Loving the Commie Look.(fashion design)

What do you design for people who are obsessed with everything new? Denis Simachev says the answer is simple: give them something familiar. The appeal of Soviet kitsch first caught on in Moscow a few years ago; billboards used Soviet propaganda posters to advertise rock-music stations, and Soviet-themed restaurants began popping up. But designer Simachev, 28, is the first to bring the Soviet look back to personal fashion. "It's not that I want the Soviet Union back," says Simachev, who was 11 when Mikhail Gorbachev first introduced the concept of perestroika. "But old people have nostalgia for their childhood, and people my age grew up hearing about Soviet life from their grandparents."

The designer is not looking to revive the gray suits and polyester dresses of Soviet days. He is far more interested in capturing the former empire's "sporty past." His T-shirts have ornate hammer-and- sickle designs, or contain the giant letters CCCP (the Russian initials for U.S.S.R.). "Everyone always wanted to be on the Soviet Olympic teams and wear shirts like this," he says. "Now anyone can." Ironically, his communist style is beloved for its uniqueness. "People who buy his outfits want to show off their individuality," says Yulia Radina, a saleswoman at Le Form boutique. But with his fanciest T shirts selling for about $200, not everyone can afford his brand of nostalgia.

Simachev also has a line of tracksuits, one of which he recently sent to President Vladimir Putin for his 50th birthday in October. As a former KGB man, Putin himself has a bit of the fusion Simachev ...