My intervew with Russian fashion designer Kira Plastinina.
When did you know you wanted to start a fashion line?
Designing clothes is something that I was interested in all my life. Even before I knew how to draw, I would make my aunt draw me princesses and then I would scribble all over them trying to dress them in beautiful ball gowns. When I got my first dog, I started dressing up my dog. This interest followed me all my life, and when I was 14 years old, my father came up with the idea of launching a business together – I would be responsible for the creative part, and he would do the business. Of course, I immediately accepted his generous offer, and have been working really hard ever since, to not let down anyone who believed in me, and more importantly, myself. I feel extremely lucky to have started working at such an early age, and have the work of my dreams. Opening a store in Dallas has been another important milestone in my life, because now I have an opportunity to not only design for the general public, but to share my passions with my SMU friends, who have always been so incredibly supportive of what I do.
How old were you when you first launched your fashion line, and what was it called?
In 2007, when I was 14 years old, I launched my first brand called “Kira Plastinina”, which is a fast-fashion brand with over 300 stores in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus today. In 2009, I launched my premium brand called “LUBLU”, which means “I love” in Russian, and earlier this year opened the flagship boutique for it in Dallas in the Plaza at Preston Center.
Do you want to continue to be a fashion designer for the rest of your career?
I absolutely love what I’m doing right now and want to keep on doing it for the rest of my life. Apart from designing, I am now also really involved in all the business operations, which makes my work even more interesting and exciting.
What are the difficulties with being famous, especially in Russia?
I guess the biggest challenge that I’ve encountered is the pressures of always being in the public spotlight and always remembering that you are an inspirational figure for many young ladies and desire not to let them down. It is very exciting to have that in my life, however it is also a big responsibility. My freshman year at SMU I purposefully did not tell anyone about my work to take a break from this responsibility and to make friends for who I really am. After joining my sorority and making the best friends I could ever imagine, I felt comfortable and settled in, which allowed me to be more open about my life in Moscow.
What advice would you give to anyone interested in starting her own fashion line?
The biggest advice I got when I was starting was from my fashion designer role model at a time – Vivienne Westwood. I admire her attitude towards her work and her belief in herself and her intuition. I think for a creative profession such as fashion design, it is crucial to understand what you really like and what aesthetic appeals to you personally, regardless of the current trends or suggestions from even people who might be more experienced. If you develop and understanding of really embraces your personality, your fashion line will be genuine and unique. I suggest starting with researching the history of art, following current trends and movements in fashion (not necessarily the most popular ones from the front page, but looking into younger, more thought-provoking and less commercial fashions, such as the Japanese street style movement, or the Moroccan flair), and creating moodboards of folders with images that appeal to you. After you collect a significant amount of these inspirations, patterns will start to emerge, and you will realize more clearly what it is that you really like. Over the years of doing this on a daily basis I have developed a vast inspirational database, which has helped me greatly with designing new collections season.
LUBLU on the runway: