Fashion rarely exists in a political vacuum. In today’s fractured world, it often reflects shifting power, resilience, and ambition. As sanctions isolate Russia and global influence tilts eastward, the country’s fashion industry has emerged as an unexpected barometer of change, revealing how style, commerce, and geopolitics intersect in subtle but telling ways.
So much of our understanding of the world’s history depends on who’s telling us the story. Perhaps no one is more cognizant of this than Russia today. The country finds itself in a geopolitical storm, especially since it upped the ante in its war with Ukraine in 2022. The Western world, particularly the United States and Europe, has imposed massive trade sanctions on Russia. US President Donald Trump has also penalised countries such as India for continuing to trade with Moscow. Yet Russia, like China, is determined to shift the centre of global power from the West to the East, particularly to the BRICS countries.
Russia has hosted the BRICS+ Fashion Summit for three years now, aligning it with Moscow Fashion Week. The overt aim of the summit is to move the conversation to emerging markets, where Russia and China remain dominant players.
I have been visiting Russia since before the COVID-19 pandemic as a guest of Moscow Fashion Week. In the six to seven years since, the country has changed from being a confused hodgepodge of style to a more confident and assertive aesthetic.