Anton Belinskiy’s Lockdown Family Album Is Eerie, Beautiful, and Heartwarming

Designer Anton Belinskiy, known for his cool-kid-minded clothing, loved by the Ukrainian club scene, left Kiev last March to go to his mother’s home in Kalynivka, about 30 minutes southwest of the city and a bucolic oasis surrounded by woods and wildlife. It’s a jarring image. Belinskiy had long been known for putting the looks of the underground youth front and center of the fashion-verse, hosting party-shows at his home, and even taking over a local bazaar. But in this small town, it’s calm and serene. His family even has a baby goat. But what’s a designer in the Slavic countryside to do but turn his family into his models and create a fantastic family photo album? In a series of surreal photos, Belinskiy took the lockdown as a time to chronicle his family, his daily life, and his clothes.

The images, which feature his fall 2020 and spring 2021 collections, are both eerie and tender. His grandfather stands in a hulking white Jon Snow–style faux-fur coat with a nonworking rifle, next to a large stuffed bear, a present to Belinskiy’s 22-year-old sister from her boyfriend. In another image, his sister and mother pose on a bed, both sporting sprawling, Pre-Raphaelite bouffants of curls, wearing pieces from the beachy spring 2021 collection. In a darker, sorceress-like shot, his mother stands in the woods in an emerald green frock with sneakers. In another, she wears a turban stuffed with holy church candles, a reflection of her religion. “She is a believer,” Belinskiy says about his mother.

His now-retired mother, a former teacher and clothing store owner, has long been an influence in his designs, even modeling in his fall 2019 collection. “She’s inspired me since day one. My mother is my teacher, muse, and my spiritual guide,” says Belinskiy. “She has a really her own, unique style. My mom has an odd way of catching people with that endless positive energy flow, childish naivete, and eternal youth.”

Belinskiy has since permanently relocated to Kalynivka, where he has rented a work studio and lives with his family. “They fill me with the purest emotions that they can’t find in today’s world,” he says of his family. “I’d always wanted to spend more time with my family, but never really managed to because I was so busy with work. Quarantine, strangely enough, made this dream come true, as 90% of my work was moved online.” For him, being surrounded by his loved ones in this quiet has been a slice of heaven. “This is the calmest place in the world,” says Belinskiy. I can tell that it’s my place of power.”