Anna Osmekhina Speaks About TTSWTRS

Featuring Anna Osmekhina Founder and Designer of TTSWTRS Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski

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Following their own rules, TTSWTRS brings a collaborative approach to a new level, inviting tattoo artists to become an integral part of the brand and its vision. Recently, TTSWTRS decided to reduce the range of pieces in each collection to oppose the fast-paced fashion industry and the outdated standards. Already incorporating biodegradable packaging, the team

plans to expand the eco-friendly decisions and mint its first NFT to donate the money towards environmental problem solutions. Inspired by the beauty of bodies and our planet, the brand explores religion, earth, elements of matter, and humanity throughout their collections and pieces like Ecru denim jacket, Christianity bodysuit, and Mantra overalls.

We speak today with Anna Osmekhina, a founder of and designer at TTSWTRS, a brand founded in 2013 in Kyiv, Ukraine. TTSWTRS is a collaborative project that brings together fashion and tattoo artists. Working with emerging and recognized tattoo artists, the team focuses on creating garments, which emphasize a second-skin-like look with tattoos.

The process of choosing the mix of colors to attain this seamless look is delicate and scrupulous and can take up to several months to reach the right feel. Anna shares some childhood memories and her inspiration for the FW 21/22 collection, “The tags with bright blue water inside, Je Suis H2O, were inspired by my childhood memories. I remember these key chains filled with colorful bright water and glitter.” We discuss the brand, recent collections, and the influence her hometown, Orenburg, has on the brand’s aesthetics.

‘When we stopped playing the game of guessing what the audience will like the most and started to focus on what we like - the new ideas I can present to the world - then, everything became clear.’

Hi Anna, it's nice to meet and to have you in our magazine! You started TTSWTRS back in 2013 in Ukraine. The main inspiration came from the work of tattoo artists, which became translated into comfortable clothes - the second skin. After nine years and over 13 collections released, how did the brand develop, in your opinion? What are some of the new ideas you presented during this time in terms of fabrics, colors, themes? 

Hello Nastasia, thank you for these questions. It is a great pleasure for me to answer them!

From the recent updates, we have reduced our collections from 120 pieces to 40, and we have left the endless race dictated by the industry. We will soon release a very significant capsule, Second Skin, a collaborative project with our iconic tattoo masters featuring their signatures on clothes. We plan to continue it as a series that will evolve in the future. TTSWTRS is more than just a fashion brand. It is a special and unique universe. We have created a fashion film - a digital TTSWTRS world, where everything is digital: people, nature, and clothing - in a collaboration with TRI.Direction (Eugen Lekh and Eugene Pylinsky) and Wavewalkers, digital clothes created for digital models. 

The most significant moment for the brand was when the first TTSWTRS collection appeared in Colette (sold out in two weeks only). They have pushed by asking where our showroom is and some technical documents, which made us think about the development of the brand. We have passed through so many failures. We have looked for our style for a long time, even tried to do classy suits. When we stopped playing the game of guessing what the audience will like the most and started to focus on what we like - the new ideas I can present to the world - then, everything became clear. Now we are playing our own game, and it is about going with the flow.

‘I love the aesthetics of the Ural people, my hometown - Orenburg. Now I live in Kyiv - a city that I admire.’

Working with some of the renowned tattoo artists from different countries, could you name a few who have affected your vision or perception of the tattoo industry? Which collaboration did you enjoy the most? 

Such tattoo artists as Nissaco, Tattooer, Ien Levin, Arthur Muzychenko, Homejacktattoo, Tattoo Sinyak, Andrey Volkov, Rostislaw Tsarenko - they are real artists. I focus on my feelings and TTSWTRS' Creative Visual Director, Nina, who is the main tattoo master for me. It often happens that good tattoo master's artworks turn into just a basic print when printed on fabric. Therefore, my team of Art Directors, Sveta and Nina, work to develop the desired color with a feel of a real tattoo. This process can last up to 2 months until the correct colors are mixed.

Being born in Orenburg, Russia, and currently running the company in Kyiv, how do you think culture, the place one lives in, and the mentality affect the creator and their work? 

