Designers Anna and Alexey Borodulin

Anna and Alexey Borodulins are a union, both family and creative. Anna and Alexey are designers, creators of the BORODULIN`S brand of fashionable women's clothing, which has existed since 2008, participants of the Russian Fashion Week. The BORODULIN`S brand releases four collections per year: Spring-Summer, Autumn-Winter, a cruise collection, and a flash collection dedicated to Christmas.

1. Creative duet. Is it hard to work together? Does it happen that you have different ideas that are opposite to each other, disputes arise, or do you always think in the same direction?

We are already used to working together and do not really think about it. Our aesthetic vector is very similar, but of course, sometimes we disagree and argue or argue about how best to act for the best result. To say that we think absolutely the same way is hardly possible, we are real people, partners in life and work, we are interested in discovering something new and interesting in each other. Exactly the same thinking is boring and hardly possible, therefore we complement each other, develop together and this is very interesting for us. We have heard a variety of controversial opinions about our collections, but almost never that they are boring, since they harmoniously contain a male and female look. Co-creation is a path where not everything is simple, but we believe that the difficulties and joys that life brings us make us more perfect and teach us to be stronger and smarter than before.

2. How can you characterize the style in which you work?

This frequently asked question is probably easier to say from the outside. We would not evaluate ourselves and define our style, because in the process of our thinking and development, as designers, we were carried away by different directions. A lot of things have already been invented in fashion, but for every designer going through his creative path, each new theme is new and is a personal discovery. In the process of studying, we were very interested in ethnic ancient themes, later we felt an interest in the classics and began to see sports collections in a new way. Gradually, we came to our own view of the Russian theme in fashion, which is closely related to history. The creation of collections is a work, and not only our own, but also of the people who work with us. Therefore, the themes of our collections are becoming more serious, we are no longer interested in just playing fashion. Through creativity, we want to say more than we could before, and the bar for future collections should be higher and filled with themes that excite us. Of course, to the best of our ability.

3. Collection "Tsar's Daughters". How did you come up with the idea to create such a magnificent, historical collection? What is the reason for its appearance?

This topic worried us before, as a very bright and dramatic page in the history of Russia. In the “Tsar's Daughters” Collection, of course, there are personal experiences associated with this difficult and exciting topic, we took up its implementation only a few years after this idea first appeared. And already being last year in the Crimea, in the Livadia Palace, the former summer residence of Russian tsarist families, we matured for this collection and felt the strength to create it. We imbued ourselves with this story very much, studied the archives, but made this collection from an artistic and conceptual point of view the way we felt, we did not set ourselves the goal of making archival copies of dresses or bringing it to theatrical style.

4. This season you also presented a collection associated with a historical person, the Olga collection dedicated to Princess Olga. Tell us about this collection: what is its highlight? Who is this collection suitable for? What's the idea behind the collection?

The Olga collection is dedicated to the personality of Grand Duchess Olga, the very first woman ruler in Kievan Rus.Olga's personality is very strong, integral and multifaceted, even now historians have many questions regarding the time of her reign. We were very inspired by her image. Since in her life she had to rule the state, solve diplomatic issues, even wage a war, it was a great honor for us to think over a collection for such a unique woman and very interesting from a design point of view. The collection "Olga" contains several themes, the main ones of which are soft feminine block and cold minimalistic one with a bias towards military. Of course, we tried to put a lot of personal relationship to Olga into the collection.

5. What do you think about the fashion industry in Russia, about the prospects for its development?

It is still difficult to talk about the industry as a whole, since Russia still has a lot to do in this direction and we very much hope for positive changes in the direction of development and strengthening. Of course, we are sure that there are prospects, therefore we are engaged in design and love our work very much.

6. And the work of which designers, perhaps both Russian and Western, are you interested in yourself?

We prefer not to publicly discuss other designers, and we wish each of them the best of luck.

7. What are your plans, of course, creative ones for the future?

There are plans, of course, but we prefer not to talk about them in advance, and if we succeed in implementing everything that has been conceived, we will be very happy.