Lift Off was the only one skip for me, I do not understand the concept and the message of this song and I never will. It just doesn’t sound right to me, even though it is co-produced and co-written by Pharrell. “Gotta have“ is produced by West and Neptunes and I really love the rap style on this one - they do line after line and no separate verses. “Who gon stop me“ got dubstep production influences and is another example how genius is Kanye with production trends and waves. I wish I heard this one on the show, it must go crazy. Jay-Z went so hard on his last verse it should be illegal. Maybe because I just love when he namedropping Picasso Rothko and Basquiat.
“Murder to excellence” was praised by critics and earned a nomination for Impact Track at the 2012 Bet Hip Hop Awards, and ultimately lost to "Daughters" by Nas. My favorite lines are “I dress in Dries, and other boutique stores in Paris” by Jay-Z (I still say Dries with this accent” and Ye one:
New crib, watch a movie
'Cause there ain't nothin' on the news but the blues
Hit the mall, pick up some Gucci
Now ain't nothing new but your shoes
Sunday morning, praise the Lord
You the girl that Jesus had been saving me for
“This ain't no fashion show, motherfucker, we live it“ quote from “Made in America” brings me to another part of the whole WTT era. Both album art and merch was designed by Riccardo Tisci, then creative director of Givenchy. Givenchy had a tight grip on everyone those years and was arguably the most hyped brand in hip-hop, of course not without Kanye influence. You couldn’t go nowhere without seeing Rottweiler sweatshirt ( I HAD to buy one but my 18 years old self could only afford it with a giant discount from a friend who worked in Givenchy store in Moscow, the perks of working in fashion since adolescence). Shown in 2011 menswear show alongside with male tights, leather skirts and luxury high-top sneakers became the start of the whole era of layers, prints, black on black and face mask trends.
In 2012 spring menswear and 2012 resort women’s collections Riccardo Tisci shown prints slightly similar to what we see in WTT graphics - they were everywhere. I feel like fall 2012 menswear collection was even inspired by Kanye and of course worn by him on most of the WTT tour shows, with leather star-printed sweatshirts and skirt looks. Full red suit was definitely a reference to MBDTF era and no one can tell me otherwise.
Paris track deserves the special mention. There was no party without this song playing. Now imagine - you in a fashion week in Paris, this is one of your first times in the city, you somehow dancing in front of Kanye and Virgil at some afterparty, and this one starts playing. I would just say “YOU WASN’T THERE“. Screaming “What's that jacket, Margiela?” with whole chest because the jacket was, in fact, Margiela. It was everywhere, it was my ultimate Parisian soundtrack, we played it on every party, in cars driving fast at night with Eiffel Tower views. The song won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards and is currently close to BILLION streams on Spotify alone. In an interview, Kanye West revealed that the song was inspired by his travels in Paris:
I am where art meets commercial. The sweet spot between the hood and Hollywood. Having a conversation with Karl Lagerfeld and Jay-Z within the same hour. When we're in Paris dressing all crazy at fashion shows, we listening to Jay-Z. Jeezy in Paris, that's what it is.
On June 1, 2012 during their first date in Paris, at the Bercy, they actually broke the record, performing the song 11 times. They claimed themselves that the record was held by Los Angeles, when Jay-Z said: "The record is held by L.A. with ten times. It was really “wish I was there“ moment - as told by friends who was, mostpits went crazy and the crowd just didn’t let them switch the beat. One of my favorite part is that it was actually recorded at Hôtel Meurice, in the middle of Paris.
10 years ago you bump WTT reminiscing about this beautiful era, ready to build the new one on your own. Here, in Paris, “If you escape what I escape you’d be in Paris gettin fucked up too“. I add up a fire bonus, short WTT doc that I am sure not everyone saw yet. Sometimes I quote my art as NO ONE KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS BUT IT’S PROVOCATIVE, and it makes all the sense.
In Search Of…
In Search Of… is 20 years old today, but it sounds like it could drop yesterday. The debut N.E.R.D. studio album: although Chad Hugo and Pharrell already worked together for few years and had such production credits as Jay-Z “I just wanna love you” and Kelis “Kaleidoscope” album, this was the first time when they went full force on their first album that became a total blueprint for the whole generation until this day: in music, lyrics and style.
