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WHOLE LOTTA LOVE
Artist, model, film student and fashion designer: Russian-born Lotta Volkova is the uncrowned queen of the underground.
Sure enough, by 2003, when club night Nag Nag Nag was still in its infancy, a new school of teenage wild style and fierce flamboyance had emerged particularly among the boys). They made going out at night a visual feast once more, both at Nag Nag Nag and the other clubs that duly followed, such as Kashpoint and Electrogogo. Under the keen tutorage of clubland stalwarts such as DJ Princess Julia, Johnny Slut, Mathew Glamorre and Mark Moore, clans of inner and outer London-based youngsters, art students, fledgling fashion designers, performers, DJs and dreamers were once more dipping into dressing up boxes and make-up bags. Again London looked exciting and dazzling. Journalists and photographers flocked from around the world to capture the shenanigans; magazines ran spreads on the exotic new Club Kids; those '80s disco monsters donned their vintage Westwood and even started going out regularly again. When you add to this the subsequent rejection of vast '90s super-clubs in preference for the small and grubby pubs that have become the modern epicentres of fashion and nightlife in the Capital, then you have a fantastic collision of old and new style heroes rubbing shoulders and trading ideas. Furthermore, the gas mask and frock-sporting likes of a contemporary performer such as Johnny Woo has single-handedly effected a trannie revival, via his ingenious cross-dressing live shows at Bistrotheque. And the out-there, ultra-theatrical creations of fashion designer and i-D contributing stylist Gareth Pugh meanwhile have made it abundantly clear that the real, hot new stars are bugger all to do with Heat magazine.
Striking a pose with aplomb is not the whole story, however. Aside from the Fine Art degree at Central Saint Martins - where Volkova is currently specialising in video and photographic works - she is also evolving and expanding her featured unisex/menswear line, which she casually started back in 2003. "At first I was just making things for myself, because I didn't like much other stuff that was out there. Then friends said I should sell them in shops." Fast-forward to the present day, and the Lotta Skeletrix label is stocked in stores such as Side by Side in Tokyo and London's Dover Street Market. Her hard-edged clothing and accessories for Autumn/Winter 2005/6 - distressed denims and leather, studded vests and silver bullets galore - are aimed at men (skinny ones, ideally) but can also be worn by women. "I like clothes with simple shapes, but with quite a lot going on in the surface - which is a very menswear way of doing things," confirms Volkova. Next up is a full-on Skeletrix show - "more of an event than a show, with bands playing and photographic installations" - as part of the Paris menswear week. With customary gung-ho, she concludes, "The fashion thing is parallel to what I'm doing at college. It's more like one big art project, and a chance to enjoy things and see what happens." Which, of course, sounds like a whole Lotta fun.
Sure enough, by 2003, when club night Nag Nag Nag was still in its infancy, a new school of teenage wild style and fierce flamboyance had emerged particularly among the boys). They made going out at night a visual feast once more, both at Nag Nag Nag and the other clubs that duly followed, such as Kashpoint and Electrogogo. Under the keen tutorage of clubland stalwarts such as DJ Princess Julia, Johnny Slut, Mathew Glamorre and Mark Moore, clans of inner and outer London-based youngsters, art students, fledgling fashion designers, performers, DJs and dreamers were once more dipping into dressing up boxes and make-up bags. Again London looked exciting and dazzling. Journalists and photographers flocked from around the world to capture the shenanigans; magazines ran spreads on the exotic new Club Kids; those '80s disco monsters donned their vintage Westwood and even started going out regularly again. When you add to this the subsequent rejection of vast '90s super-clubs in preference for the small and grubby pubs that have become the modern epicentres of fashion and nightlife in the Capital, then you have a fantastic collision of old and new style heroes rubbing shoulders and trading ideas. Furthermore, the gas mask and frock-sporting likes of a contemporary performer such as Johnny Woo has single-handedly effected a trannie revival, via his ingenious cross-dressing live shows at Bistrotheque. And the out-there, ultra-theatrical creations of fashion designer and i-D contributing stylist Gareth Pugh meanwhile have made it abundantly clear that the real, hot new stars are bugger all to do with Heat magazine.
Striking a pose with aplomb is not the whole story, however. Aside from the Fine Art degree at Central Saint Martins - where Volkova is currently specialising in video and photographic works - she is also evolving and expanding her featured unisex/menswear line, which she casually started back in 2003. "At first I was just making things for myself, because I didn't like much other stuff that was out there. Then friends said I should sell them in shops." Fast-forward to the present day, and the Lotta Skeletrix label is stocked in stores such as Side by Side in Tokyo and London's Dover Street Market. Her hard-edged clothing and accessories for Autumn/Winter 2005/6 - distressed denims and leather, studded vests and silver bullets galore - are aimed at men (skinny ones, ideally) but can also be worn by women. "I like clothes with simple shapes, but with quite a lot going on in the surface - which is a very menswear way of doing things," confirms Volkova. Next up is a full-on Skeletrix show - "more of an event than a show, with bands playing and photographic installations" - as part of the Paris menswear week. With customary gung-ho, she concludes, "The fashion thing is parallel to what I'm doing at college. It's more like one big art project, and a chance to enjoy things and see what happens." Which, of course, sounds like a whole Lotta fun.