Anastasia Dokuchaeva is one of the designers who found themselves at the right time and in the right place. The DOKUCHAEVA brand was able to make a real splash at Fashion Weeks in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Fashion critics unanimously recognized that the author's vision and original approach deserve to create collections special attention. A young, growing brand offers bright, non-standard clothes for confident and courageous people.
In this article we will tell you his biography and share links to social networks (instagram, facebook, vk). We have prepared a list of contacts and stores of the brand DOKUCHAEVA. You can see news, lookbooks, shows, discounts, sales and upcoming events in the section:
Russian designer Dokuchaeva Anastasia | Dokuchaeva Anastasiya (DOKUCHAEVA)
Anastasia Dokuchaeva comes from the Kemerovo region and lived in the capital for some time. Currently he is engaged in creative work in St. Petersburg. The designer appeared on the starry horizon not long ago, but has already managed to make a splash during the Moscow and St. Petersburg Fashion Weeks.
Initially, the brand focused on bright shades; Anastasia mercilessly exploited the color pink. Currently, the designer uses muted tones that fully correspond to the style of St. Petersburg.
The secret of the brand's success is simple - Anastasia does what she loves and tries not to think about future victories. The girl is used to sharing her energy with the outside world; she regularly makes new acquaintances and is at the center of events. Among her idols is Karl Lagerfeld. Insane popularity, significant fees, a noticeable mark in history... Anastasia dreams of, if not taking his place, then at least achieving the same heights in the fashion industry.
Anastasia Dokuchaeva has a unique view of creativity; she believes that the name of a designer should be associated primarily with clothing. Fictional legends and information about personal life are not so important for the brand. DOKUCHAEVA's things can make a person the center of attention, turn heads on him and make him say: “Wow!” At the same time, Anastasia believes that fans of the brand also have their own task: they must correspond to the status and philosophy of the fashion designer.
Anastasia Dokuchaeva's show made a splash both at Fashion Week in Moscow and at Fashion Day in St. Petersburg, so we decided to ask the designer a few questions to find out a little more about her work. And for those who slept through all the fashion shows, I’ll leave a link to a review of the collection.
What inspired you to create your latest collection?
I wanted to somehow combine those styles that are closest to me. These include Asian motifs, comfortable sport chic, trendy 80s plus a lot of metal, prints and color. I wanted to put it all together and walk along the edge of a knife.
Where, in your opinion, was the presentation most successful: Moscow or St. Petersburg?
It’s difficult to judge, because these are two different cities, two completely different teams, different venues, and we even changed the styling a little. Based specifically on my feelings, the show in Moscow was more emotional. The fact is that it was the first time I presented my work on such a scale, and at that time only a month and a half had passed since my move to Moscow. This show was supposed to set the tone for how I would be perceived in Moscow. I didn’t sleep for three days; a lot was at stake. And the only phrase that came out of my mouth after I took my bow was: “We did it!”, and then tears, hugs and silence.
Are men in heels a sign of protest or a reflection of reality?
A man in heels is just a man in heels, and let each viewer find his own meaning in this, if at all. We are not surprised to see a woman in heels.
What kind of audience were you hoping for?
I understand that you need to highlight your target audience, but I don't like it that much. I want to see everyone in my clothes: from teenagers to older people with status.
What is more important to you: the wearability of a collection or the author’s statement in it?
Both are important to me. Why make clothes if they can't wear them? And in order to be worn, people must like it, and most often they like it only when it speaks something for us. Break down all the looks from my collection into units, and you will understand that all of this can be easily worn. True, I love complex bows to bits!
Describe your own style in a couple of sentences.
Everything I create is my style. I just make clothes that I like.
Which other St. Petersburg designers appeal to you?
There are quite a lot of them: Tatyana Parfenova, Sanan Gasanov, Artyom Shumov, Ilkin Bakshiev and Ilya Boston. I just know how these people work, and that is worthy of respect. 
Do you think domestic fashion is only gaining momentum or is it deteriorating every year?
You know, I don’t undertake to analyze fashion so globally. For me, creating clothes is not a job, but a need, because I do it only because I can’t help but do it. Whether this will look like development or degradation on a scale is not so important. You can call degradation a concept and it will become your development. I think the more we think about whether we're going up or down, the less time we have to do what we do best.
I would like to say a big thank you to Anastasia and once again congratulate her on her debut. I think everyone will find something of interest in her answers.
Two cities, two shows: designer Anastasia Dokuchaeva shares her feelings was last modified: April 15th, 2017 by Dasha Krasnova
A couple of seasons ago Anastasia Dokuchaeva made a real splash at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. The designer’s creativity was appreciated internationally - the English brand TOP SHOP offered cooperation, the American magazine Forbes included a showroom Dokuchaeva on the list of must-see places during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The success, for which I had to work hard, did not turn my head. On the contrary, Anastasia is open and happy to answer questions from journalists. We hastened to take advantage of the designer’s sociability and talked about plagiarism, going international, and also learned the secret of successful work.
