Crown Without a Realm

Year: 2020

Material: Base made of black padded composite fabric covered with black tulle, silver, white and red sequins, hand-crocheted flowers from Anatolia, two red tassels, headband

This work formally references the kokoshnik – a traditional Russian headdress originating in the courtly fashion of the Tsarist empire and later stylized as a national symbol. The title points to the historical weight of this form and, at the same time, to its present-day loss of meaning – or its problematic return.

The piece was created before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Today, it appears as an aesthetic citation under heightened scrutiny: somewhere between cultural heritage, geopolitical appropriation, and ornamental allure.

The hand-crocheted flowers come from Anatolia – a gesture that overlaps geographical boundaries and raises new questions about cultural translation. The red tassel, the sparkling sequins, the ornamental rigidity of the headpiece – all evoke power, splendor, and representation, without committing to a single reading.

’Crown Without a Realm’ reveals what fashion often conceals:
Headdress is never just decoration. It carries history, ideology, political significance.

This form today – more than ever – stands for national grandeur and imperial display.

To wear it is not to affirm, but to confront:
a critical engagement with a symbol that is anything but innocent.