Eseniia Rybnikova

The title of my graduate collection is The Architect. Conceptually, it was inspired by George Orwell’s 1984. In my interpretation, both Winston, the protagonist, and Big Brother are architects—one building a world of love, the other of tyranny. To me, every person is the architect of their own life, laying each brick one by one to construct their personal reality. The central question my collection raises is: What kind of architect do you want to be? The concept of duality in power and creation, as seen in 1984, was a major inspiration. I was drawn to the tension between control and freedom, chaos and order. My muse is an ambitious, slightly mad woman—a visionary who lives through her ideas. She experiments like a scientist in a lab, building her world from imagination and instinct. The shapes in my collection are influenced by brutalist architecture and the work of Frank Gehry. I explore strong geometric forms—almost monolithic in nature—layered over everyday garments. It’s as if she pulls something old from her closet, then adds bold architectural pieces on top—because that’s how she feels in her world: complex, powerful, and unapologetically herself.This collection became like a monologue about the concept of “Power.” For The Gain of Power, I looked at the oil rigs of the 20th century and their workers. Petrol, oil, and heavy machinery had become the fuel and tools for globalized industrialization and made those standing behind them richer and more influential. For The Show of Power, I looked at the fall of the Russian Empire and the Romanov family. It was a time when military status was the highest achievement.