Long before the idea of Flor et Lavr ever came to fruition, Frol Burimskiy was already collecting the materials that made an appearance in the debut collection of his own couture line — hooks, buttons, bolts of fabric and even a vintage carpet, bought five years prior in a Moscow flea market with the thought that it would have made a great coat. Those became a theme of sorts for this first lineup.
After years spent alongside Ulyana Sergeenko, seeped in her high fantasy couture universe, he wanted to cast his eye toward men’s wear.
Cue pieces designed for men that anyone could pick up: a satin bathrobe coat, fluid shirts, an asymmetric pinstripe suit with purposefully mismatched panels or, for women, a lightweight jacket constructed to look like a man’s jacket just pulled in by a belt.
Given the found aspect of his materials, much of the collection is one-of-a-kind. To supplement it, he added artisanal touches, such as Vologda lace, developing his own motifs with traditional craftspeople. Burimskiy let the materials guide his hand. An emerald green and burnt umber runner made on a handloom in Uzbekistan became a velvety coat that visitors of his Crillon showroom were almost lining up to try on; a bolt of floral Soviet crepe de chine, a boxy blouse; that flea market carpet turned up as the sleeves of a black jacket.
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The attitude was a lush, louche nonchalance that nodded to the works of Brassai, American photographer Deborah Turbeville or Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, which all made an appearance on his inspiration board. “They all wanted to develop something unseen and dreamy in the world. I love things that are not definite, that leaves space for fantasy,” he said. The kind of clothes that one can imagine easily a young Burimskiy admiring, eyes filling with a dream of fashion.