“I was inspired by the Maison Margiela’s 2017 grey and white wool jacket and I wondered if it would be possible to repeat this technique, because it looks incredible”
A one minute reel showing the work process of making an old jacket and sweater into a completely different, stylish and trendy piece has made a splash on Instagram just three days after uploading it.
The video received more than 12 million views, one million likes, 150 thousand shares and thousand saves. The creator, Nadya Seredina, has received hundreds of DMs from people asking to buy the jacket or collaborate and requesting classes in how to create the jacket. “I uploaded this video on Wednesday night and nothing indicated any unusual action on my account” said Nadya, who had at that time 2000 followers who mainly knew her through her small brand with handmade knitwear clothes that introduced in different shops in Moscow.
“Everything changed two days later when I met with my friend on Friday. She had seen this video and said that it would be cool if this video got 20 thousand views so more people could find out about my hand-made pieces”.
Nadya Seredina is a knitwear designer from Moscow. She has more than 25 years experience in handmade knitting and in addition she runs a small namesake brand making handmade knitwear. “I started to knit at the age of five, influenced by my grandma who taught me how to knit a scarf and then a sweater and I haven’t stopped knitting since then”. All Nadya’s work is bespoke one-off pieces, with a maximum of two repeats. “If I start making 10 identical pieces they won’t be unique and won’t impress and create that luxury feeling when you wear it.”
Some of her sweaters and cardigans have been published in the Russian versions of Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Interview. “I have also worked on request with clients from Europe and the US and made the sweaters or jackets they wanted with a perfect fit and no repeats.”
The jacket that made Nadya extremely popular and thrust her into the limelight was made of two garments that she decided to re-use, thinking about sustainability. “I saw this jacket on Pinterest, it was the grey and white wool jacket by Maison Margiela from 2017”. “Looking at it as a technician I understood that it’s exceedingly complicated work that looks marvellous”. “So I was wondering if it was possible to repeat it at all and created this version: a pink sweater combined with a pinstripe jacket”. “The video in which I made this jacket has aroused an enormous amount of interest in me, but I want to say that the idea of this video was to show how to reuse your old items taking inspiration from the Maison Margiela jacket”.
“Even as a knitwear specialist, it took me 140 hours, or two and a half weeks, to create that jacket. It looks so easy but to create the garment without any inaccuracies and with a smooth gradient you need skills and patience”. An interesting fact is that Nadya created this jacket in 2021 and posted it on Instagram but at that time it didn’t even hit 2000 views, which shows that the ideas of sustainability and second hand are growing faster today.
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The video in which I made this jacket has aroused an enormous amount of interest in me, but I want to say that the idea of this video was to show how to reuse your old items taking inspiration from the Maison Margiela jacket.
Nadya’s Instagram is temporarily limited because of the massive number of follows, likes, comments and shares based on Instagram regulations. “I can’t post new pictures, can’t follow and can’t like anything at the moment but this is kind of better for me because I could never have imagined or expected to get so much attention, requests and questions ”. “I would love to collaborate with yarn or clothing brands with whom I could create something unique”.
When asked what she’s going to do with her new-found fame, Nadya said: ”The most famous Italian yarn corporate LINEAPIU has invited me to showcase my collection at annual fashion show”. “And a showroom with menswear has given me an amazing male jacket and a sweater to recreate into a new piece”. “I also want to launch a YouTube channel to share my knitting techniques”.
To create this idea Nadya used a Pierre Cardin jacket and yarn by Loro Piana with inspiration from the two-tone Maison Margiela 2017 wool jacket.
