It Pays To Think Out Of The Box When It Comes To Style

It pays to think out of the box when it comes to style – as these cult labels demonstrate

- Abigail Leong

SKIN DEEP

As often occurs in major breakthroughs, Kiev-based collective TTSWTRS got its start by happy accident. Founder Anna Osmekhina, a costume designer by training, came to know Belarusian tattoo master Ien Levin by chance through a mutual friend, and was so galvanised by his easy confidence and energy that she conceived a capsule of “tattoo sweaters” (abbreviated to TTSWTRS) based on Levin’s ink. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Focusing on the idea of clothing as a second skin, Osmekhina collaborates with emerging and established tattooists such as Arnest Makhin, Ulyana Nesheva and Andrey Svetov, transforming their body art into wearable art via strategically embroidered and silk-screened pieces that blur the line between reality and illusion.