Since his debut, Ukrainian designer Petar Petrov has had a talent for mixing casual sportswear and elegant tailoring, and this most recent collection is no different as he demonstrates that rowdiness and tailoring can easily go hand-in-hand . Deciding that perhaps the clichéd rebel isn’t dead just yet – and that if he is alive, he wouldn’t be one to have a large wardrobe – Petrov set out to create a series of the perfect basics. Pairing long chain-knit blue wool tunics and smartly cut harnessing blazers, it would seem that the attitude of the Petar Petrov man, kicking walls as he walks down a street and laughing raucously at bystanders, falls somewhere between that of Ash Stymest or Cole Mohr. With uniform-like coats, a lightly distressed white goat leather jacket and thick-set black leather lace-ups, it would seem that the practicality of the clothing places it within the realm of workwear but the finesse of its production suggests otherwise. Speaking to Dazed Digital about teenage angst, military codes and shaved rabbit fur jackets, Petar Petrov explains how this season developed.

Dazed Digital: This collection seems to be more tailored than your last – what was the idea behind this development?
Petar Petrov: The idea for this collection was to create a series of perfect basics. A lot of the pieces have some army-inspiration and it was all for boys that don’t have a huge garderobe, who like to wear the same things, and who maybe have ten key pieces that they love. We concentrated on them.

DD: And hence the refined simplicity.
Petar Petrov: Exactly. And we involved some military codes, with the camouflage on the t-shirt and the feeling and cut of the coats.

DD: The shirt with the arm-pieces reminds me of a soldier off-duty.
Petar Petrov: It was a feeling we were developing! It’s always difficult when somebody asks me about inspiration because I really take it from everywhere. And then it’s difficult because everyone takes their own idea away from these sorts of things. For this collection, everything is much more casual than it usually is and this is because I was working off of this old cliché about forgetting about formality and concentrating on workwear. I’m interested in making something that people wear all the time.

DD: Tell me about some of the newer fabrics you worked with?
Petar Petrov: The white leather jacket – it’s a washed goat leather made of very small skins, so it was difficult to make. But the wash is a beautiful, subtle finish. We loved it so much. Also, the print for the fur jacket. It’s a new development – a shaved fur from a rabbit that is printed on and then washed. These are my favourites, actually.

DD: I was just reading the fur jacket.
Petar Petrov: Well, it’s sort of a type of nonsense. We took words from a lot of artists we love and then tried to think about how teenagers are bored in school and always just writing little things on their pages again and again that don’t really mean anything but that come from somewhere. It’s cool nonsense.

DD: Sometimes it’s good not to take yourself too seriously?
Petar Petrov: Exactly, exactly.