November 18, 2024 |
London-based brand Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE expertly balances comfort and sex appeal. Founded in 2019 and headed by designers Alexandra Vincent and Zarina Bekerova, the label anchors itself in using soft, breathable and predominantly deadstock fabric to construct silhouettes that are functional but still flash a cheeky bit of skin. As a result, the clothes it produces are multifaceted in their use and message. Able to easily transition from day to night, taking you from a Saturday in the Saatchi to a South London strobe-lit dancefloor, it’s the type of gear you might see slinking off the shoulders of cool kids that stomp around the world’s busiest cities.
“Being from different countries, backgrounds and cultures, and now based in London, it was always about doing boundaryless projects, involving artists of all sorts to collaborate with,” say Vincent and Bekerova, explaining how Mainline developed since the designers moved to the UK capital for university after growing up in French Canada and Russia respectively. Using the codes of their home countries to inform the RUS/Fr.CA that sit at the end of the brand’s full name, the designers have rooted their practice in a far-reaching community and cross-cultural dialogue. “We curate and create around the topics of placelessness, the juxtaposition between sexiness and comfort, and playing with dress codes,” the pair explain. “The Mainline customer is very fluid and it keeps surprising us, from a younger avant-garde crowd in Asia to a gorp-core bro in America… We don’t design for anyone specific, we make clothes for anyone who wants to feel themselves, who isn’t looking for anything extravagant but would rather pay attention to small details instead.”
If the devil’s in the detail, take Mainline to church. For SS25, Vincent and Bekerova collaborated with artist Aidan Duffy to create key chains that sported ice cubes and half-bitten wooden apples, subtly stretching the character arc of the messy yet resourceful Mainline muse whose always on the go. The drive of trying to be “glam while being broke” informed the brand’s seasonal symbol – a hybrid coin created by combining the motifs of a pound, euro and dollar – which was translated onto baggy tees gathered at the hip by an oversized floret. Another nod to Mainline’s dedication to cross-cultural influence, it also spoke to the tone of mixing and matching that appeared throughout the entire collection. Explaining how this manifested, the designers mention how the offering was “divided into three distinct categories: the over-the-top party-girls, the cozy yet sexy and the on-the-go business. The inspiration? Nothing haughty or convoluted, just the energy, attitude and mood of the people and places that exist around them. “We always try to think about our everyday life at this moment and how this can be interpreted in our clothes, set and beauty,” they say.
SS25 was a significant moment for the brand as it marked the first time the designers had staged a runway show in Mainline’s five year history. “It was chaos but very fun chaos,” the designers say. The intimate presentation took place in a vintage boutique in East London and showed to an intimate audience of friends and colleagues. “Preparing for the show wasn’t as bad as we expected. There was not much difference between organising a lookbook shoot, a performance or a small show. We are very lucky to have so many talented friends who support us and collaborate with us season by season and of course, when you do a show the team is enormous, even if you’re putting on something small.”
Supporting backstage in this gaggle of friends were makeup artist Lynski and hair stylist Sarah Jo Palmer, who used their respective talents to bring the Mainline character to life. “We thought of bringing the gold and silver tones to the makeup to replicate the blend of metals used in the coins, as well as the oxidisation of it. This evolved into a circle coin-like shape eye makeup blended with earthy tones and freckles on the skin, a sort of burned-out and smudged smokey eye,” explain the designers. “Sarah Jo Palmer understood our taste and direction straight away. She brought it to the next level creating these oddly sleek wet hair looks with hand-made accessories by her and her team which were made with coins and other metal objects we used in our collection, bringing it all together.”
Unrestricted by antiquated categories like body type, age or gender, SS25 put Mainline on the map as a label to look out for. Despite the success of the show, Vincent and Bekerova’s feet have stayed firmly on the the ground. “We have definitely learned that community is everything,” say the designers. “All of our projects and ideas happened as we have a very supportive circle and we are very grateful.” The label’s commitment to collaboration has accelerated it to new speeds. With an exciting future ahead, one thing’s for sure – they’re bringing their community along for the joy ride.
Photography courtesy of Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE.
Photography by Anna Zina