If you play In Search Of… today, from start to finish it is really hard to believe that it’s written in 2001. Starting with Lapdance, an ultimate dirty talk song that can easily be played at any party today and everyone will scream lyrics from start to finish. Mixing guitars and female vocals with Pharrell’s iconic singing, the song uses comparison of politicians to strippers giving a lap dance for free due to the use of their excessive propaganda without even take action.
The album is named after the TV series In Search of..., hosted by Leonard Nimoy. Pharrell really made nerd and unique cool in the era when they wanted you to look the same. In the era when you had to wear FUBU and AF1’s to be cool, Pharrell pulled up on his BMX wearing NERD trucker, straight jeans, BBC t’s and pink polos. P was the original originator of the sound and looks, so powerful that he still influence young artists with his work he did 20 years ago.
In Search Of... served as a sonic and aesthetic touchstone for many artists who came to prominence after its release. Virgil Abloh said in his NYT interview that the album "described a whole generation of young black kids and artists who have since been determined to be themselves and jump through that door that was opened by Pharrell." - and he still references it in his shows and exhibitions.
Following the tracklist, “Things are getting better“ and “Run to the sun“ are my personal perfect feel-good jams for early mornings mood set. I still think “Brain” is one of the sexiest songs ever written - as a teen I thought it was about her being smart and that it turns him on THAT much. Provider is also in my top sexiest songs of all times - hearing “Will I find my sanity where I find my glory” became my personal statement for few years. This song, especially with the music video, could not possibly be more 2001. You’ve got Blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums, American Beauty-esque suburban surreality, and legendary pro skater Tony Hawk making a cameo in the visuals as a gas station clerk. Truth or dare is truly legendary and I wish the Kelis story wasn’t that questionable. “Rockstar” and “Stay Together” can also be in top 3, this album has no skips - til this day. “Tape You” might be my personal favorite just because once my crush sent me this song out of blue. No context, no words, just N.E.R.D. - Tape You in iMessages. Also personal, as a filmmaker. It should be officially forbidden to Pharrell to say words like “mama” or “sugar”.
Quoth the Neptunes: "In Search Of...seems like a bland title, but for us, it's In search of love. In search of happiness. In search of smiling. In search of that bitch with the big ass. In search of the answer to why my brother smokes crack. It's all of that; it's about being open." Pharrell was always there with a positive message - before it was cool to be mindful, have a clean lifestyle and do your skincare. Pharrell sang “I wish we could run to the sun“ the same year when Nelly and Luda was all over the charts with their What’s your “Fantasy” and “Country Grammar”. Together with Outkast dropping Stankonia the same year, N.E.R.D. started the big shift in hip-hop, mashing up the genres and creating their own new cool.
6AM thoughts on DONDA
Kanye have always been the mirror of my inner self. He was singing about working in Gap when I had my high school retail job, rapped about heartbreaks on 808 when I was having my first sad love story, helped me to become a phoenix of my own fairytale with Dark Twisted Fantasy, was there with Yeezus drug chaos, I was a visa away to model for The Life of Pablo and felt Famous with my chest. And it was when he dropped ye, the moment when I found out about my mental health diagnosis and felt that I am not alone. Feel the love felt like a manic episode and Ghost Town really felt like a long awaited happiness. “You will be fine” as a song.
I was waiting for DONDA a lot because I wanted to see what’s coming for me. We was so aligned it made no sense, I started to use Kanye albums as my personal tarot cards with perfect features. First performance felt so different from the second one, but I found both brilliant in their own way. The full red look and patent leather pants, mask and Akira fit reference made me think straight away: he is back and he is here for me. It felt like flying on the other planet when I heard Moon for the first time and Jail was on repeat every day ever since the first screening. Those were PERSONALLY GROUNDBREAKING.
Ye started rollout with live streaming from something I would call an ART JAIL CELL. Chance pulled up. Steve Lacy Pulled up. Demna with his boyfriend who was responsible for merch design and Ye spike jacket from Balenciaga Men’s Fall 2020 pulled up. Vic Mensa and Lil Yachty pulled up. Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch cheered Kanye while he did push ups - felt really chaotic post-divorce masculine energy in 15m2. At some point we could see model Cailin Russo in Balenciaga armor thigh-high boots from runway and DONDA merch. Two more models joined - IN FULL RED.
“The mix of the fashion show and a moshpit was just a perfect combo for the whole Kanye aesthetic”
The event itself started with Ye in an imaginary room - first thought was Tracey Emin work “Bed” and looked very much apart of the performance. Spiked jacket laying around. The list of features looked extremely impressive - he added some new ones from Kid Cudi and Young Thug together on one song (my personal heaven), he definitely called the Lox after the Verzuz - what a genius move - and added Jay Electronica on the same song. Now we got TWO songs with Carti, Yachty and Roddy Rich did their mid verses and The Weeknd was just perfect addition to the Hurricane. My absolutely favorite one is still Jail - I was screaming it all loud at 4am with my red lights on, my neighbors definitely hated me. Even though I feel like Jay Z could go harder and it would be really perfect then. Young Thug and Kid Cudi on one Ye song is definitely my dream come true.
The whole performance felt way more evolved than the ones he did with Vanessa Beercroft - I am not sure that Demna is responsible for the biggest part, but the mix of the fashion show and a moshpit was just a perfect combo for the whole Kanye aesthetic. When he started doing push ups and screaming on this big ass phone it was really a part of a staged newly single life routine. Hope to see more men doing push ups on camera after. The whole art performance turned fashion show turned a moshpit and going to heaven was the real character evolution in 20 minutes. The part where hundreds of guys in all black jumped out I remembered his texts with Skepta: I need 30 goons for All Day performance on BET. Same Energy.
I feel like my favorite part is versatility of the sound, beats, meanings and visuals. Heaven and hell dancing together. It was really beautiful. I feel like he did something similar to TLOP - he morphed many sounds into one big performative act. Kanye has always been the king of collaborations - from working with Jay-Z Neptunes and Lupe in early 2000s to discovering and co-signing the biggest stars of decade like Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, and even Drake - Ye one of the first biggest stars to have a feature with him. Ye has a perfect quality of having his hand on a pulse of NOW. One of the reasons he will always be relevant is that he is open to collaborate with young talents and let them be themselves, bringing different sounds into his art. Collaboration with Demna and Balenciaga was as genius as calling Lox after their unofficial Verzuz win. Who else if not Ye? I am personally upset that 070 was the only woman in the list, but to be fair I don’t find any female artists on his level or with the sound that actually fits the aesthetics. I don’t believe he drops before at last few more days. RED LIGHTS ON WE ON IT.
Why RED?
Hi, my name is Liza - short from Elizaveta - and this will be my first blog post. I may be 10 years late with it, but I have always loved expressing my thoughts in any art form, and writing was one of them. My first university major was journalism, and my first real job was a fashion editor in Vogue Russia, so I guess it does makes sense. So why RED?
RED is more than just a Pantone 032c for me. Since red is the color of blood, it has historically been associated with sacrifice, danger, and courage. Modern surveys in Europe and the United States show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love, and joy. In Russia “RED“ means “beautiful” - quite literally. The red color symbolizes the courage and the love of the Russian people. It really been in there for a long time.
I dyed my hair red after one painful period of my life - I really wanted to start a new chapter and changing hair seemed like a good idea to me. Right before moving to Moscow I went to salon in my hometown and erased my natural blonde with bright red. And I really felt like a new person - in the best way possible.
Red really made me feel like myself again and was very empowering. I started to model more because of my hair color and it really became my thing. Soon enough I started to wear full red fits matching my hair and getting streetstyled all over Europe. I didn’t have my nickname yet, but at the first off-white presentation one cool LA designer told me I look RAD. Me not knowing the word thinking that he was referencing my hair, he saw the confusion in my eyes and said - RAD with a, as of you look fly. I remembered.
I started to use RED as a nickname after this and wore a lot of RED. At some point I only bought red clothes. Indie magazine even wrote a feature about me collecting red things. Even after I decided to grow back my natural hair color and got back to wearing all black and all the colors again, I kept the name. Reminds me of good personal renaissance and the feeling of “you can have it all”. I like when people scream “YO RED” on the show backstage too. My funniest interaction happened with Raf Simons, when I was about to sign my magazine copy. I said please sign “RED” he, questioning everything, asked “just RED” and I said “yea RED as a color”. I saw quiet approval in his eyes. All I know is next day he wore red patent leather pants to Palais De Tokyo museum. Not saying it is my influence but it might be.
