Pitti Immagine is mostly a men’s affair in Florence, but there’s still an area devoted to women at Pitti W among the boys. Of the many treasures we discovered was designer Anna Kolomoets, who hails from the Ukraine and has created a line of shirts and sweatshirts with fun fashion phrases, including a “Fashion Week Daily” T shirt. That rang a bell! Earlier today, we talked to the young designer of Anna K, who sells at Colette and is looking for stores to sell in America. Do you hear us, retailers?
How old are you?
I’m 18, but I started doing this at 16..
You’re like a little Tavi of fashion design! Tell us about the line.
The idea is to play with fashion, because fashion is quite serious. Sometimes people take it too seriously so the point was to be a little ironic. We’re playing with it. I got inspired by an article by Suzy Menkes and then I started thinking of all the phrases I’ve heard from fashion weeks and thought it would make a great collection. Last year we presented “Fashion Circus” at Pitti and it’s selling really well. Now we’re doing “Fashion Films” and “Fashion Dictionary” for the first time. [These are shirts with popular fashion movies and phrases.) Our most popular shirts are “I Don’t Give Interviews” “I’m not a Blogger”. BryanBoy and Susie Bubble love them. There’s also “Uncross Your Legs” “Backstage Pass”, and “I’m on the list”.
Where do you sell?
In Europe, we sell at Luisaviaroma and Colette and a lot in Asia. We’re not selling in New York City yet. The shirts are about 70 Euros and 100 percent cotton.
There’s also a shirt that says, “Fashion Icon. A status which needs to be approved by Anna Wintour” Are you going to send one to Anna?
Maybe! We had a T shirt that mentioned Derek Blasberg. He came to our presentation at Colette a few days ago in Paris and we showed him the T shirt; he loved it. He said he had to have it, so we’re sending him one. We also have a Man Repeller T shirt that we’re going to send to Leandra [Medine]. I’m sure she will love it. There are also sweatshirts.
How helpful is being at Pitti to the brand?
It’s incredible. Last season, we presented the T shirts and got huge orders and attention. That’s why we came back!
Is it a long day for you here?
Yes! But that’s what work is about!
