The modelling business, like no other business, has a Russian face. In more ways than one, the beauty of Russian women has conquered the world.
Beauty in Exile
The world's first models appeared at fashion boutiques in the late 19th century. The owners of these shops started inviting pretty, well mannered girls to demonstrate the latest fashions to rich patrons. A fashion model at that time was not a walking doll: she had to communicate with visitors, telling them (oftentimes in several languages) about the apparel that she was displaying.
In the early 20th century, Russian aristocratic women who became emigrés - the princesses, baronesses and countesses who found themselves in dire straits and had to make a living - set a new standard. Strikingly beautiful and well educated, they were in great demand in Europe's most famous fashion houses. By 1930, about one-third of Paris models were Russian.
"Russian beauties of the 1920s were held in high esteem for the whiteness of their skin and the blueness of their eyes, their high cheekbones and dark hair," fashion historian Aleksander Vasilyev writes. "Duchess Mary Eristova, Princess Mia Obolenskaya, Tea Bobrikova, and Countess Yelizaveta [Elizabeth] Grabbe were among the most renowned beauties at the time. As for blondes, they did not come into fashion until after 1929, with Princess Natalya [Nathalie] Paley, Liudmila Fedoseyeva, Lidia Rotvand, and Viscountess Jeannie de Castex taking center stage."
Anna Vorontsova Dashkova, née Princess Chavchavadze, started her career as a high society model with Coco Chanel. Her job - attending high society gatherings, going to theaters and showing up at receptions in dresses created by the French pioneering fashion designer - was not very demanding. Later, Anna opened her own fashion house, which became famous among the privileged classes in Europe, as well as in the U.S.
In the 1920s, Chanel had yet another star - Gali Bazhenova. They say that Mademoiselle (who, as is known, was a provincial), derived great pleasure from the fact that "real Russian princesses were walking for her" - i.e., walking the catwalk at her shows.
A leading model of Mieb, a well known Russian Fashion House, was Sofia Nosovich, a heroic woman who had fought, arms in hand, against the Bolsheviks in the White Army. She was sentenced to death by shooting, but miraculously escaped and fled to Paris.
In the 1930s, Lady Abdi, née Ia Grigoryevna Ge, the grand niece of the renowned artist, was considered a paragon of Parisian taste and class. Her photos appeared in Vogue and other fashion and lifestyle magazines. Another Vogue darling was Nathalie Paley, the daughter of Grand Duke Romanov, the uncle of Emperor Nicholas II. According to one dress maker, "Princess Paley got a job at the Lucien Lelong House as a model: she was extremely good looking. Lelong was married at the time, but he obtained a divorce in order to marry a real Romanov." Parisian beauty Nathalie became the symbol of the Lelong House. The history of Russian beauty in emigration concludes with Liudmila Fedoseyeva, a style icon of the 1940s. Fedoseyeva's success (she was known in Paris as Liud) continued even under Nazi occupation. Today, she is regarded as Russia's first ‘supermodel.' After the war, the era of "model aristocrats" ended, with a new generation taking to the catwalk.
The Soviet Look
Despite martial law regulations, the grim year of 1944 was a kind of a landmark in the history of Russian fashion: in that year, Joseph Stalin, who had made the decision to resurrect Soviet light industry, issued a decree on the creation of the All-Union House of Models. The young women who were displaying the latest creations by House modelers and designers were officially listed as "factory workers Category 5."
It should be said that even during the Soviet era, Russian beauties attained international fame. "The Kremlin's most beautiful weapon," Paris Match magazine called them.
One of the most famous post-war beauties was Valentina Yashina. In her youth she wanted to be a singer, but that did not work out. However, her career at the All-Union House of Models lasted almost half a century. True, at that time a model's job was considered almost indecent. Yashina always looked great and was regarded as extremely daring by contemporary standards: she painted her lips and eyelashes, which was a real challenge in a society where the Soviet woman was taught to be "as modest as possible" and to abandon "the harmful foreign fashion standards." Valentina was one of the first to put on trousers and go out for a walk in the street: passersby shouted "shame on you!"
