Russian designer Gosha Rubchinsky, who became famous throughout the world thanks to the aesthetics of the post-Soviet outskirts, once again found himself at the center of a major scandal. Eight years later, a former participant in his shows, Vasily Eremin, publicly accused the fashion designer of sexualized violence. Eremin stated that the incident occurred when he was a teenager. In addition, he shared screenshots of correspondence where other episodes of inappropriate behavior by Rubchinsky were mentioned. Representatives of the designer denied all accusations and handed over the materials to lawyers. What is known about the new conflict around the fashion designer and how his career was affected by past scandals - in the material of Lenta.ru.
Accusations from Vasily Eremin
In October 2026, 23-year-old Vasily Eremin spoke about his experience of sexualized violence in a story on his Instagram page. According to him, Gosha Rubchinsky forced him to have oral sex when he was a 15-year-old teenager, and emphasized that he considers the incident rape.
Eremin noted that now he has a wife and child, and he was able to forgive Rubchinsky himself for what he had done. However, he decided to go public with his story because he learned of similar cases with other teenagers who continue to be abused. In addition to personal experience, the author of the posts published a screenshot of a message from another user about Rubchinsky’s indecent behavior at a foreign event.
Eremin noted that he wants to warn and protect other teenagers and children. “Imagine any situation where your teenage child, no matter what gender, no matter what condition and under what circumstances, suddenly finds himself in a situation where an adult is giving him sexual attention. This is unacceptable and should not happen. All I can do is to protect my child at all costs and tell about my incidents, about my experiences in order to warn him,” the man explained.
Rubchinsky denies allegations of violence
The press service of Gosha Rubchinsky rejected accusations of sexualized violence, calling Eremin’s statements unfounded. Representatives of the designer told Afisha Daily that all published materials were transferred to lawyers for a legal assessment and subsequent protection of the fashion designer’s honor, dignity and business reputation.
The defense side separately commented on the report of the incident at Paris Fashion Week in June 2026, a screenshot of which was provided by Eremin. The mention of Paris in the context of the brand’s activities was called factually unreliable by the fashion designer’s press service. According to Rubchinsky's team, the brand did not hold any events in France in June.
The team called on the media to separate private statements in messengers from legally confirmed facts.
These are not the first accusations against Rubchinsky
The current scandal has become the second major public incident of this kind in the biography of the fashion designer. The previous one occurred in December 2018: then in the closed community High Fashion Talk, and then in major foreign fashion publications, including the Diet Prada platform, screenshots of personal correspondence between the designer and a user who identified himself as 16-year-old Jan Silfverling appeared. The teenager communicated with the fashion designer on Instagram, WhatsApp and FaceTime, and Rubchinsky allegedly asked him to take a nude photo.
A screenshot of a correspondence between the designer and Silfwerling was published, in which the latter first refuses to pose naked in the bathroom because it is his mother's bathroom, and then writes that he will take a photo the next day. “I’m waiting - I can’t wait for tomorrow,” Rubchinsky answers.
The design team provided an official refutation to the Hypebeast profile portal in December 2018. The statement claimed that the communication was conducted as part of standard street casting, which the brand has been practicing for many years.
According to representatives, the user himself wrote to the designer in personal messages, after which Rubchinsky called him via FaceTime and asked him to take a photo for the database. Since the teenager was not alone at home, the fashion designer invited him to retire in the bathroom in front of the mirror. Rubchinsky’s team emphasized that the materials published online do not reflect the real content of the conversation.
Consequences of the scandal
The 2018 scandal led to a backlash in the fashion industry. The German concern Adidas, which has regularly released joint collections with Rubchinsky since 2017, issued an official statement, noting that the brand’s management had initiated an internal review. “We take any allegations of this nature very seriously and are currently investigating the claims made,” Adidas said.
Despite the announced investigation, the brand subsequently did not publish final reports. At the same time, the long-term partnership with the designer ceased amid the general suspension of the release of seasonal collections under the Gosha Rubchinskiy brand.
Changes also followed in the media space after the sex scandal. Rubchinsky deleted his personal Instagram account, and the famous Russian rapper Face announced the removal of a track dedicated to the designer from his concert repertoire.
The composition was included in the debut album “Cursed Seal”, released in 2015. In the song, the rapper pointed out that he, “like Gosha Rubchinsky, is the most fashionable trend,” and called the fashion designer his best friend. “I no longer perform the song “Gosha Rubchinsky” at my concerts,” the artist said.
At the same time, Russian law enforcement agencies did not provide a legal assessment of the designer’s actions in 2018, and Rubchinsky continued his professional activities in other formats. From December 2023 to February 2025, he served as chief designer of the Yeezy brand, owned by American rapper Kanye West.
In April 2025, the fashion designer relaunched his personal brand Gosha Rubchinsky and in the summer held his first show in Moscow in eight years.
At the same time, Rubchinsky again attracted public attention due to the controversial design of the boutique of his eponymous brand. It turned out that transparent doors had been installed in the store's fitting rooms. “In Gosha Rubchinsky’s corner, fashionable zoomers/alphas have to try on his things in a shower room,” they wrote on social networks.
