It’s inspired by Russia’s burgeoning political movement led by young people
Clothing has long been a form of protest, from Katharine Hamnett’s slogan tee confronting Thatcher to the inverted pink triangle merch made in the fight against Aids stigma. Russian punk political movement Pussy Riot and their independent media company Mediazona have now launched a new range of clothing inspired by activism and resistance.
In an exclusive first look with Dazed, the clothing line features t-shirts, badges, socks, and the group’s trademark balaclavas in a range of colours. It’s a collaboration between Pussy Riot, Kultrab, and 9cyka, with all cash made going towards Mediazona’s activist journalism.
“In 2017, we witnessed a number of protests on the streets of Russia that consisted mostly of young people, including 13, 14, 15-year-old kids,” Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova tells Dazed. “T-shirts and masks that we made are inspired by those people who’ll eventually and inevitably make their revolution in Russia. (Because) Russia belongs to them too, not to Putin exclusively.”
Tolokonnikova explains that running an independent media source in Russia is made difficult by the government, especially as they are unable to exist on advertising or grants. The activist and musician also refers to the anti-Putin and anti-corruption demonstrations joined by swathes of protesters across Russia last year. In March 2017 thousands rallied against corruption in the Kremlin following Alexei Navalny’s He Is Not Dimon To You documentary that exposed the secret businesses run by the president and prime minister. Rallies also took place when Navalny was injured and arrested. In June 2017, hundreds of young people were arrested in protests.
As Pussy Riot assert, state-sanctioned media cannot be relied upon, and so Russian youth continues to mobilise. Mediazona is their independent, “free-of-censorship” media outlet, kick-started in 2014 by Pussy Riot and Russian journalists to report on the real political movement.
The ‘It Gonna Get Worse’ apparel line first began in December 2017 – a collab with Kultrab and Krovostok, a Russian hip-hop group – with a run of clothing to financially support Mediazona and the investigative work it does to challenge corrupt political system. It was named ‘It Gonna Get Worse’ after the sarcastic saying of the company’s editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov, “which he repeats every day when we get more and more bad news from the field,” according to Tolokonnikova.
“In the current political situation where our country has no freedom of speech, clothing became an act of self-expression, a way of showing that we disagree.”
Members of Pussy Riot were tried and convicted of hooliganism back in 2012 for performing a punk prayer in a Moscow cathedral. The group speaks out consistently against state failings, corruption, and censorship, and has released politically-charged music like “I Can’t Breathe”, dedicated to police brutality victim Eric Garner, the Trump-confronting “Make America Great Again”, and the recent anti-Putin output “Elections”. Last year, the group shut down Trump Tower in a demonstration for political prisoners Oleg Sentsov and Olexandr Kolchenko.
Pussy Riot have been appearing at political rallies and events in the U.S.
You can check out the clothing line and support independent Russian media here.