About plagiarism and the situation with Dolce&Gabbana
The Dolce&Gabanna brand presented an item that is suspiciously similar to the Dokuchaeva Lights sweatshirt. We couldn’t ignore this topic and found out Anastasia’s opinion. A good designer has no time to plagiarize. It’s easier for him to come up with his own idea than to steal someone else’s.I can’t say that plagiarism is inevitable; rather, commonality of concepts is inevitable. There is only one information field, repetitions are common. We need to focus less on this and generate new, fresh ideas. People who respect both their own and other people's work are not able to even think about plagiarism. I myself have never been interested in borrowing other people’s works; this is alien to me. I am an owner - the ideas I use must belong to me or my team. I want to be proud of our achievements. Regarding the situation with Dolce&Gabbana... Ideas are in the air, it is possible that at the same time the brands decided to implement the same ideas. Perhaps something else happened, what exactly - let it remain unanswered.Three things I can't imagine my life without: red lipstick, sewing machine and sweet.
About the difference between the public of the two capitals
The formation of the Dokuchaeva brand began in St. Petersburg and continued in Moscow. The public of the two capitals is catastrophically different. In Moscow there are many views and interests - the likelihood of finding your client increases significantly. The public of St. Petersburg is attractive in its own way, but it is difficult to win over and “sway” it. Monotonous, measured lifestyle, slow work process. Trends are difficult to take root, but if they take root, they are in demand for a long period. For Moscow, seasonality is relevant - having worn out one trend, you want to buy the next one. In St. Petersburg, fashion is more traditional - if we like a gray coat, we will wear it for four seasons in a row, not paying attention to the opinions of others.Celebrities wearing Dokuchaeva brand clothes
Silver group in Dokuchaeva clothes
Ravshana Kurkova wearing Dokuchaeva clothes
Nadezhda Sysoeva in Dokuchaeva clothes
Sati Casanova in Dokuchaeva clothes
Lena Katina in Dokuchaeva clothes
About fashion and success
Fashion, to some extent, doesn't give a damn. She lives her own life, becoming more interesting and varied every year. You either deal with her or you don't. It's a tough business - that's the reality. There is no need to wait for millions in earnings and hope that your name will go down in history. A sober mind and proper budget allocation will help you move forward while enjoying the process. Now I am on the path that leads to great success. I believe in luck, by chance, but you can’t pull a fish out of the pond without difficulty. Sitting and waiting for luck, studying the ceiling, is not an option. I work hard and continuously, my own business comes first for me. I take my work and the people around me seriously. I can probably share most of today’s success with my team, with my partner. I still can’t say that I have found my audience. When creating a commercial product, you focus on a potential buyer. I don’t call my work commerce yet. Yes, my clothes are quite wearable, but the palette and choice of materials puts some people off. Without a certain personal absurdity, it is difficult to choose Dokuchaeva clothes for everyday life.Participation in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia and entry into the European market
Fashion week is an exciting event, a big school. If a designer does not show his work, then the designer does not live. This is the reason why I participate in every season of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. The first collection was a bit damp for me personally. Today, through experience, I see some structure in both my thoughts and my approach to showing. I want to approach participation in European fashion weeks consciously, having grown up professionally. Having reached high level, to present a domestic product with high quality and break the stereotype that Russian designers are weaker than their Western colleagues. By nature I am an adventurer, my thoughts are ambitious. I don’t think about collaborations with Russian brands; I’m more interested in international cooperation. We already have a capsule collection for the English brand Top Shop, so far the items are presented only in Moscow, in the Evropeisky shopping center.Photos from the FW 17/18 show as part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, after which Anastasia Dokuchaeva woke up famous.
Components of successful work from Anastasia Dokuchaeva
- Love and respect for the work you do.
- Work on yourself. If you know how to do one thing, learn to do something else, or develop a skill to a new quality indicator.
- Caring about quality. The thing should only be left positive emotions both during wearing and after use.
- Being true to yourself. Listening to your intuition is very important. In the early stages I relied exclusively on inner voice, regardless of the opinions of others.
- It is important to listen to your team, clearly realizing the quality and helpful advice given by a specific person.
Three things I have long ago successfully given up: my previous marriage, regrets over lost friendships, and long hair.
About popularity
People don’t recognize me on the street, but at professional events I heard the question: “Are you Nastya Dokuchaeva?” - this is a little strange for me. I like the attention, but I don't know what to do with it yet. I was not ready to communicate with such big amount new people at the same time, sometimes it’s embarrassing - I can’t remember everyone. I don’t feel famous; I’m in no hurry to put a crown on my head. I'm more concerned about work. I love to have fun and attend events, I like to be in the center of events. Being sociable and emotional, I can attract attention with a loud laugh, and not with a name known in the fashionable environment. If we talk about popularity as such, I would like to become famous, first of all, thanks to my professional achievements. Photos for publication were taken from the official Instagram accounts of the designer and brand, links can be found.Anastasia Dokuchaeva presented the spring-summer collection 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. The St. Petersburg designer is new to MBFW - last season she made her grand debut in two capitals, and this season the designer decided not to give up her position. The show was opened by a model in a red velvet dress - thus the Anastasia Dokuchaeva brand supported the campaign “ Russian designers against AIDS." The main colors of the collection were bright red and sky blue – models could see dresses, silk trousers, jackets, fur vests and coats made in these shades.
