High and not very

Fashion is back in Russia
High and not very

On Sunday evening, the VI Week of Haute Couture and Ready-to-Wear Dresses in Moscow ends with the presentation of the Golden Mannequin prize and a gala show. A year ago, the mayor of the capital, Yuri Luzhkov, promised the public to make such shows national holidays.

For the sixth time, mixed fashion shows of famous Western brands and lesser-known Russian designers are being held at the Rossiya State Concert Hall.
As before, many metropolitan celebrities gathered for the shows. Among the spectators of the Week of High Fashion and Ready-to-Wear Dresses were fans of Russian designers. Stars are traditionally attracted to the shows of Valentin Yudashkin, Victoria Andreyanova, Igor Chapurin, Andrei Sharov, Yulia Yanina and Tatyana Parfenova. Yuri Luzhkov, Gennady Seleznev, Yuri Bashmet, Natalya Andreichenko, Galina Volchek, Natalya Selezneva, Artur Chilingarov, Joseph Kobzon, Igor Nikolaev come to look at the collections of these fashion houses. Usually everyone is holding impressive bouquets in their hands (flowers, by the way, are rarely seen at Western catwalk shows), since only in our country clothing shows are treated almost like concerts.
This is not the only difference between the Moscow Week and similar Western events. Here, foreign participants present the winter pret-a-porter collections of 2001, which are already on sale in the West and have arrived in Moscow specifically for sale in branded boutiques. Russian ones are “fresh” outfits, which, even if they end up in stores, will only be in Russian stores and only on New Year’s Eve. A Western fashion show involves showing collections in a strictly defined volume (120 models) and always six months before their appearance in boutiques.
Russia still prefers to go its own way. And this, apparently, suits everyone. At shows in “Russia”, the public expertly peers at Russian and Western haute couture and pret-a-porter, wondering what can really be worn from what is shown. Experts, in turn, biasedly select the next contender for the “Golden Mannequin”, awarded to the best collection of the Week.
And for foreign exhibitors, the Week is the best advertising campaign for opening a boutique in Russia. This time in Moscow they advertised their boutiques Krizia and Genny. They present very beautiful clothes from famous Italian brands. Both stores opened on the day the respective collections were shown in Rossiya - November 22 and 24 (see also page 4). Mariuccia Mandelli, also known as Krizia, and the head of the House of Genny, Donatella Girombelli, arrived from Milan to attend the opening of the boutiques. In honor of the ladies, receptions were held in the capital's restaurants and at the Italian Embassy in Moscow. Such attention is easily explained: both ladies reached heights in the fashion world, made brilliant careers and received international recognition.
Mariuccia Mandelli opened her own business in 1954, and ten years later she received the Critica della moda award for her haute couture collection shown at Palazzo Pitti. In 1967, Mrs. Mandelli proposed new lines for Kriziamaglia knitwear, and in 1980 - bold directions in Krizia Poi accessories. In 1988, Krizia began creating Krizia uomo collections for men. Colleagues often reproach Krizia for not indulging in fashion trends, but for making clothes that she herself would like to wear. However, such reproaches never bothered her.
In an interview with Kommersant, Ms. Mandelli admitted that she always liked Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the Russian market seemed attractive: “People here are still little familiar with Krizia, but they are ready to accept our fashion and mood.”
Donatella Girombelli, unlike Krizia, has already become familiar with Russian tastes. “The only difficulty is the high cost of our clothes, which largely limits the promotion of Genny in Russia,” Ms. Girombelli lamented about six years ago. She even intended - if her Russian clients wanted it - to hold special shows and reduce prices. However, a lot has changed since then. Today, presenting her collections to the capital's public, Donatella Girombelli is proud to note that Genny has found its consumer in Moscow and is now sold here in boutiques, like any famous fashion brand.
On the sidelines of "Russia" the public eagerly discussed the superiority of Italian design over pan-European design. And with obvious tenderness she recalled the exotic floral-citrus shades and tones that the Italians Krizia and Girombelli offered to cloudy autumn Moscow.
However, the colorful outfits from Jean-Charles Castelbajac looked much more optimistic than the Italian collections. The Parisian avant-garde artist has already presented his models to the capital's public. However, he considers his participation in Haute Couture Fashion Week as the most successful - in “Russia” the collection was able to be seen by “an innumerable number of potential clients.”
The organizers of the fashion event decided this time to show special attention to the Russian participants of the Week. Most of our fashion designers traditionally presented collections on the same day as more famous foreign brands and houses. But for the first time in six years, three representatives of Russia - Igor Chapurin, Tatyana Parfenova and Irina Krutikova - were allowed to perform without foreign accompaniment. The organizing committee was confident that they would be able to “fill and hold the hall” even without foreigners. As well as the fact that the collections of the majority of Russian participants can already be shown at professional Western fashion shows. True, this will require quite impressive municipal support. Unless, of course, Yuri Luzhkov, who promised special support to the Week a couple of years ago, like foreign participants, does not view it as just a good advertising campaign for city authorities.
NATALIA ORLOVA

Magazine “Kommersant Weekend” No. 222 dated November 25, 2000, p. 13