Dazed & Confused was born from the mantra "create your own media" at a time in the UK and Europe when there was little outlet for creativity and intellectual opinions on youth. The Moscow-based web magazine
LAM (short for Look At Me) created by 25-year-old Roman Mazurenko is born from a similar premise. On a recent trip to Moscow I hooked up with him to talk about their sense of visual self-expression and what it means to be young, creative in Russia today.
"London is closed. It has become a victim of its own good taste. New York has turned into a giant shopping mall," explains Mazurenko about his enthusiasm for Moscow.
Determined to establish a new Russian point of view in fashion and photography, LAM now in its fifth issue, publishes its monthly online editions as one of the only alternatives to a print market dominated by mainstream fashion glossies such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Glamour. The current issue of LAM explores life explores life for its (claimed) 40,000 monthly readers through the theme of banal.
"We want to create something that has a unique Russian feel to it and get inspiration from things that are not comfortable to most people," explains Mazurenko about the look and tone of the current issue of LAM.
He does that by working with very young and untrained talent, his direction, sense of purpose and energy holding the project together.
"Everything in London is so 'cool'", continues Mazurenko. "The magazines have hyped everything and when everything is cool then it looses its credibility. I find it humorous that people still take it seriously," he says.
Mazurenko is key player in the emergence of a new, more self-confident Russian youth culture. He is also part of the four piece Thriller production team that stage underground events in the city, so far bringing DJ's like Diplo and Digitalism and artists like Matthew Stone to mix with local talent. The scene has been developing in tandem with the original Look At Me web site, which along with its alternative listings information allows its social network to post party pictures of each other, harnessing the look and energy of a new young Russia. The name that is being used to describe this emerging Anglo-influenced youth movement is "Ruskibeat".
In a unique exclusive for Dazed Digital, Mazurenko and his team at LAM have produced a short fashion film called "From Heavy Weight to Weightless". "Fashion has to be political," says Mazurenko who previously studied in Dublin before coming back to his hometown three years ago. Just like any other form of self-expression in this country. I believe Russia, culturally speaking, is in the eye of the storm right now, and that the next ten years is going to be as crazy in terms of development as the 90's was."
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