Domenico Trezzini Takes the Stage: VKHUTEIN Presents a Wardrobe for a New Urban Legend
Something has happened in St. Petersburg that goes beyond routine protocols and official press releases. If you thought the Golden Trezzini Awards were only about an international competition, a строгий jury, and a ceremony at the State Hermitage, that assumption no longer holds. On April 10, at 40 Mokhovaya Street—home to VKHUTEIN (the Higher School of Art and Design)—a genuine intersection of eras unfolded.
It began with an idea. Pavel Chernyakov, founder of the Awards, has long pursued what could be described as a distinctly St. Petersburg vision: to stage an opera dedicated to the city’s first architect, Domenico Trezzini. While others might still be calculating budgets and timelines, VHUTEIN moved directly to implementation. The institute invited Chernyakov to formulate a design brief for students of the Fashion Design Department. The task was explicit: to develop stage costumes for characters in a future opera that does not yet exist on stage but is already present in the conceptual space of the cultural community.
Under the strict yet attentive supervision of Polina Slutskaya, Head of the Fashion Design Department, 96 students from three academic years submitted their interpretations. Only 16 projects advanced to the final review and defense before a jury on April 10.
What the members of the opera’s organizing committee—Maria Borisova, Olga Nikolskaya, and Pavel Chernyakov—encountered exceeded the format of an academic review. The work demonstrated a wide conceptual spectrum: from historically precise reconstructions, with detailed attention to materials and tailoring of the Petrine era, to speculative, fantasy-driven interpretations reimagining historical architects as figures within mythic narratives. The level of research was notable. Students engaged with archival sources, studied period textiles, and referenced both painting and architectural elements from Trezzini’s own projects.
Svetlana Kuropatkina, Vice-Rector for External Relations at VKHUTEIN, together with Polina Slutskaya, established a framework in which academic training translated into fully realized creative output. The result positions the project within a broader understanding of St. Petersburg as an active cultural system rather than a static museum environment.
The project will not remain internal. A dedicated website for the future opera is currently in development, where a virtual exhibition of the student works will be presented. Public voting will be available. The selected winner will receive not only a formal diploma but also an invitation to the awards ceremony of the 9th International Golden Trezzini Awards, scheduled for November 20, 2026, at the State Hermitage Museum.
