BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

The hypebeasts of Russia, popular at what cost?

  • Published
    7 December 2018
Share page
About sharing
Chuma Vecherinka chatting to a Russian hypebeast on YouTube channel Louis VagonImage source, Louis Vagon
Image caption,

Chuma Vecherinka chatting to a Russian hypebeast on YouTube channel Louis Vagon

By Kris Bramwell and Igor Sazonov
BBC UGC & Social News and BBC Monitoring

How much do your clothes cost?

That's the question Russian YouTubers are asking teenagers and twenty-somethings who are wearing branded items. These well-dressed participants are known as hypebeasts.

Channels such as Louis Vagon , externaland Demohot, external produce videos with hypebeasts that generate hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views and frequently appear on the trending section of YouTube.

The popularity of this YouTube format means that the videos attract thousands of comments, but almost all of them are negative.

In one episode of How Much Do Your Clothes Cost?, one hypebeast is seen wearing clothes worth more than half a million rubles ($7,600, £6,000) including a Balenciaga jacket and holding a Hermes bag.

The video has been viewed more than 3.6 million times, external and has generated more than 4,000 comments in two months.

"This video is about the wrong investment of money," says user Jonini, while bloggers Vitalk and Liza add that they would rather spend the money on other things.

"We don't understand why people spend so much money on clothes, it's better to travel," they said. The comment has been liked more than 2,000 times.

YouTube poster Valya Snezhnaya says the hypebeasts may be rich but they are wearing rags: "I see proof that you could look cheap in very expensive rags."

Praise for the hypebeasts is rare among the comments. Another YouTube user Artur Shabakaev says: "The only person dressed more or less OK is the girl wearing clothes worth 500,000 rubles. Not because of her expensive clothes but because of her taste."

"Should so much money be spent on clothes?"

One YouTuber who presents these hypebeasts for Louis Vagon is Chuma Vecherinka, external.

She has met people in cities like Moscow and St Petersburg wearing trainers and T-shirts costing tens of thousands of rubles, if not more. And according to data provider trading economics,, external the average monthly wage in Russia for October 2018 was 42,000 rubles.

Chuma told the BBC the money the hypebeasts spend on clothes is out of touch with the earnings of average people in Russia.

"There is outrage because someone is spending the same amount of money to buy a jumper that people in cities across the country earn in one to three months," she said.

"Should so much money be spent on clothes? This is the main topic that sparks negativity."

However, Chuma does acknowledge that people in Russia also know that cheap clothes that wear out easily are not such a good thing either.

"There are also those who understand that luxury clothing is now valued like paintings by artists. This is art and they are not only supporting the designers but also supporting the quality of products being made."

Vadim KarasevImage source, Demohot
Image caption,

Ukrainian political commentator Vadim Karasev wore an outfit totalling more than a million rubles on How Much Do Your Clothes Cost? in October

"An old Armani T-shirt"

It is not only young people who participate as hypebeasts.

In an appearance on YouTube channel Demohot, external, Ukrainian political commentator Vadim Karasev says he's wearing an "inexpensive" JW Anderson leather jacket. These jackets can cost upwards of 128,000 rubles.

Along with what he calls "an old Armani T-shirt" and a necklace for 26,000 rubles, the total cost of Vadim's outfit comes to more than a million rubles.

Media coverage around the video, external compared Vadim to popular Ukranian musicians.

Alexey Vorobyov represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011Image source, Demohot
Image caption,

Alexey Vorobyov represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011

Pop singers have also got in on the hypebeast act. Alexey Vorobyov, who represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011, has featured on Demohot., external

In this video, external, which has been viewed 2.6m times in two months, he's wearing trainers which cost 10,000 rubles and a tracksuit worth 180,000 rubles.

This format appears to be evolving. There are parodies of the How Much Do Your Clothes Cost? format,, external which focus on people wearing outfits costing 35 rubles.

Chuma VecherinkaImage source, @chumavecherinka
Image caption,

Chuma Vecherinka presents How Much Do Your Clothes Cost? on Louis Vagon

Chuma believes these videos are popular, thanks to the legacy of the Soviet Union and the general interest in today's fashion: "In Soviet years, people would queue for any sort of clothes," she says, "but now people are queuing for exclusive goods."

Calling this a new subculture and art form, Chuma says people on the street who dress "cool" have become the influencers:

"How do you dress cool? Well, you have to look at the hypebeasts."

Presentational grey line

You may also be interested in:

  • The seven-year-old making $22m on YouTube

  • President Bush's dog pays last tribute

  • Egyptian star accused over revealing dress

More on this story

  • Russians criticise concert cancelling call

    • Published
      6 December 2018
    People with their arms up watching a music stage through their phones,
  • BBC exposes huge scale of online cheating ads

    • Published
      6 December 2018
    Popular YouTubers advertising cheating services have had their videos deleted
  • Losing kilos on Russian 'ministerial diet'

    • Published
      9 November 2018
    Nikolay Bondarenko

Top stories

  • Families demand answers as Southport inquiry opens

    • Published
      1 hour ago
  • Poisoned water and scarred hills: BBC visits world's rare earths capital in China

  • Why Texas floods were so devastating

More to explore

  • How King Charles is helping to 'reinvigorate' the shaken UK-France friendship

    Index pic
  • 'PM to press Macron' and 'mushroom murders' trial

    The front pages of the Daily Mail and the Times
  • Poisoned water and scarred hills: BBC visits world's rare earths capital in China

    Large plumes of white smoke billow out of a large canyon in China
  • The doctor fighting for women's health on Ukraine's front line

    A doctor smiles as he takes a selfie with a woman patient inside a mobile medical unit. His hair is dyed the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag, and medical paraphernalia is in the background.
  • Did US government cuts contribute to the Texas tragedy?

    A boat on a river in Texas with four rescue workers on board
  • From India to Britain and back: The cartoonist who fought censors with a smile

    Abu cartoon
  • 'Everyone knows somebody affected': The small towns in shock after mushroom murders

    A sign for Korumburra General Cemetery, with headstones and hills in the background
  • 200 million year-old flying reptile species found

    The image is an artist's impression of the ancient winged reptile that scientists have discovered at a site that, 200 million years ago, was a riverbed. The image depicts a creature with a long, pointed jaw and wings folded in at its sides. It has its clawed feet submerged in the water of the river and appears to have caught a small amphibian in its mouth.
  • US Politics Unspun: Cut through the noise with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher’s newsletter

    Anthony Zurcher with Washington landmarks and red white and blue stripes
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Emergency alert to be sent to smartphones in UK test

  2. 2

    'PM to press Macron' and 'mushroom murders' trial

  3. 3

    US delays higher tariffs but announces new rates for some nations

  4. 4

    Workplace misconduct and discrimination NDAs to be banned

  5. 5

    Families demand answers as Southport inquiry opens

  6. 6

    How King Charles is helping to 'reinvigorate' the shaken UK-France friendship

  7. 7

    Trump upbeat on Gaza ceasefire talks as he hosts Netanyahu

  8. 8

    Manchester Airport brawl CCTV shown to jury

  9. 9

    Hosepipe ban to be introduced across Yorkshire

  10. 10

    The Salt Path author defends herself against claims she misled readers

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • Love and fatherhood in noughties Brixton

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Babyfather
  • Your new favourite offbeat, snappy US sitcom

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    St. Denis Medical
  • Step into the world of luxury holidays

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Billion Dollar Playground
  • The inside story of the Live Aid concert

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.