Natasha Zinko. Spring/summer 2026 - London Fashion Week.

(Images:  Natasha Zinko 2025)

Society is most probably already crashed, at least socially, with a transfer of ego and narcissism propelled onto social media at an insatiable rate, we could all be in the throes of burnout, while the whole world politically starts to move towards Fascism.  Yet, a counterculture remains very illusive, when we are in a worst state of affairs in relation to conflicts, wars, social upheaval, a west supported genocide onto the Palestinians via Israel, than the counterculture heyday of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, would have never allowed this to become so entrenched.  So, what's going to give to change all this?  Hard to say, and fashion notoriously was able to gauge and assist in counterculture identity, at least aesthetically it may offer styles as a precursor to our 11th hour scenario.

Ukrainian born fashion designer Natasha Zinko is a Generation X'er, who, for her latest collection, is reiterating that sweet spot of the early 1990s, after growing up in the glorious 1980s.  Before we, per person, raked up tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, we were all essentially poor, and Eastern Europe, was the epicenter of the Western knockoffs, more so the underground rave culture, where you would purchase for $20USD, a strange looking 'ADIDAS' jacket, which was made within a small sweatshop in Prague, Czechoslovakia, before it became the Czech Republic, as Russia's dominance over Eastern Europe started to fold.  And the hunger for anything Western, more so American, began to rev up, however at the time, you would wear your odd fitted sports jacket, Nike 'rips offs' until they fell apart and were scroungy and dirty looking, yes cue the Gsvalia brothers, homage to the 1990s Tbilisi rave scenes, be it Demna's $2500 'dirty' looking Balenciaga sneakers.  Such was the differentials  between East and West youth cultures throughout the 1990s, until Citibank in 1990, started giving out credit cards to Polish youth.

And ironically, Zinko may, in her own way, is trying to reestablish some aspects of hedonism into our currently confused society, which is teetering on the edge of destruction.  Yet, it appears to be, as you would expect, a Eastern European version of 1990s stylizations, which is more backlash, than leading a charge of aesthetics with social meaning.  An indulgent protest song, showcasing that we are actually more conservative than our grandparents/parents when they danced at Studio 54, with the distinct possibility Russia had invaded West Germany the next morning.  They did protest with a hedonic focus on sex, drinking, smoking and dancing to be that shared chaos, because it may all end in a thermonuclear flash.  Citing for her Spring 2026 collection, that it's "important to be a mess sometimes", viewing the early 1990s as the influence, being nonchalant messy to be that inflection point to change the whole political and social construct.

Probably not the era we want to duplicate, as we may need to bypass the 1990s altogether for inspiration, as Gen Xers, and one could argue, is the reason we are in this prefabricated collapse, as a commercialised redux copy of our parents counterculture years in a strange kind of backlash, and laid down the foundation for mortgage debt, middle class expansion and netflix binge nights, while their teenage kids stare at TikTok feeds for hours on end.   But, as mentioned, the youth have not been able to muster and sustain any social defiance and/or change, and Zinko is correct, we are not seeing it in fashion.  So, her chopped up, postmodern fits, busted looks, stains, and disheveled styles is actually refreshing to see, maybe even liberating.  Case in point, I attended a protest recently and my Palestinian keffiyeh, and myself, were pepper sprayed, battling against Far right anti-immigration idiots.  I had to eventually wash it, as it was still stinging my neck and face two weeks later, yet, there appears to be a big stain on it, blood?  Point is, styled chaos ala Zinko's latest array is just that, 'I don't fucking care', and my designer pants I'll wear to death, and no, they won't go to the thrift store, they'll either go into the bin or become a rag.  

Being worn out, and washed out is the new cool.  

___

(A.Glass 2025)