Setting Fashion Trends with Sveta Sotnikova

In decades past, fashion trends typically were started and evolved strictly through the method of the fashion house to a magazine to the consumer – and it stayed like this for a very long time. In our current Internet-savvy (even obsessed) world – where Mashable reports that adults in the U.S. spend an average of “11 hours per day with digital media” – things have changed.

Designers with ample knowledge about the vanishing trends and the speed at which new trends start are now putting more effort into making designs that can last longer than just a season. Although very gradually, many people are acknowledging this fact, they are adapting to this mindset.

In a world currently put to the test by global pandemics, wars, and climate crisis, what is emerging in the fashion market is that consumers, particularly young ones, are no longer influenced by what is considered trendy. For decades designers have tried to determine what was ‘in’ and what wasn’t, and fashion trends are defined by what they put out on the catwalk and what celebrities wear. More recently, street stylers and influencers – have been vital when deciding which clothes, we buy each season.

Seasonless fashion has become very popular. Clothes must be timeless and well-made, beautiful pieces that won’t date and can be worn season after season. This new approach to buying fashionable clothes has made shopping with a conscience a must. A deeper relationship means genuinely understanding where our clothes come from, the wool, the cotton, the garment workers, the design details, and the craft.

It is difficult to deny that the pandemic has already exaggerated the changes regarding luxury consumer attitudes to trends. It’s been a great unifier in a sense; it has made us socially aware and has increased people’s desire to contribute to the greater good, whether that’s for key workers, people who are suffering, or being more mindful of the environmental impact of the goods we purchase.

A designer is emerging in the fashion industry thanks to her ability to translate this new desire for transparency into seasonless creations, Sveta Sotnikova. She is the founder and creative director of Sveta Milano. This brand wants to violate the precept of seasonality to limit runaway production and give an unmistakable sign of strict and mature attention to environmental issues.

In doing so, fostered by her skills assimilated during exciting years spent at Istituto Marangoni in Milan schooling in Fashion Design, Sveta has implemented a new and challenging business model, questioned the product approach and tracked unique customer lifestyles and values.

Sveta is persuaded by the fact that it is better to know what we wear to appreciate this more. There should be no shame in repeating looks, but there will be shame in wearing looks that have a negative impact on people and the planet.

Sveta believes that meeting prestigious stakeholders in this field is a vital step for all emerging designers. It helps start measuring an organization’s carbon footprint to increase the brand’s credibility and affirm a strong, clear, and concise brand identity.