Yet the brightest and most enigmatic "queen of the Soviet runway" was Regina Zbarskaya, a simple provincial girl with less than stunning looks who came to Moscow to enroll in college. She transformed completely after joining the capital's high society. Her life became a source of legend, but Zbarskaya was not an aristocrat by birth - she only wanted to play one.
Regina's real family name was Kolesnikova. She adopted the surname of her husband - Lev Zbarsky, a well known artist. He played a fateful role in her life by putting her on a pedestal, making a muse out of her, but then destroying her dreams about family happiness by fleeing abroad. The woman who was admired across the Soviet Union attempted suicide three times before she succeeded.
Legend has it that a special dress, called "Russia," using an Orthodox Christian icon theme as its pattern and designed to represent Soviet fashion abroad, was made for Zbarskaya. But instead of the enigmatic brunette, Regina, the dress was displayed by a blonde, Mila Romanovskaya, who became an epitome of true Russian beauty in the West. However, the "epitome" defected to the UK at the first opportunity. The career of yet another Soviet model, Galina Milovskaya, is a show case of the Soviet fashion scene. The first scandal erupted when Galina was invited to participate in a photo session for the Vogue U.S. edition. In May 1969, photographer Arno de Ronet came to Moscow to shoot against the backdrop of Soviet sights. Later, those photos were seen in the Soviet Union when they were published in Amerika, a Russian language magazine. All hell broke loose for the young woman: Galina, wearing a trouser suit, was sitting "inappropriately" on Red Square's paving stones with her back on the banners with ideological slogans and pictures of Communist leaders: the photo session took place the day after V-E Day celebrations. "In the eyes of ideological watchdogs, that looked almost like a textbook case of anti-Sovietism," Milovskaya recalls.
Galina got away with a stern warning, but soon after that became involved in an even more dangerous project: her nude photos were published in the Italian Espresso magazine - moreover, next to the text the poem "Terkin in the Other World," which was banned in the Soviet Union [Alexander Tvardovsky's poem, a wholesale condemnation of Stalinism and neo-Stalinism, describes a gloomy world of the dead, with its endless official-dom and censors, all presided over by Stalin. - Ed.] The outcome was hardly surprising: the Soviet model was "excommunicated" from the catwalk.
Compared with the current models, Soviet-era models were relatively "small" - 170-175 cm. There was a marked acceleration in the 1990s.
New Ideals
Russian models regained the catwalks of Paris and Milan at the start of the new century.
The first Russian model to win international acclaim was Olga Pantyushenkova. After reaching the finals of the Supermodel USSR 1991 competition, she was put in a casting session and audition for the People European modelling agen-cy, in Paris. Legendary booking agent Didier Fernandez created her renowned "angelic" image, for the sake of which Olga had to part with her long hair.
The result was well worth it: Pantyushenkova became the first Russian top fashion model, while short haired platinum blondes became the dernier cri.
Natalya Semonova, in 1994, became one of the first Russian women to win the prestigious international competition Elite Model Look. Her victory marked a new craze - for young 15-year old models. They say that Gianfranco Ferre wanted to book Natalya for his show at the Paris Fashion Week,
but was unsuccessful due to her young age (European laws do not permit people under 16 to work). But at that show, Natalya was placed in the first row among the guests of honor - the most renowned personalities in the fashion industry.
Is there any need to mention the story of Natalya Vodyanova, a Cinderella from the Russian hinterland, who had to start working at a very tender age to help her mother raise her daughters in a single parent family? The latest rumor has it that Natalya and her prince (a real British lord) are expecting a third child, which does not prevent her from continuing her career.
But Vodyanova already has new rivals - Miuccia Prada's darling Sasha Pivovarova and Natasha Polevshchikova (Natasha Poly), a beauty from the Urals city of Perm.
By Svetlana Paderina
