personal style, Russian Fashion Week

five nights in moscow

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Yana Lebedeva in Chapurin, Julie Lebedeva in Chapurin and I in H&M / Julie and I

Apologies for the delay on my Moscow recap but it was all for good reasons, a magazine in Russia called ‘Sex and The City’ had the exclusive to the experience. Sort of rad, right? And without further ado..

I’m pretty sure I spent more time in L.A. traffic last Friday than I did in Moscow for Fashion Week. I could not spare a moment on jetlag or differentiating between vodkas on account of all the clubs, after parties, restaurants (the food – so good you could die), and especially fashion shows, that kept me jet setting with the best of em.

I hosted a round table, multiple interviews with designers, including one with the President of Russian Fashion Week, had two showroom visits, playtime in a couture closet, all wrapped up in hundreds of photographs and hours of footage. It was a whirlwind adventure with a 360° view of Russian fashion and we had the time of our lives.

Full recap after the jump…

I was ecstatic when I got the news that the coolest fashion site in Russia, TrendSpace.ru, was flying me out to cover Russian Fashion Week from an American girl’s perspective.

TrendSpace was started by Yana Lebedeva, this tiny brunette who lives a jet setting life that could make just about anyone cry, and she has THREE of the most insane closets I’ve ever seen. Her life is a dream; you want to hate, but she is so wonderful that it’s impossible.
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Yana Lebedeva in Lanvin

I traveled with Yana’s sister, Julie, a girl you will someday read about in Vanity Fair. Beautiful, poised, modest and brilliant, she can party like a socialite but is as hardworking as she is fun. At 26 she just made her first movie, “The Good Doctor” which stars Orlando Bloom – swooooooon. The Lebedeva sisters are pretty much unstoppable.
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Julie Lebedeva and I

Thanks to business class, sleeping masks, and champagne, the flight was a breeze. Before we knew it we were slipping into leather leggings and on our way out for an evening of Moscow nightlife.

We went from Manon to Tommy D to Vanilla Ninja: all of which were filled with chics in Balmain dancing as though they weren’t stilted up on 6” YSL Tributes. Hardly anyone spoke English but luckily dancing transcends language. I was golden until a boy would ask my name, to which I replied “ya ne govoryu porusskiĭ” (I don’t speak Russian – one of the few things I learned on my flight). I danced and rehearsed this useful phrase til we got home at 6 am.
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Julie and I / Julie and Yana Lebedeva getting looooooooow

The following morning we were up bright and early with a big day of Russian Fashion week ahead of us. We kicked it off by hosting a round table with designers Konstantin Gayday, Nikita Severinov and Alexander Fereferov of Rogue (who generously gifted some of their line which needs to be on Lady Gaga NOW), and Sergei Efremov, St. Bessarion and Ludmila Norsoyan. It was probably the most fascinating fashion conversation I’ve ever been a part of. They explained how difficult it is to design in a place where there is very little infrastructure for a young, yet thriving, industry. While one designer expressed the difficulty in following his dreams, the Rogue team was full of energy, promise and making their dreams come true. The perspectives were two sides of the same coin. I highly recommend reading the full interview on TrendSpace.ru.
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Round table/ Julie translating while exhausted

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Gift from Rogue

I also had the pleasure of meeting famous Russian designer, Igor Chapurin, who recently had Naomi Campbell open and close his show in Paris. We went to his store where we were graciously greeted with a tour and then played dress up in his couture closet. It was beyond. Yana bought one of my favorite dresses to wear that evening and in true style, Chapurin invited us to his bar later that night (which was a blast even though the dj refused to play Beyonce for us. All the single ladies!). From there we went and ate our faces off at Simachev Bar, a restaurant/bar/store/heaven.
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Yana and I playing in Chapurin

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Yummmmy pizza at Simachev Bar

Before our first fashion show, we made a quick stop at an exhibition of beautiful clothing for ‘Tatiana Sorokko.’ We couldn’t walk more than three feet without being stopped by photographers requesting to shoot Yana. Julie and I jumped in and gave our best poses. Finally we were off to our first fashion show, Stella Ndombi! We sat in the front row that circled a wrestling ring. I was intrigued. The lights went down and out came model after model dressed in what resembled Manny Pacquiao on the day of a big fight. I understood Alexander Wang’s translation of sports attire for his Spring 2010 RTW, but this made no sense to me. If oversized wrestling shorts were considered fashionable this was going to be a long week.
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Outside Tatiana Sorokko

