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Masha Popova flies solo

The recent fashion design graduate found success online and rejected the post-grad job route

Ever since her patchworked dresses appeared in the Black Pink music video for ‘How You Like That’, which has racked up over half a billion views on YouTube, designer Masha Popova has been making waves. But her career didn’t actually begin in fashion.

Check Masha Popova’s portfolio on Pinterest

Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova, Final Collection
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo

“Fashion has that quality of combining everything into a garment: emotions, feelings, expression, product, design.”

Back in Ukraine, Popova studied architecture, when she came to the realisation the discipline wasn’t as hands-on as she hoped, but largely done on a computer. “When I got my first scholarship, I actually got a sewing machine but didn’t use it for the next four years – until I went to Central Saint Martins.” Whilst having a love for drawing, she doesn’t like expressing fashion through this medium, as she’s acutely aware that her way of thinking is largely product-based. “But fashion has that quality of combining everything into a garment: emotions, feelings, expression, product, design.”

Her collection is a colourful psychedelic trip that blends vintage eighties tracksuits – an Eastern bloc mainstay when she was growing up – alongside the work of Franz West, and lumen prints. “I love clothes from different times,” Popova says, “from the Victorian era to haute couture, to early 2000’s workwear.”

Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova, Design Development
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova, Design Development
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo

Her drawstring hoods were inspired by Victorian motoring hoods, worn by women to protect their hairstyles. “It’s like the world was collapsing together and that’s how I wanted to express my collection: mixing those two things and steering into that awkwardness. Some things from the 90’s, some from the 00’s – things from my childhood, like the very old nylon fabric and denim. I wanted to create this hybrid of high fashion and fashion that I grew up with.” She also worked with Italian denim finisher Tonello, creating the effect of bleach on her denim through an ozone process that is environmentally friendly.

“I noticed that most of the people who worked for those brands were unhappy. It was exciting in the beginning to be a part of something, but that initial excitement dissipates quickly.”

Before her final year she interned at Celine and Margiela which has taught her a lot about large-scale production and has informed her approach to design. However, she believes that the industry could do better at making sure that mental health is a priority for the designers, rather than an afterthought. “I noticed that most of the people who worked for those brands were unhappy. It was exciting in the beginning to be a part of something, but that initial excitement dissipates quickly. We study fashion for seven years – if you count the foundation and the MA – and you can essentially be a doctor in the same amount of time. I now see some of my classmates with some sort of job but still unable to have a platform for their ideas. It’s basically still an internship. Any other industry wouldn’t dare offer you an internship if you have a master’s degree and a year of previous experience working at amazing places. They wouldn’t even consider it.” This realisation initially put her off applying for positions before she graduated, throwing herself into her own work instead.

Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova, Design Development
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo

Her bright sci-fi inspired streetwear was available as a limited pre-order collection and she says that she got swamped by orders, even allowing her to get a small studio space to work at independently. She credits Instagram for her success, saying that for young designers it offers an economical way of presenting your work to a large audience. “Instagram started putting my images in the Explore page and people would just find it accidentally. That really helped. It puts everyone on the same level because you can communicate with the world. I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but especially during the pandemic, you realize how important the image is. When everyone had to do a show, it cost so much that it put all of the young designers who could not afford it at a disadvantage. Instagram just did the job of what a catwalk was supposed to do before.”

“I am literally only just now realizing what I could have done in school.”

Without the traditional catwalk at the end of the year and a shut-down on resources and access to research materials, Masha has realized how important the university is to students who would not have the chance to access them without it. “Honestly, I need to be back at CSM right now. From the library to having friends around where we can just chat and having all the equipment – it was just an amazing place to be. It makes things so much harder to not be able to go there. I wish I had been more daring in the first and second year. At the time, having the library and access to all these technical things was actually kind of overwhelming. If I could, I would advise myself to go work harder, because you miss these things when you can no longer go back. I am literally only just now realizing what I could have done in school.”

Her patchwork nylon heels and reverse-screen printed double lapel coat have become standouts to her name. With the launch of her online store in the summer and pieces being worn by musicians and artists, the switch to digital as a result of the pandemic has been a blessing in disguise. “For now, when things are working out for me, and I can support myself from what I am making, I don’t have to have another job. I’d like to keep it this way.”

Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova, Design Development
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova, Design Development
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo
Masha Popova flies solo