Angelina Nagornova is obsessed with fashion, not in a fashion-driven, shopaholic, It girl way, but in a head-to-toe Comme des Garçons Spring 2003 kind of way. Just check out his Instagram. To put under the handle @feala oitseit is decorated with an empty color, but it has bright, strange, even distorted colors. She shares surrealist OOTDs, highlights from her personal archive—think: peeling white Tabi boots—Dover Street Market hauls, and her fashion-inspired sculptures. His content is a way of doing rebellion, avant-garde and designers such as Maison Margiela, Rei Kawakubo, Ann Demeulemeester, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Junya Watanabe and Yohji Yamamoto-some of whom have begun to be noticed. He attended several shows in Paris, and a few weeks ago, Margiela joined his DMs.
Nagornova, who left her business career to create full-time content when her online presence began to grow, caught the eye of the Margiela group after she shared how to make two chairs, one covered with hair from 17 wigs, the other covered with leather gloves found, with her followers. Each of them is inspired by the collection of Margiela’s records – so Margiela inspired him to have a new challenge: to create a new one inspired by Fall 2008 as well as advertising for this week’s Fall 2026 fashion show presented in Shanghai. There, Martens continued Martin Margiela’s long-standing tradition of turning the ordinary into something beautiful with otherworldly clothes constructed of crushed porcelain and covered in peeling white paint (just as his young boyfriend was inspired to do). That’s how we found him—and quickly jumped into his DMs.
First, we emailed Nagornova about cultivating her passion for devotion and how she turns that passion into art.
Where do your fashion ideas come from? Who invented it first?
I used to envy people who grew up in an environment where art, beauty and fashion were part of everyday life. My childhood was very different—a working-class family in Eastern Europe, a mother dedicated to raising three children and a father working on construction sites. Fashion was not something you could define yourself by. My relationship also came later—not directly. It grew as an extension of my interest in culture, music and travel.
The first designer I admired was Martin Margiela. The rawness of some of his pieces, like the glove bags and wig caps, struck a chord with me, which I think was inspired by my obsession with David Lynch’s work.
My next big influences were Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto. My love of Japan was initially developed by photographers such as Daidō Moriyama and Hajime Sawatari.
What is your north star design now?
I am constantly drawn to the 1980s, when Japanese designers came to Paris and disrupted the industry. What they introduced was not about beauty in the traditional way; their work was typically negative but intellectually charged.
Then, in the early 1990s, Martin Margiela took this issue even further—not only redefining clothes but questioning the entire system that supports them. That rebellious attitude appeals to me. Sometimes fashion is meant to be ugly, and that’s where its beauty lies. It should make us uncomfortable and challenge our thinking.
How do you develop your interest?
Whenever I meet someone doing something, my first reaction is not only to look at what they did, but to try to get inside their head. I start to wonder about the inner workings: what were they thinking? How did they feel? What influenced their decisions? What kind of things were they attracted to? That curiosity is what makes me interested in the personal side of designers.
For example, with Yohji Yamamoto, that connection is especially evident in his music. The way he sings in Japanese matches this quiet feeling, and his songs are often featured in his shows. At the end of his last show last month, one of his songs came on, and I recognized his voice immediately. It caught me off guard, adding a new level of emotion to everything I was seeing. I found myself crying!
How would you describe your passion for them? It seems like they play a big role in your life.
I like the general approach. The environment you build yourself in is not neutral – you choose it, you create it, you organize it, but it also feeds on your life and influences who you are. Everything is connected: fashion, interior, architecture, books, travel, music and your political views. None of these things exist by themselves—they are always informing and re-creating each other.
Tell us about your collection of pieces by these designers. What are the highlights?
Last summer in Osaka, I came across a Yohji Yamamoto shirt from 2000 with a small, intimate print about Yohji-san and his dog. I have a dog myself, so there was already a sense of connection—but what made it so unexpected was that the text was in Russian. I’m from Moscow, and I see my language where it turned into something more personal than just an old find.
I always think about the importance of having a personal relationship with the things you wear and surround yourself with. Clothes aren’t just things – they only make sense when they reflect something personal, whether it’s a collection of hand-knitted hats or rock band T-shirts.
What made you want to start writing about your love of fashion?
I created my own website where I write about my relationship with fashion and things. What I am most interested in is the relationship we make with the things we live with. In a world driven by constant trends, I admire the idea that what really matters is your relationship with what you choose.
I also collect avant-garde and Japanese fashions, and I absolutely hate gatekeeping—but very few people actually share where to find things, how much they cost, or direct links. When I once found a Yohji Yamamoto book from the 90s for €17, my first thought was to post it on Instagram and share a link to buy it. There is a common belief that large parts of old or old archives are inaccessible, but that is not entirely true. We’re at a point where something from the mass market can cost as much as a Margiela on resale. I want people to experience that for themselves, and I think sharing is fun.
What made you want to start creating things inspired by a particular collection?
I always envied people whose work resulted in material things. I create online content, and I miss being able to influence the outcome of my work. I decided to try to do something with my hands for the first time, and I made a chair out of wigs.
I didn’t have a big goal or expectation that people would like it; I made it mainly for myself, to satisfy that creative appeal. I believe that what attracts people the most is what you do for yourself, without seeking validation. My first love is fashion, and my second is interior design. And one day I just thought: what if I put the two together?
What kind of materials do you like to work with? Where did you learn your art skills?
When I start working, I don’t really know what I’m doing—my only goal is to have fun. I love surrealism in design and fashion, so I enjoy working with unusual parts that were originally intended for something else – wigs, gloves, construction pipes. You can combine things that were never meant to be combined. I think that is the reason why I was attracted to Margiela’s style of design.
What was the first piece you made? What’s your favorite role you’ve ever played?
I saw Margiela’s wig jacket from the Spring 2009 collection and thought, “Okay, how about I turn it into a chair?” It was the last collection that Martin Margiela made before leaving the brand.
I found a free arm chair on a German equivalent on eBay, bought 17 blonde wigs, and started putting them together. It took 12 hours—at one point, I started to hate the process and felt like it would never end. But nothing compares to the moment you finish and see what you have made with your own hands; that feeling is the reason I started.
How was the process after you received the message from Margiela?
They reached out to me via DM asking if I would be interested in collaborating on their Margiela Folders project before the brand’s Artisanal show in Shanghai, and talking about it digitally. They sent me some materials—a cable reference sweater from the Fall 2008 collection, and suggested using it as a starting point for creating anything. They gave me complete creative freedom to inspire others to create their own craft projects and give new life to everyday objects.
As I had previously made a chair made of 17 wigs and another made of 20 gloves, both inspired by Margiela, I thought it would be a good story to make another piece to complete the triptych. That’s how the bench came to life—made from construction pipes I bought at the hardware store, wigs, and cords.
Do you hope to continue doing things like this in the future?
I think once I opened that creative box, there was no going back. While working on the Margiela end bench, I got the idea to make a lamp—so that’s my next project. My main goal is to make my ideas come to life immediately without asking them, even if it’s something as silly as a chair made of wigs, and to enjoy the creative process and have fun along the way.
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