A visitor looks at shirts at the shop of Denis Simachev
© AFP/File Natalia KolesnikovaMOSCOW (AFP) - He also borrows ideas from the homeless -- "they find the best combinations".
Fashion designer Denis Simachev captures the spirit of modern-day Russia.
"I try to understand what interests society, to feel the pulse of the time. When I get it, I create clothes that become living billboards," said the designer, who employs 300 people and sells clothes in 40 countries.
Smiling and relaxed, the ambitious 32-year-old receives his guests decked out in leopard-skin sneakers and a black T-shirt in the boutique store he has just opened in downtown Moscow, wedged between Hermes and Louis Vuitton.
An elaborate tattoo of a naked woman covers his forearm.
People come here to hand over sizeable sums of money for shirts inscribed with "Oil is everything for us", cufflinks shaped like the head of a wolf from Soviet cartoons or a ring that looks like a five-kopeck coin.
"Five years ago, I made hooded sweaters with the symbol of the USSR at a time when people wanted to forget Soviet symbols like a nightmare and become westernised."
Denis Simachev poses in his shop in Moscow
© AFP/File Natalia Kolesnikova"This theme no longer interests me as a creator, but clothes from this collection are still at the top of sales," said Simachev, the son of a soldier and a teacher, who has "happy" memories of his Soviet childhood.
Then followed the T-shirt with a portrait of Putin framed by little roses. He came up with the design when Putin was only interim president after the resignation of Boris Yeltsin -- "but everyone talked a lot about him".
"I was advised not to put it on merchandise. 'Putin in roses, what does that mean? Do you worship him or mock him? You will have problems,' that's what they said," Simachev recalled.
"Today it's my bestseller, an ideal present for foreigners," he added.
The winter 2006 collection, characterised by large mittens and fur boots, was called "Chief of Chukotka", an allusion to billionaire Roman Abramovich, governor of this icebound outpost in far eastern Russia -- though he asked Putin to accept his resignation this week.
Media reports have said Abramovich, who owns English Premiership football champions Chelsea as well as a 28-million-pound (41-million-euro, 55-million-dollar) house in the British capital and an 18-million-pound estate in the Sussex countryside south of London, finances the designer.
Simachev refused to comment but admitted that Abramovich, Russia's richest man and considered Britain's second-richest resident, wears "some" of his creations.
Simachev's new collection, which is due to be presented in Milan on January 17, will be dedicated to Russian hoodlums, who have characterised the country's rocky transition from communism after the Soviet crash.
"They still exist, nothing changed in this country, where half of the population was behind bars and another half was afraid of getting jailed. The society is filled with fear and prison aesthetics," Simachev said.
Simachev is a graduate of a fine arts school but says he got into fashion "by chance". He sets himself apart from other Russian fashion designers and is more likely to take part in shows in western European capitals.
"Certainly I am provocative, if I wasn't no one would wear my clothes," he acknowledged with a smile.
"I have Russian roots but I associate myself with world fashion," said the designer, who takes the metro to avoid Moscow traffic jams.
He has never held a pret-a-porter show in Russia and his only show here was held earlier this month in an abandoned factory to mark the opening of his boutique.
"It is useless to spend as much money on Moscow as on Paris or Milan, there is no media here or customer feedback. Friends whom I dress need no shows," he explained.
©AFP