On 28 March 2024 the exhibition “The Strict Young Man. Theatre Costumes and Fashion by Konstantin Goncharov” begins its run in the Foyer of the Hermitage Theatre. The display presents costumes created by the celebrated Saint Petersburg designer Konstantin Goncharov from the collection donated to the Hermitage by Yekaterina Yuryevna Andreyeva, PhD, an art critic and leading researcher in the State Russian Museum’s Department of New and Latest Tendencies.
Saint Petersburg. 1992. Designed by Konstantin Goncharov
Velvet, synthetic fabric, Lurex, wood. Techniques: stretching, hand and machine working
Detail of the dress-overcoat for N.N. Antonova
Lady’s ensemble: pelerine and skirt
Broadcloth, woollen fabric, silk fabric, synthetic fabric, silk threads, metal, plastic. Techniques: stamping, hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1995
Costume for Sergei Vikharev as the Swan. Ballet Leda and the Swan
Satin, synthetic fabric, braid. Techniques: hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1995
Costume for Olga Lyakhovskaya as Leda. Ballet Leda and the Swan
Synthetic fabric, net, peacock feathers, braid, plastic. Techniques: hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1995
Lady’s overcoat
Woollen fabric, synthetic fabric, plastic. Techniques: cloth-covering, hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1994
Smart dress
Synthetic fabric, tulle, peacock feathers, plastic. Techniques: hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1995
Costume of the High Priest of Isis for the Passiones Luci project
Velour, tulle, silk ikat, peacock feathers, spangles, artificial flowers. Techniques: hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1994
Charite’s costume for the Passiones Luci project
Velour, broadcloth, synthetic fabric, Lurex, plastic. Techniques: cloth-covering, hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1994
Charite’s wedding dress for the Passiones Luci project
Natural and synthetic fabrics, Lurex, seashells, plastic, glass, spangles. Techniques: hand and machine working
Saint Petersburg. 1994
Visitors will see everyday dresses and evening outfits as well as costumes that Konstantin Goncharov designed in Saint Petersburg in the 1990s for various cultural projects, including the theatre (a number of them as co-author with Alexei Sokolov).
Born in Leningrad, Konstantin Vladimirovich Goncharov (1969–1998) received his professional education at a light industry technical training school. In the 1980s he worked at the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre, where he participated in the recreation of costumes for the ballet La Bayadère (music by Ludwig Minkus) and produced designs for Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Adolphe Adam’s Giselle. From 1988, Goncharov was a participant in the exhibitions and projects of the New Academy of Fine Arts established by the artist Timur Novikov.
The couturier Konstantin Goncharov, stylist for the legendary Soviet rock band Kino, had barely turned 20 when photographs of his costumes appeared in the anniversary album of Vogue magazine (On the Edge. Images from 100 Years of Vogue). Over the next few years, Konstantin received prizes and awards at various festivals of avant-garde art.
In 1994, Goncharov opened the Strict Young Man (Strogy yunosha) Fashion Gallery on Austrian Square in Saint Petersburg. The fashion house attracted many members of Saint Petersburg’s Bohemian milieu. Young artists, writers, composers, rock musicians and actors would order clothing from his atelier. At the same time, he was producing not only exclusive dresses and coats, but also creations for the theatre and contemporary art projects.
In 1995 the Hermitage Theatre was the venue for the premiere of Sergei Vikharev’s ballet Leda and the Swan with costumes devised by Konstantin Goncharov. In 1996, he received the Best Avantgarde Artist prize at the first alboMODA Moscow International Festival of Avantgarde Collections for the creation, together with Alexei Sokolov, of the Golden Ass costume collection for the Passiones Luci project.
In that same period, Goncharov was also awarded the Saint Petersburg Master prize, which was presented in the city’s Alexandrinsky Theatre. During these years Goncharov’s collections were shown in Russia, Germany and Belgium. Konstantin’s creative endeavours were gathering pace when his life came to an abrupt end.
The costumes by Konstantin Goncharov add substantially to our knowledge of Saint Petersburg fashion and the art of 1990s Neo-Academism, and about global tendencies at that time, when designers produced works in the spirit of retro-futurism, influencing the style of film and theatre productions and contemporary culture more broadly. When discussing the artistic style and quality of Goncharov’s creations, fashion scholars recall Charles Worth’s immaculate tailoring, Elsa Schiaparelli’s surrealist fantasies and Thierry Mugler’s ironical aestheticism.
Goncharov’s costumes come closest, however, to images of the city of Saint Petersburg and its heart – the Hermitage. Hence their quality of being not merely clothing, but a mythological figure, flesh of the flesh of sculptures and paintings; hence their kinship to the architectonics of palatial halls and the panoramic views of Palace Embankment. When Leningrad regained its historical name in 1991, it was young people wearing outfits by Goncharov in particular who embodied the modern-day Saint Petersburg.
In 1995, after completing work on the costumes for The Golden Ass, Konstantin Goncharov dreamt of putting them on show in the Foyer of the Hermitage Theatre. Thirty years later, on World Theatre Day, the artist’s dream is being realized with the presentation of part of the collection donated to the State Hermitage by Yekaterina Andreyeva.
The exhibition’s curator is Nina Ivanovna Tarasova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Keeper of the Costume Collection, Head of the Decorative and Applied Art Sector within the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture.
The exhibition can be visited until 14 April 2024 by all holders of tickets to the Main Museum Complex.
