"Life Form": How Workwear Restores the Prestige of Blue-Collar Professions
Rosalina Seyranyan, General Producer of the Industrial Fashion Show, considers VNOT a fitting platform for such a film: "This is where the visual style, visual language, and visual identity of professions are formed." According to her, the project targets two audiences: the youth, for whom it was created, and the professionals shaping the image of tomorrow's workforce. Workwear must be safe and account for the nuances of each profession, while also being stylish and designed with the wearer in mind.
Rosalina Seyranyan explained the choice of BTK Sfera as the show's partner by their shared vision: uniforms must be not only safe but also "comfortable and beautiful for the audience." The two parties were introduced by Baltika. She admitted that the most challenging part was collaborating with the creative team: stylists and designers initially "knew nothing about safety," which caused some early skepticism. However, the project successfully brought together a "multiverse" of fashion, creative industries, and business, and now everyone understands the purpose behind it. In the business sector, she noted, the project resonated with companies whose leaders genuinely value and care for their people.
Rosalina Seyranyan soberly assesses the scale of the task, acknowledging that the ultimate goal cannot be achieved through a single project. "If we managed to sow a seed and make people wonder whether things could be different, I consider that a success," she said. The final objective is to foster a culture where "there are no more or less valuable professions, and every profession is important."
Mikhail Tsygankov, Director of Occupational Safety at Baltika, participated in the project as the company's organizer but saw the film for the first time only at the session. He admitted that while watching it, he "felt a lump in his throat." He emphasized that the participating companies were not there to sell anything; rather, they created the project "because we likely feel this way. And because it is necessary."
When asked how his colleagues reacted to the project, he compared it to Yuri Gagarin's flight: actual company workers participated in the show, and "we flew with them." The audience's main questions were directed precisely at him. The explanation is simple: VNOT gathers practitioners, and occupational safety specialists are primarily interested in the production side of the matter. For Mikhail himself, the project also shifted his professional perspective: his family, upon hearing discussions about collections and employees' appearance, asked where occupational safety fit into all this. However, he noted that the experience broadened his horizons, allowing him to see "development" not only in occupational safety but also in this new, creative domain.
Speaking about BTK Sfera's solutions, Mikhail Tsygankov admitted he was initially wary, wondering, "Is this just part of a sales pitch?" But he later became convinced of their comprehensive approach, which includes distribution through vending machines and smart lockers, digitalization, and a whole family of integrated products and services.
Irina Kiuru, Executive Director of B2B at BTK Sfera, called the session an important cultural shift: "No one has declared the prestige of the profession in this way before." She assessed that the public response will be gradual and long-term, and the company will continue to track its impact.
She suggested taking a broader view of workwear design, emphasizing that it is about how a person feels and the environment that surrounds them, from the clothing itself to how it is serviced. "Safety starts not with measures or personal protective equipment (PPE), but with the person and how they perceive their presence in the workplace," she noted. In her opinion, the occupational safety system will become increasingly human-centric.
According to Irina Kiuru, the Minister of Labor, Anton Kotyakov, called the workwear service at the BTK Sfera booth—featuring automatic tracking, washing, repair, and vending lockers—"magic." Furthermore, she observed that the implemented project for Baltika made many booth guests express a desire to work for that company.
Irina Kiuru added that the fashion show itself is specifically aimed at Gen Z: future blue-collar workers and enterprise employees. Interactive activities were prepared for Youth Day at the booth because, in her words, today's youth are socially responsible and want to feel the deeper meaning behind what is happening.
