Lotta Volkova


Lotta Volkova is a Russian fashion stylist and model. She is a fashion stylist for Miu Miu. Previously she was stylist at Vetements and Balenciaga.

Early life and education

Volkova was born in 1984 in Vladivostok, Russia. She was named after the Led Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love". Her mother was a professor of physics, and her father was a sea captain. It was her mother who, from childhood, instilled in her the idea that she needed to live by her own rules. Lotta Volkova said about her mother: "She loved post-punk, the early eighties, the era of alternative rock, so I grew up in that atmosphere." It was her mother who instilled in Lotta a love of fashion - she took her twelve-year-old daughter with her on shopping trips to London and Tokyo. As Lotta Volkova admitted: "I had Prada shoes and Dior by Galliano jumpers."
Early in her life she lived in an isolated region of Russia, and the internet was an important tool for her to find information. In an interview with Jina Khayyer she stated the following, "I grew up in Vladivostok, Russia, in the former USSR. We had nothing, but we had the Internet. I was obsessed with information. I was obsessed with finding things out. That is still my driving force, to find something new."
When she was 17, she moved to London and enrolled in three art courses. When she was old enough, she enrolled at Central Saint Martins where she studied art and design.

Career

While at Central Saint Martins in London, Volkova launched a small menswear label, Lotta Skeletrix, in 2004, producing streetwear pieces inspired by punk, New Wave and post-punk culture. The post-punk-inspired line attracted a handful of independent stockists, including The Pineal Eye and Dover Street Market in London, where she met designer Rei Kawakubo, before she wound down the label around 2007 and moved to Paris to focus on styling full-time.
She moved to Paris in 2008.
Her first fashion gig in Paris was a photo shoot for Ellen von Unwerth.
In 2020, she collaborated with Adidas on a collection of ready-to-wear clothing and accessories.
In 2022, she launched her first collection with Jean Paul Gaultier.

Controversy

In 2022 she was wrongly associated with a controversial ad campaign by Balenciaga. The work was heavily criticized for its depiction of children holding BDSM-themed teddy bears, as well as for featuring text from the federal statute the United States v. Williams. Volkova received significant criticism for her involvement with the brand, as well as for previous Instagram posts she shared which depicted gothic and occult-themed photographs and artwork. A photograph of a model carrying two blood-soaked dolls during a runway show was widely circulated at the time and alleged to be Volkova, though this was later disproven, as the photographs were attributed to be that of an unnamed model taken during the 2016 China Fashion Week.
It was subsequently revealed that Volkova had not worked with Balenciaga since 2017, and had no involvement with the ad campaign in question. In a press release, a representative for Volkova stated that of course "she condemns the abuse of children in any form" and further adding "Lotta Volkova has not worked with Balenciaga or its team since 2017 and she has in no way participated in the brand's recent Instagram or advertising campaigns."