Sergey Byzov

Iryna KONONCHUK

Photo: Alexander LOBANOV

Not every person is able to so abruptly, categorically part with their past and start life from scratch. And Sergey Byzov made up his mind - he deleted 12 years from his life, which he devoted to the creation of Ukrainian fashion. And he left along the only path known to him - leaving no photographs, no videos, no sketches, not a single thing from the collection. Nevertheless, no matter how he tries to disown the past, his name is well remembered and not only by fans and those “close” to the fashion world. Sometimes you can even hear the suggestion that, they say, he will return to the fashion business and show a collection that can surprise and once again give food for talk about what Ukrainian fashion is.

Bourgeois: Seryozha, do you remember how it all began?

Sergey Byzov: To be honest, I rarely remember. I remember, at one time, I realized that there is no warrior alone in the field and it is necessary to create a whole “fashionable” infrastructure - they came up with and began to do “Fashion Seasons” with Irina Danilevskaya. I spent 12 years of my life making clothes. It's a lot. I have made an incredible number of collections, and lately - 4 - 5 a year. Everything seemed to be fine: they sewed collections, sold them, a lot of clients ... And then I got tired of it. Why? I just realized that no one here needs it. This is a battle with windmills. I always wondered - is this what I do in life? Subconsciously I asked myself - what am I spending my strength, energy, opportunities on. I am a global person, I'm tired of sitting in a confined space. Now I hear: “When you participated in the organization of the Seasons, it was like something else,” my friends say. “And now it’s a process of changing names, designers change endlessly, today they are, tomorrow they aren’t.” Even though that's the least of my concerns.

“Bourgeois: But you can give an assessment of what is happening in the fashion business from the outside?

S.B.: I can. The way it is now is not interesting. In the West everything is selected by the market. Civilized. If a designer represents something, his work is in demand. There is no such market here. Ukrainian designers are engaged in self-survival: they have a few admirers, a relatively inexpensive labor force. But we must not forget that if at the same time there is no group of people who make the selection for them, then on the podium we see everything except fashion. After all, fashion is a product that requires constant selection. It makes me cringe when gifted designers, such as Vika Gres, Lilya Pustovit, Karavai, show their collections, and next to them are “veselenki”. When I first saw it live, I realized that the Seasons had become a money-making machine. I don't know by whom. And when you deal with fashion brands in the West, you understand how thoughtful it is. Not a single brand will fall into your hands if it does not know with whom it will stand next to, with whom it will be sold next. The same show schedules in the West are drawn up years in advance. There are, for example, days when novice designers are shown, and they also already have some level. These days, the press does not even come. And there are days when only top brands are on the schedule. And since the week goes one after another, the schedule is put right next to one another: America, London, Milan, and in time it is a month and a half. Therefore, there is a special concentration of top brands on one day, and less well-known brands on others. This is called selection.

So, in the Ukrainian Fashion Week there are no people who can select worthy ones. For example, about 60 collections were shown this year. Everything is mixed, it goes in a mass flow. Why? Because at some point this business did not go the way it was supposed to.

"Bourgeois": Didn't you feel sorry to put an end to your brand?

S.B.: This decision was not very easy. But in recent years there have been many different circumstances. Maybe my roof has gone, I don't know how to explain it. By that time, I was doing what interests me: making money in every possible way and spending it on my collections. The brand did not live for the sake of the brand, but there was a designer Byzov who did what he wanted.

"Bourgeois": Can you reveal the secret - how did you earn money?

S.B.: I worked on Seasons of Fashion, was the art director of L'Official magazine, always did a lot of advertising for different companies, led additional projects, threw parties. Those. did the kind of work that any designer can do if desired. I never concentrated on one thing. For example, he worked as an architect, plus an atelier worked. I could afford to go to another country and order any accessories that I wanted, fabrics, furs. At some point, I thought - why am I doing this? For what? Creatively, you get fed up very quickly. Any designer is not infinite. And for all these years I have done everything I wanted in the collections.

"Bourgeois": Can't this state be called a crisis of the genre?

