Childhood memories stay in our minds like discrete hazy moments hung together through time.
Cherishing the memories of her youth, Victoria Andrejeva finds her creative inspiration in the things that surrounded her as a little girl fom the Eastern Blok. The thoughts of the Lithuanian designer behind the brand Cherevichkiotvichki didn’t stop to wander throughout the abandoned and deserted spaces of her native country during Soviet times. With some kind of nostalgia, Victoria imbues her functional heritage into skillfully crafted shoes and leather goods. The strict bareness of Soviet’s workers translates into minimalistic designs that focus on comfort and longevity, achieved through careful researches and long manufacturing processes. Cherevichkiotvichki’s Part Two– AW14 collection of men’s and women’s shoes, bags and accessories was hosted within the “industrial garbage” installation entitled “Nature vs. Nurture; talking utility, exotic hides, lack of choice, and abundance of it. The aged textures of shoes, bags and accessories almost seem to reproduce the roughness of the recovered industrial materials among which they are displayed. Recalling the brand’s first collections, AW14 Part Two brings back the use of exotic leathers: vibrant python and lizard skins join the finest baby calf suede, large French calf anf the extremely durable horsehide, all polished with animal fat and painted by hand; blending the bespoke shoemaking tradition to contemporary experimental solutions. The solid shapes and functional construction of the pieces are often inspired by Andrejeva’s family clothing, as most of her family members were factory workers during Soviet times, and proudly showcase her essential utilitarian background. Wooden heels and linen twines develop further the designer’s meditation on the “nature vs. nurture” theme which animates this year Cherevichkiotvichki’s collection.
Despite they seem to fade away while growing up, child’s memories leave their mark and find their way to exert a certain subtle influence on our lives.
