Gosha Rubchinskiy’s ascent pays tribute to the organic realism that fashion can represent, with his works a true reflection of the Soviet landscape in which he learned his craft. A photographer by nature, Rubchinskiy has taken his parternhip with Comme des Garcons a step further and released a fragrance to sit with his ever-growing streetwear collection.
The Gosha fragrance is aptly launched alongside a photobook (which he fittingly called the Perfume Book) which was inspired by Rubchinsky’s long love of the fragrance style photography and classic advertising campaigns:
“Of course, after the Soviet collapsed, everything came to Russia. I remember the first issue of Russian Vogue came out in 1998 and I was crazy to see it for the first time. It had things like Tom Ford’s perfume ads, and that’s why I wanted to do something special, like a book about the cheesy advertising of perfume, but with a skater boy like Louison. He is like the Vladimir for Gosha!”
~ Gosha Rubchinskiy
Fitting in perfectly with the Comme des Garcons mantra of obscure fragrance references (ala Odeur 53) the Gosha scent is inspired by ‘Skateboarding on a summer day’ with the ‘Wheels burning on the hot concrete sidewalk.’
Even the bottle itself, while seemingly minimal in appearance coveys messages from Rubchinsky’s youth; the wooden cap was inspired by the raw materials used to make skateboards, while the bold red packaging colour is itself is an emblem of the Soviet.
THE NOTES
Top : Angelica Root, Buchu
Mid : Mandarin Seed, Blue Chamomile
Dry : Styrax, Vetiver, Haiti, Patchouli
The Gosha perfume and Perfume Book will be available exclusively at Dover Street Market London, and rolled out to the other DSM stores worldwide from January 2017.