U.P.F.W Day 3: SANS

Lika Volkova, the creative force behind SANS and a good friend to the U.P, is a true anomaly in the fashion world. Running SANS with Alessandro DeVito, who entered fashion himself by way of monitoring ethical garment factories around the world, the SANS team isn’t afraid of confronting the cold hard fact that garment production is inevitably harmful towards the environment no-matter how you slice it. To take on this dilemma, Lika takes her passion for design and democratizes it by releasing the responsibility of production to the individual consumer. Through the HOMEMADE project, Lika sells the patterns of her original designs as digital downloads to anyone who wants to make the garments at home. And when you take a look at the SANS collections, the talent behind these creations is more than overwhelming. There is a kind of tension in every SANS design, mixing severity and softness to create some truly fearless silhouettes and proportions. The results are always stunning. Is there a better testament to DIY couture than the story of SANS?

We asked Lika to write a little blurb for today’s blog post, and with the flair and wit of her great Slavic literary predecessors, she responded with this poignant no-nonsense sign-off.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I was writing my CV yesterday, and thinking that the first and most significant characteristic of me occurred when I was 1-3 years old and was madly attracted and hungry for cigarette butts.( there was no shortage of food in USSR).

So if I could be honest my CV would look like this:
Lika Volkova was born.
Tried to eat cigarettes.
Came to USA.

How many jobs would I get with this, in my opinion, absolute and beautiful CV? But in all my life, submiting my normal CV full of “achievements”- multiple shows, articles, lectures, I have never got any job either. So why have I denied myself an opportunity to be real?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

To learn more about SANS, shop patterns or peruse collections, please visit: www.sans.name