S.B.: I have never had a crisis of ideas, anyone who knows me well can confirm that I have a million ideas. At one fine moment, I showed the collection at Fashion Seasons. And when I showed it, I suddenly realized - that's it. It was 3 years ago. I can't and don't want to. After that, we took a vacation, and on September 1 we gathered in the office, and I told everyone: “My dears, I love you all very much (and I had a unique team, and our atelier was distinguished precisely by craftsmen who knew how to work with their hands), I I can't take it anymore, I need a break. I don't want you to think that we will ever be together again. Because my decision is final."

There are designers who make clothes for companies like McDonald's. And so many people live. But a real designer cannot do that, he must make a collection and already think about the next one. He is a designer, not a fashion designer. He must dictate fashion. It shouldn't spray.

Bourgeois: And where did you go?

S.B.: I will reveal a secret, in the last year, creating a collection, I worked in a Kyiv Trading House. By that time I had several offers, including work abroad. But I love Ukraine very much, my family and parents are here. And since I decided to stay here, this House is the only place where I could work.

"Bourgeois": Having accepted the offer to become the art director of the Fashion House, did you completely disown Ukrainian fashion? By the way, what is your diagnosis of Ukrainian fashion?

S.B.: She is very sick.

"Bourgeois": Is there a panacea for this disease?

S.B.: There is. At one time I had an idea to make an alternative Week. Even going to create a collection. So, if a person appears or time passes, economic conditions change, then everything will change. Of course, there is interest in this. But so far I see only interest in the Russian Fashion Week from the West, although very few designers.

"Bourgeois": So you can say about Ukrainian fashion - does it exist or not?

S.B.: There is some kind of it. But it will not develop in a vacuum. In Italy, at one time, a special economic program was adopted for the development of fashion. In France, when Yves Saint Laurent was going through a crisis in order to support the House, the Mitterrand government came to his aid by issuing a government grant. All this is not needed here. There are about 60 ateliers in Kyiv, in which “home-made” sit, who sew a collection on three sewing machines and then show it at the Ukrainian Fashion Week, which completely devalue this event. And then no Pustovit can pull it out. Moreover, even if Gucci is invited, he will not save her.

"Bourgeois": Who is now the main "dictator" of fashion in the world?

S.B.: Certainly America. What is produced, for example, in Japan, Asia, we cannot even put on ourselves - this is a different dimension. And Americans today are ahead of the rest. They have a more modern approach to everything, probably because New York is a mini-planet in itself. Americans dress more interestingly - they have learned to mix things, unlike stiff Europe. It is no coincidence that now Luis Vuitton is headed by an American, the same Gucci is brought back to life by an American. And Karl Lagerfeld moved to live in New York. This is an unusual city, with an unusual energy. Of course, Milan remains the capital of world fashion, where fashion is produced. But the capital of attitude to fashion, to clothing is New York. Now Spain is developing very actively.

Bourgeois: Sergey, where else do you see the implementation of your creative ideas?

S.B.: In recent years, I have been seriously interested in architecture and contemporary art. I have no special education, but I constantly educate myself. And I am pleased that people who are authorities for me gave an assessment to this. Now I am ready to build a very beautiful house, with an approach that is not typical of Ukrainian architects. It will be a very modern house.

"Bourgeois": And nothing could inspire you to return to fashion again?

S.B.: I thought about it. This year I even wanted to make a collection, there was such an idea. I have no doubt that I would have done it at a very high professional level, because over the years I have changed to the point of impossibility, I have accumulated a lot of ideas and experience. I know not only how to make a collection correctly, I know how to present it correctly from the point of view of management. But I don't see the potential in this country. I am aware of this. It's hard to go back to the past. Understand, I am doing my current work at such a high level that the return to fashion at the current stage is not interesting for me. It's like changing from a high-class car to a cart.

Bourgeois: Does fashion have a chance?

S.B.: Everything has a chance. It's just that we could go through the path of becoming much faster. But, alas, we have embarked on a path where this process will continue to develop for a long time to come. At one time, at the Seasons, we proclaimed things that, alas, have not yet been implemented ...