Nikita Vlassenko

“How did you realize fashion was your passion?” I asked.
“My parents exposed me to culture at a very young age, and my father has always been deeply sensitive to anything related to beauty,” Nikita began, his voice warm and deliberate, prolonging his words with a soft smile. “My first real encounter with fashion was when I met Karl Lagerfeld in the south of France. He inspired me, not just in terms of aesthetics but in building a strong, globally recognized persona. The fact that Lagerfeld acknowledged me, talked to me—it gave me confidence. That’s when my passion for fashion truly started.”

“What is beauty to you?”
“It’s anything that provokes a joyful reaction in my body.”

“Describe yourself in a few words.”
“Intense! That’s it. It says everything. I live at a hundred percent—I party hard, work hard, fuck super hard. But I always stay in control. If I want to stop, I stop. If I want to quit, I quit.”

“How do you maintain control?”
“I value myself. If something doesn’t feel right, I don’t do it. That can be a problem at work, which is why I’m a freelancer. I can’t have someone telling me what to do because, honestly, I think everyone is wrong but me,” he said, laughing.

“And what about the things you can’t control—like other people?”
He sighed. “Oh, but I can. When I started in Paris, I went to fashion parties to meet the people I wanted to know. It was so easy. I’d walk up to them and say, ‘Oh my god, hi, how are you? I haven’t seen you in so long!’ Everyone’s polite, so they’d respond, ‘Oh, hi, how are you?’ pretending they knew me. By the next time we met, they actually thought they did. And that’s how I got to know them.”

“What else can you control?”
“I completely control how I look. Only I decide how to change myself, and I don’t adapt to my surroundings. That’s how I stay true to myself. And because I’m happy with who I am, I have the power to get and control whatever I want.”

“What do you appreciate most about yourself?”
“The way I provoke people. They either love me or hate me—never indifferent. I love dressing to turn heads.”

“Why do you want that attention?”
“Maybe because I was adopted. But I don’t feel the need to find my birth parents—I’ve been given an incredible life. Still, being abandoned might have left its mark. And growing up, my father worked at the European Central Bank, so there were lots of ‘show-off’ situations at school. I always felt the need to prove I was different, maybe even better than everyone else.” He laughed.

“What makes you different?”
“I’m different because I say I’m different,” he admitted with a grin. “Whether it’s true or not, I pretend harder than anyone else.”

“Is there anything you dislike about yourself?”
“My lack of self-control when it comes to pleasing myself. If I want something—even if I can’t afford it—I’ll find a way to get it.”

“What’s your guilty pleasure?”
“Seduction.”
“Why does that make you feel guilty?”
“Actually, it doesn’t,” he laughed. “Okay, then—doing drugs.”

“When was the last time you felt truly happy?”
“Every time I’m with my boyfriend.”

“What does love mean to you?”
“An endless cycle of giving, taking, and exchanging.”
“Why is it endless?”
“Because I don’t want it to end!”

“What’s your dream?”
“To be the most successful in my field.”

“What do you believe in?”
“Myself.”

“What was your dream ten years ago?”
“To be famous.”
“What does fame mean to you?”
“To be respected by people.”
“And how many people do you need for that?”
“Only those I respect. They’re the ones who matter.”

“What’s the most extraordinary thing you’ve done?”
“I styled the Met Gala—that was huge. And I worked on the Cannes Festival too.”

“How would you like to be remembered?”
“As someone who changed something.”