subscribe to news A look at children's fashion through Russia's cultural code

The conference programme of CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2023. Spring presented a Panel Discussion on the Cultural Code of Russia in Children's Fashion to the exhibitors and visitors to the show.

The event was organised by EXPOCENTRE AO. Partners: the Council on Culture of the Youth Parliament under the Russian State Duma, the National Project Fund.

The panel discussion was moderated by Alexander Solonkin, Chairman of the Expert Council for Culture under the Youth Parliament of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Press Secretary to the Vice Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, and Elena Kalgina, Executive Director of the National Project Fund, member of the Public Chamber of Moscow Region, member of the Council for Culture under the Youth Parliament of the State Duma of Russia, co-founder of the I am on Style project.

Opening the discussion, Elena Kalgina separately thanked EXPOCENTRE for its continued readiness to host and promote important events, introducing her fellow co-host from the State Duma. Alexander Solonkin in his introductory speech stressed the extreme importance in the current conditions of preserving the cultural sovereignty of the country and the need for concrete actions to strengthen it.

Elena Shkarupa, representing the Depeche mode brand, spoke about the I'm on Style project, of which she is a co-founder. As part of this project, children's clothing designers will be given the opportunity to present and promote brands they have developed in Russia. These brands should be based on cultural features that are distinctive to the Russian Federation.

"Our country has technologists, we have designers, we have all opportunities to make ourselves known proudly and directly," said Elena Shkarupa, noting that the first customer of the I'm on Style project will be Soyuzmultfilm. This, in the opinion of the experienced designer, will directly meet today's demand - the promotion of the Russian fairy tale, Russian animation, the values of goodness and justice, the cute, fluffy, glorious images that we remember from our childhood.

Olga de Brockville, CEO of MEDIAKIT, dwelled on the specifics of perception of modern children, who are literally immersed in their own world, in which the example of adults plays a defining role. First of all, it is the so-called Influencers, most often bloggers with a large audience. It is with them, according to Olga de Brockville, that national brands will have to be actively promoted, since it is them that children and teenagers are most likely to emulate. Popular Russian cartoons and children's films, such as the animated series ‘Prostokvashino’ and the film ‘Cheburashka’, should also receive systemic support from the Russian fashion industry.

Further discussion of the theme of Russia's cultural code in children's fashion covered various aspects of the work of the Russian design community, light industry enterprises, specialists in 3D modelling and software for designers of children's clothing, issues of financial support to the industry and further improvement of legislation in this area.

The panel discussion was attended by Anton Gureev, the founder of ‘The Man Who Sews’ community of sewing business entrepreneurs; Vladlena Tabanakova, the manager of textile company RUNA TEX; Maria Shevchenko, the founder of 3dcouture School of 3D design and visualization in Russia; Lyudmila Merkulova, a member of the Russian Designers Union and design expert from the National Design Institute, and many other experts representing companies producing children's clothing.

Based on the large number of suggestions made during the panel discussion, it is planned to prepare a synthesis document which will be presented by the Expert Council for Culture at the Youth Parliament of the State Duma for further discussion by parliamentarians and the development of relevant legislative initiatives. 

Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO