The 14-Year-Olds spending thousands on streetwear

It's 11 AM on a Saturday morning, and roughly 200 people are lined up outside London's Dover Street Market. One guy, Colin, has been here since 3 AM. He jumped on a train in the middle of the night and waited eight hours for a very specific reason: Gosha Rubchinskiy.

"Gosha is one of my favorite designers," he says, referring to the 32-year-old behind fashion's current obsession with post-Soviet style. Born in Moscow, the designer takes inspiration from, and documents, Russia's youth culture. "I've always loved sport, and Gosha's designs cater to that," continues Colin. "He mixes the skate scene, streetwear, and high fashion together."

It's also probably worth mentioning at this point that Colin is 14. Four years off being legally allowed to vote in this country, he's dressed in a two-toned Supreme velour tracksuit (retail: $478) and is alarmingly articulate about his fashion likes and, notably, dislikes. "I don't rate [British skate label] Palace anymore," he says matter-of-factly. "The designs are cool, but they're a bit repetitive."

Next is Ed. I don't know Ed's surname because he runs off halfway through our chat, but he's 13 and has just managed to get his hands on one of last year's most sought-after releases: the adidas NMD "OG" sneakers (the ones with the red and blue panels). They were re-released at Dover Street Market the same day Rubchinskiy's new collection dropped in-store. "I was meant to wake up at three in the morning but overslept, so I only got here at about eight," he says. As a result, he had to buy the sneakers from a reseller outside, coughing up an extra $88. But it's all worth it, in his opinion. "If you're walking around Soho and you've got something on other people don't have, you feel so good," he explains. "People just look at you like... It's next level."

Then there's 16-year-old Michelle, last seen in the queue for Palace before her mom dragged her home. "I'd been there for eight hours," she grins, "so my mom came down to Soho and shouted at me in front of everyone." Today she's wearing tracksuit bottoms from Georgian/Parisian label Vetements. They retail at just under $650.

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