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Stella Ndombi

To my delight, the following day VIVA VOX sent black, fur and a lot of each down the runway. It was everything I had hoped for from a show in Russia and probably the most impressive show we made it to.
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VIVA VOX

Over the five days we also saw ‘‘Version by Kalinina & Mihailov’ which was reminiscent of LA fashion week – sweatpants styled well enough to make you believe that you too could actually wear high heels, a trench, no top and sweat pants out at night. Anna Direchina’s presentation was more theatrical than anything else but I appreciated her ability to find a creative way to intertwine fashion and art. The last show we made it to was Elena Suproun who sent “drunk” models “smoking cigarettes” in what appeared to be old school Russian style. It was kind of irresistible, and I couldn’t help but get a kick out of the tongue and cheek show.
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Backstage at Anna Direchina

Ten outfit changes later, I settled back into my Air France seat suddenly realizing my Russian adventure was over. I was rudely awakened by the extreme difficulty some designers are finding to pursue their dreams and follow their vision, and then felt hopeful that people like Yana and groups like Rogue are finding ways to make it happen and pave the way for a new generation- so that it won’t be difficult. So bloggers, enthusiasts, artists, designers can form a community and support each other – and this is why Russian fashion week is so important.

For more from Russian Fashion Week check out all of our backstage photos here.

And last but not least, a warm thank you to Julie and Yana for being absolutely wonderful! I couldn’t have dreamed up this opportunity nor imagined such a memorable experience. Bisous.

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46 comments

  7. Wow, that’s all I have to say! I knew you’d deliver and I’m glad you did. I don’t even mind waiting because the quality is worth it 🙂

    Great to meet you this week! Hopefully, there will be more in the future.

    Reply

  10. yoour stay in russia seems to have been just mazing. when I see the photo I can’t help but envy the time you had there.
    and the younger russian sister you were with on the picture is a real beauty. you can see complicity on the picture…

    It is also great to see the inside of the shows and hope we will see more!!!

    http://www.iletaitunefoisundressing.com/

    Reply

  12. sounds like the most inspiring, thought inducing experience. what an amazing opportunity to be involved in an emerging fashion industry and to see their struggle first hand. the dresses look so luxurious and chic, and you look immaculate despite jetlag and your busy schedule!

    http://fashionhedonism.blogspot.com

    Reply

  14. So proud of you diva!I loved the article and so happy that it was a success!You look amazing in your shots!Love you

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  17. what a recap! you look so beautiful in each and every picture, and i really love your chanel bag. and of course the H&M stripe jacket too. well, all of it! =)
    xx

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  18. You’ve no idea how insanely jealous I am right now! Your outfits are all incredible as well, I love the first especially 🙂 Lucky lucky girl!

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  20. you look impeccable. i love your chicness.
    &
    congrats again for getting this opportunity! well deserved.

    i gotta say you look a bit like an dark haired sofi fahrman. google her to see her big blog.

    have an great weekend
    xx ediot

    Reply

  25. Hay girl!
    How are you?
    It’s my first time on your blog and I really love it! The pictures and style are great!

    Please check mine too. And maybe we can follow eachother!

    Love, Cindy

    Reply

  26. Your trip sounds fantastic!!! You look gorgeous in every photo and each dress is a dream! Is it weird I kind of think you look Russian? You’re such a jet setter!

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  28. You look gorgeous and your recap was a delight to read. Insightful, with great pics, they definitely chose the best blogger to represent the US in Russia!

    Reply

  38. thank you for sharing your whirlwind mfw adventure with us! not just “oh what a fabulous time what a cool experience la la la” – of course those all apply too – but even in a limited-space blog post you really gave insight and raised interesting questions to give an in-depth glimpse of the whole kit and caboodle. marvy marvy & merci!

    Reply

  41. What an amazing trip! You don’t look like you suffered any jet lag at all! And you rarely do any outfit posts but you are so chic in all the pictures…thanks for sharing!

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  43. What an exciting post and trip–thanks for sharing! What am amazing experience that must have been…PS you look so amazing in that h&m mixed with chanel–perfect combo…

    xoxo

    Reply

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