Yes, it seems to me it affects us even more than we think. I love the aesthetics of the Ural people, my hometown - Orenburg. Now I live in Kyiv - a city that I admire. This is a city of talented people and charismatic businesses created by young people. Many people broadcast Ukrainian culture - it is very subtle and beautiful. I broadcast who I am. Here in Kyiv, I succeeded, and I am not afraid to continue.

‘'I want to enjoy Earth, our planet, with my body, my mind, the possibilities that are in this time of transformations and strength, and everything that has been created for us.’

The SS21 collection presents various tattoo techniques and genres, which become the inseparable elements in the design of bodysuits, lingerie, and even an adaptation to a wedding dress. Could you elaborate on the idea behind this collection, the main drive to create it, and the process of designing some of the pieces? 

In the SS21 collection, we used tattoo prints only for 'Christianity' bodysuits and leggings. The idea and the main motivation behind the SS21 Earth Series collection are about what it would be like if characters were told to move to another planet. It is about strength and beauty: the air, the beauty of water, religious attributes, rice fields, oceans, the blue color of water, colorful fish, and beautiful flowers. The collection is filled with the language of ​​beauty and the power of Buddhist mantras and texts. The Earth Series shows ​​that we are all different and that so many subtle and magnificent things were created especially for us. I just don't want to lose it all. After all, most often, we take it all for granted. 

A very significant item is the ecru denim jacket with the image of the Earth. I drew a spacesuit for Buddha - this is the most important symbol for me. I want to enjoy Earth, our planet, with my body, my mind, the possibilities that are in this time of transformations and strength, and everything that has been created for us.

‘The future of the Planet is one of the most crucial problems, and with TTSWTRS, we are doing our best to make customers and the community think more about this.’

TTSWTRS is a company that places sustainability as one of its central concepts, rejecting fast fashion: ever-changing seasons and collections. What is important for you in choosing the materials, the production process, and the concepts for the upcoming projects? 

We have reduced and will continue to reduce our product range in each collection, and we use only biodegradable packaging. I hope we will completely switch to environmentally friendly fabrics next year. We want to create a production cycle in which waste is converted into product packaging. 

In June, we will release the digital fashion film, and together with an eco-organization, we will mint an NFT and donate money from the sales towards solving environmental issues. It'll be the first time we are doing something like that, and we would love to have more charity events in the future. The future of the Planet is one of the most crucial problems, and with TTSWTRS, we are doing our best to make customers and the community think more about this.

Who was Anna as a kid, and what did she dream about?

I was the most private girl. It seemed to me that no one needed me. Children were not friends with me. I used to dream, and I was sure that miracles were everywhere. My friends were my dragon and a cloud. I really wanted a cloud to descend behind me in the middle of the lesson, and fly away to travel. Most of all, I loved being alone in the room, looking at dishes and decorations in my grandmother's sideboard, leafing through books, and trying on clothes and scarves from my grandmother's closet. Nobody asked me about this earlier. Thank you for the question.

What is the most memorable moment working on the last collection? 

We thought a lot about the concept for the FW21/22 collection; however, when the deadline came, we didn’t have any samples. It was a long-lasting process as we wanted to have a really strong idea behind it. And that’s why we have decided to focus just on the WATER. We got inspired by a photo of a lonely iceberg, taken by the famous Ukrainian photographer, Ksenia Kargina, for her project Naked Landscapes. We decided to use the iceberg in our designs. The very significant piece is a Water Man. I wanted to create the illusion of a human fully made of water as I believe that everything in this world is made of water. 

The process of creating the black overall was the most complicated and remarkable one. It was difficult to make a perfect print, Strike for Climate, with white stains. The night before the campaign shooting, we finally got it, and that was even more beautiful than what we could imagine - the perfect white and opaque. It gave us a feeling of melted snow in beautiful oil. This is the most dramatic piece in the collection. The tags with bright blue water inside, Je Suis H2O, were inspired by my childhood memories. I remember these key chains filled with colorful bright water and glitter. That was my childhood dream, and I got it as a gift - the heart with red glitter water inside. The campaign was shot by Ksenia Kargina, featuring my favorite model Gloria. The magic of light and white clothes created the atmosphere I dreamt about. We shot it in water, which we had to heat all the time.