DIFUSIE’s debut issue storms onto the scene with 25-year-old Russian-Georgian phenom Marat Casapin – a former competitive ice dancer turned high-fashion rebel – gracing its historic first cover. In this unfiltered conversation, we unpack his meteoric rise, the pressure of launching a legacy, and why he nearly walked away from modeling forever.
“I don’t do pretty. I do ‘fuck you’ with eyeliner.”
— “The Storm Before the Calm”
ELENA VOLK (EV): Marat, this cover is already being called the “anti-Kardashian moment” of men’s fashion. Did you feel the weight of inaugurating DIFUSIE?
MARAT CASAPIN (MC): (Laughs, lighting a cigarette) You want the PR answer or the truth? The truth is, I almost backed out. When Victor [Laurent, Editor-in-Chief] called me, I thought, Great, another magazine that’ll photoshop me into a Ken doll. But then he said: “We want your scars, your sweat, your last-night’s-vodka eyes.” That’s when I knew.
[Behind-the-Scenes Note: Casapin showed up to the shoot with a black eye from a Moscow underground boxing match. The team kept it in the final images.]
CHAPTER 1: FROM ICE TO ICON
EV: Your athletic background is legendary—a two-time Junior Ice Dance champion before quitting at 18. How does that discipline translate to fashion?
MC: (Rolls up sleeve to reveal an ice-blade scar) Ballet taught me how to move, but figure skating? That’s performance art with knives on your feet. Now, when photographers scream “Give me anguish!” I just remember landing a triple twist on a sprained ankle. (Pauses) Though I will say—nobody throws chairs at you in fashion. Small mercies.
“The runway is just another rink. Except here, the judges are all on cocaine.”
CHAPTER 2: THE COVER THAT BROKE THE INTERNET
[2024: The controversial cover image—Casapin in a transparent mesh top by Rick Owens, body painted with Cyrillic prison tattoos.]
EV: This image sparked protests from conservative groups. Your response?
MC: (Shrugs) Good. Art should terrify people. Those tattoos? They’re real poems by [Russian punk icon] Yegor Letov. My grandfather was sent to the gulag for reading Letov. Now he’s on newsstands worldwide. I call that progress.
EV: Rumors say you refused to wear any looks that weren’t by Eastern European designers.
MC: Not refused—insisted. This industry fetishizes Slavic pain but won’t book our designers. So I said: No Gosha, no Vetements, no problem. We shot 80% Ukrainian and Georgian labels you’ve never heard of.
CHAPTER 3: THE AI PARADOX
EV: DIFUSIE used AI to generate your “digital twin” for the NFT cover variant. Does that unsettle you?
MC: (Leans forward) Listen, my real twin brother could be drafted tomorrow. (Makes a fist) So no, a robot Marat doesn’t scare me. But—(grins)—I made them program it to chain-smoke. Authenticity matters.
[Casapin’s AI clone was later seen debating French philosophy with the ChatGPT version of Dostoevsky.]
CHAPTER 4: BEHIND THE SCENES
EV: The shoot’s most viral moment wasn’t planned—you punched a paparazzi drone mid-frame.
MC: That fucker was buzzing like a mosquito. In Russia, we have a saying: “If it flies where it shouldn’t, knock it down.” (Smirks) The shot where I’m flipping it off? That’s the back cover.
[The image of Casapin bare-knuckling the drone, mascara running, surrounded by a laughing crew, became iconic.]
CHAPTER 5: WHAT’S NEXT?
EV: After this, every brand will want you. What’s your line in the sand?
MC: No military aesthetics. No “post-Soviet despair” editorials. And (deadpan) if one more stylist asks me to “look more Gopnik,” I’m burning the rack.
EV: Final words for the DIFUSIE audience?
MC: This isn’t a magazine. It’s a Molotov cocktail in a velvet sleeve. Light it.
“Unretouched. Unrepentant.”
CREDITS:
- Photographer: Yuri Sokolov | Elena Van Gallen
- Stylist: Marcus Wei
- Art Direction: Dr. Linh Tran
- Producer: Victor Laurent | Dusan Nikola
- Creative Director / Interview: Elena Volk
Available Now: DIFUSIE Issue 001 at [Link to Platform]
