Launched by Nikita Boginsky and Igor Gorbunov in 2014, SENSUS COUTURE is well-known for its brave search for nowness and its inspired originality. Boginsky and Gorbunov often use models as pieces in a complex and beautiful performance on the runway, placing them with lanterns along the stage or otherwise engaging them with the viewers, as they did with their FW’ 17 show.
This time was no different as the visitors soon found out - the runway resembled a living sculpture, with gold-painted bodies of SENSUS performers ‘submerged’ in black plastic. Completely immobile and silent, they looked like gods of ancient Greece or Rome, and sported minimalist halos and scepters. The theme of God and godhood soon became even more apparent, as Kanye West’s “I am a God” began blaring through the sound system, and the models finally appeared - many showing off slogans such as “iGod” and “Master or Slave” printed across their garments. The designers themselves quote “anger over society creating false gods” as their main inspiration this time. “This is a story about consuming and producing, and how we all are searching for something to worship”, they explain.
Leather, latex and silk were the course for the day, and SENSUS employed their traditional color palette - red, white and lots of black for good measure. Many looks were straight-on streetwear, with models strolling in pullovers and shorts with some thigh-high boots, while others were traditional evening wear - little black dresses with Ziggy Stardust-like lightning symbols, bold jackets with leopard skin prints, sheer golden coats. An offering fit for a modern goddess.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina