The new luxe fashion label, The Rebel needs to be on your style radar. Founded by friends, Olga Kalaeva and Tamara Melkumyan they are both based in Moscow, Russia. These women channel rebellious elegance with their emerging brand that undoubtedly turns heads. We catch up with the designer duo to find out more….
Tell us about your background…
Olga: I studied in Moscow State University and specialised in Sociology, but have always been interested in fashion. I have previously collaborated with another Russian fashion brand on a capsule collection and from then on, realised that I wanted to do fashion design permanently.
Tamara: I studied business management at MGIMO University, and then moved to London and attended Instituto Marangoni’s fashion design course. After a year I came back to Moscow and continued studying in British Higher School of Design.
Describe the brands aesthetic…
We draw our inspiration from everything that surrounds us, various cultures, traditional costumes, architecture. There is a lot of beauty surrounding us that not everyone can see, so we want to show it through our designs.
Who is your customer?
We have a very wide range of customers, starting with school girls who save up to buy our backpacks and go to school in them and going to celebrities and Moscow’s socialites. Sometimes we have girls come to our show room with their mothers and both can select something they like. We try to accommodate all ages, body shapes and clothing tastes so that everyone can find something they like.
Do you have a favourite piece from the SS17 collection?
Yes, the pink dresses and our tweed jackets!
What inspired this collection?
We love period clothes, so this collection was inspired by elements of European national costumes. We took traditional period clothing and added a few modern details to it
What do you have coming up for next season?
Next season will be a lot more minimalistic, more masculine shapes, less femininity. But lets leave that as a surprise for now.
