With their hearts firmly placed in the British fashion capital, this designer duo from Latvia (Fyodor Podgorny) and Israel (Golan Frydman) were the proud and well deserved winners of the UK’s prestige Fashion Fringe title. One of the highlights of their career, the exposure has garnered this married couple worldwide recognition.

Their Spring/Summer 2012 collection muses on an oxymoron that reads “flowers of evil.” A notion that is evident instantaneously, then throughout in equal measures, the journey began with Charles Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du Mal.” There is more to their decadent designs than a simple strapline however; the undertones of Erdem (namely, flowers and femininity) fused with the overtones of the established Fyodor Golan house style reveal “a purity of shape and form combined with integrity of texture and detail.”

Golan invites us to follow the remainder of the journey. “We looked at the nature and presentation of Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh and this story was about a nymph-like woman who goes through a painful metamorphosis, like Frida Kahlo did. The collection shows this figure grasping for support, going through a metamorphosis so she actually becomes one with nature, developing her own textures, and she almost develops scales.”

Having cemented their sought-after place in the luxury arena, their dresses and corsets can only be described as otherworldly, which poses the question, “Who and What is the Fyodor Golan woman?” Apparently, “she is unafraid of showing both her sensitive and strong sides,” dichotomies such as these seemingly sewn into the fabric of Fyodor Golan’s every creation and inspiration. Conflicts—both creative and personal­—provide the designers with their work ethic. “We love to explore opposites rather than similarities, it’s just something that is a part of our brand. We’re like Jekyll and Hyde.” These contrasting ideas are at the heart of a brand philosophy that is summed up in just three words: “expressive, emotional and sexual.”

Expect to see their take on ‘Russian peasants’ in every stitch of their Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, with inspiration derived from the most unexpected of places, from aristocracy to insects. The duo made their first, highly anticipated appearance at London Fashion Week this season, with even bigger plans to follow as they venture into the realms of knitwear and tailoring.

Text by HELEN TURNBULL