Did the collections of world designers influence your new work?
As a rule, I am not inspired by any designers or anyone's collections. There are a number of people in my profession who make a strong impression on me, but there is no such person that makes me want to create. My focus is mainly on my previous work, in the sense that I set certain standards for myself, achieve them, and next time I first of all need to outstrip myself, and not anyone else in the market.
Last season you made your debut at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. How do you feel after the debut and the second show?
The debut show is certainly different in emotions. Then everything was very enthusiastic, scary, exciting. Now it’s twice as scary, everything is much more nervous. Not because I can’t cope with my nerves, but because there is more responsibility, because I need to fulfill all my obligations to the people who are involved in this, not to disappoint the audience I have won and not to lose the set standard. It's like jumping with a parachute: the first time it goes well, but the second time it's worse, because you know what it's like and what the consequences might be.
What goals did you set for yourself when creating the collection?
The tasks were difficult. For the first time, my main goal was to be very memorable, since almost no one knew me on the Moscow market. The collection was created with the goal of focusing not so much on sales, but on information support. Over the course of this six months, we collaborated a lot with various media figures, shows, photographers, and tried to include clothes in various shoots so that people would recognize me and my products and creativity.
In general, no one expected such a bright show from me, even I didn’t expect this from myself, I’m still getting used to the idea that everyone is surprised by me. For me these are ordinary things, my work and my hobby. For some reason, everyone perceives this extremely positively, which I am certainly pleased with. To create this collection, in addition to the fact that I had to surprise, like last time, I also had to touch on the commercial side of my work. To show not only that I am an artist and creator, but also that my things can be wearable, sell, be needed by someone, and find their audience.
Are you happy with how the show went?
I can’t say for sure yet. I haven't even seen the full video of the show yet because the screens backstage don't show much. I actually hate that the designer has to stand behind the scenes and control everything! I want to sit in the auditorium and watch too. Let's wait until the video from the show comes out and read all the comments that are written. Today I spent the whole day watching and reading them, looking at stories on Instagram and the like. Only after this can I conclude whether I am satisfied. But now, at the stage when the collection has been brought to the catwalk, I can say that not all the moments that I wanted were fulfilled. Although this happens from show to show, I’m already used to it. For some reason, it’s impossible to do everything in such a way as to be one hundred percent satisfied. This is probably for the best, because there is something to strive for. But due to a number of circumstances, something didn’t work out, something didn’t happen in time, so it’s what it is. You could see the entire result of our work on the podium.
Why did you choose the compositions of Die Antwoord “Daddy” and SBPC (The Biggest Number) “Taxi” for the show?
We chose the music for the show spontaneously (laughs - 365mag note). It happened something like this: we were sitting in the kitchen, and suddenly someone said: “I heard something like this, it seems to me that your models should fit this.” Last time everything happened the same way. Now Mikhail Khaliullin, my PR director, returns and says: “Damn, you definitely should hear this song.” I sent the track, and I realized that yes, I like the style of sound production of the lead singer of Die Antwoord. It reminds me of Asia in some way, although the guys are African, and they just have that diction. Suddenly the track turned out to be close to us, and it’s not even about the text, but about the sound. We also heard SBHR by chance and spontaneously decided that it should be very cool to go along with. I listened to the text and music, I really liked them, I didn’t make any logical connections, but it turned out “delicious.” Misha Khaliullin tells me: “Here, beautiful clothes I did it, well done, but you must be so strange!” In fact, it is so, it seems to me that I am such an ambiguous character, there are very different opinions regarding me. I always want to combine something that doesn’t stand next to each other; this can even be seen in soundtracks.
Anastasia Dokuchaeva
Comment on some details of the show. The models' makeup and hairstyles were extremely minimalistic: colored threads were woven into their hair, and their faces were decorated only with glitter. Did you not want to distract the viewer from the clothes or is this due to something else?
We wanted to weave threads into our hair last season. I resisted then, but this time our team of hair stylists convinced me that it was still worth doing. We really didn't want to put too much emphasis on the hair and makeup to put all the attention on the clothes. Threads in the hair are just a nuance that did not leave our models’ heads unnoticed, but also did not take the maximum attention.
Glitter is purely an initiative of my makeup artists; they love interesting trends and carefully follow them. They offered, I agreed. By the way, the models didn’t even have a tone! Almost nothing but sparkling glitter. I giggled nervously and was almost forced to agree, but in the end I was pleased with the result - the glitter and a little Vaseline did the trick. We also wanted to focus on the naturalness of the models’ faces, so that there would not be a strong contrast with the fabrics - almost 80% of our fabrics were natural.
Photo: Thomas Karnauch, instagram @anastassia_dokuchaeva
Interviewed by: Lyubava Zaitseva
