SHANGHAI MUSE. An original millinery collection by Tatiana Ashakova
Sometimes a collection begins with a sketch. Sometimes with a fabric, a silhouette, or a particular era.
And sometimes, it simply lives inside you for a long time, slowly gathering impressions, memories and images.
Shanghai Muse was born this way.
In my imagination, two seemingly different worlds came together: the aesthetics of the 1920s — an era of freedom, theatricality, geometry and a very particular kind of femininity — and the impressions of my first journey to Asia, which became an entirely new visual and cultural experience for me.
These images remained somewhere inside me until, one day, they came together as a collection — almost instantly, intuitively and without a predetermined plan.
This is how my work usually comes into being. I never know in advance what my next collection will look like. Ideas gradually accumulate from my life, the people I meet, my travels, art, music, cinema and architecture — from anything that happens to resonate with me.
Sometimes the starting point is a client commission. I begin creating one particular headpiece, and in the process discover a new character or visual idea that later becomes part of an entire collection.
This time, the impulse was Asia — and above all, the image of Shanghai as a city where different cultures meet.
Shanghai in the 1920s was a place of transition: tradition existed alongside modernity, Chinese aesthetics alongside European fashion, while the old world was rapidly giving way to the new.
That sense of transformation is something I feel deeply connected to.
And this is where Anna Pavlova naturally enters the story of the collection.
In 1922, the legendary Russian ballerina arrived in Shanghai with her own company. Her visit became a significant cultural event for the city — a meeting between European ballet and an entirely different cultural environment.
What inspires me most about Pavlova is the image of a woman who crossed borders through her art, travelled between continents and transformed movement into a universal language.
Her story resonates beautifully with the very idea of Shanghai Muse: a woman travelling between worlds, cultures and eras.
Yet Shanghai Muse is not a reconstruction of historical costume, nor is it a literal interpretation of Chinese culture.
It is my personal fantasy of two worlds meeting.
Within it, the spirit of the Roaring Twenties meets the graphic language of Art Deco and the cinematic glamour of Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express — feathers, drama and black-and-white sophistication — alongside the more contemporary, almost hypnotic sensuality we associate with Wong Kar-wai and In the Mood for Love.
But all these impressions pass through my own artistic language.
The Headpiece as the Final Gesture
I don’t create hats as accessories. I create characters.
For me, a headpiece is the cherry on top — the final gesture that can completely transform the perception of an entire look.
It can give a silhouette drama, reveal a personality, create an unexpected association, or make us see a person differently.
That is why I find it so fascinating to work with a headpiece as part of a larger visual space.
I see the whole image: not only the shape of the head or the silhouette of the clothing, but the way a headpiece interacts with the face, the body, movement, light, space and mood.
This spatial way of seeing allows me not simply to create individual pieces, but to draw with them — adding my own ideas and imagination to an existing reality.
And perhaps the most wonderful part is seeing the associations these images create in other people.
Sometimes the viewer sees an entirely different story from the one I had in mind when I began.
That is where the magic of art happens.
Created by Hand. Made to Be Unique.
Every headpiece in the collection is handmade by me.
I can recreate a design I love, but it is impossible to reproduce it in exactly the same way.
The nature of handcraft, the materials, their texture, the placement of every individual element, the movement of a feather, the curve of a shape — even the smallest variations that occur during the making process — mean that every piece develops its own character.
So even when I return to the same design, the result is always a new interpretation.
Every headpiece exists in its own version.
Conscious by Design
Sustainability is not a separate trend for me. It is a natural part of the way I create.
My work follows the principles of slow fashion and zero waste, with an emphasis on making the most of materials that already exist — giving new life to vintage, leftover and found materials, and creating pieces in very small quantities or as individual works.
For me, zero waste is not only about reducing waste.
It is about changing the way we look at materials.
Seeing value in something another person might discard. Finding a new purpose for a remnant of fabric, a feather, a detail or an existing form. Not producing more simply for the sake of producing, but creating something when there is already an idea, a purpose and a story behind it.
That is why Shanghai Muse is not a mass-produced collection.
It is a collection of individual handmade artistic objects, created consciously and with intention.
The Collection campaign
The collection was photographed atErmelerhaus in Berlin, a remarkable historic house whose own story echoes the spirit of Shanghai Muse.
Originally built in the 17th century, the patrician house was extensively transformed in the Rococo style in the 18th century. After surviving the Second World War, the original building was dismantled in the 1960s as Berlin’s historic centre was radically redeveloped. It was subsequently reconstructed at Märkisches Ufer, with important elements of its historic interior preserved.
Today, Ermelerhaus carries the atmosphere of another Berlin — one of salons, artists, merchants, theatrical evenings and elaborate interiors. Its distinctive historical architecture has also made it a recurring location for film and television.
For Shanghai Muse, the house became more than a backdrop.
Its layered history, ornate interiors and sense of another time created a natural stage for the collection — allowing the imagined Shanghai of the 1920s to meet the historic visual language of Berlin.
The Muse
It was therefore important for me to find not simply a model, but a muse.
She is a Chinese dancer living in Berlin.
In her movement, physicality and natural connection between two cultures, I saw the woman who had existed in my imagination from the very beginning of the collection.
She seemed to have arrived from another time — and at the same time, she belonged completely to contemporary Berlin.
And perhaps this is what Shanghai Muse is ultimately about:
the past meeting the present, East meeting West, movement meeting form, and spontaneous inspiration meeting the human hand.
I did not try to force this collection into existence.
I simply allowed everything that had been quietly accumulating inside me to finally take form.
Shanghai Muse — born from instinct, shaped by memory, made by hand.
We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking the button you consent to our use of cookies.
