Natalia Vodyanova Dima Bilan becomes the winner of Eurovision 2009

Fashion and more Yudashkin dresses the military

10

years of evolution

The Launch insight into Russia's 00s of VKontakte

Index

5 History

The political and economical state in Russia The new Money

9 Music The multiverse of Russian pop

10 Fashion Russia in colors Valentin yudashkin Akhmadulina Alena Asfirovna Julia Kalamanovich

19 Icons Interview with Evelina Khromtchenko Natalia Vodyanova Evgenia Volodina, Irina Shayk, Alexandra Pivarova

21 News The launch of VKontakte

23 Theater Directions of Russian theater

24 Cinema Brat 2 The island

27 Literature Vladimir Sorokin Lyudmila Evgen'eva Ulitskaya Cool girl, Bravo, Vse zvyozdi magazines

NATASHA POLY

VOGUE History

THE POLITICAL and

ECONOMICAL STATE IN RUSSIA

R

ussia’s latest decade’s economical and political state is the result of the country’s complicated

history and habits. During the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR), which lasted from 1922 to 1991, the population was supposed to live in a society

dictated

by

communism

and

socialism, meaning that the term “social class” should not have been part of the vocabulary of that time. However, the country’s ideals did not correspond

to

the

actual

facts:

the

nomenklatura was, indeed, a class of people from the government and party officials who could enjoy a variety of privileges, such as higher educational and health access, while the rest of the population had none. What set the ground for the social division that characterized the latest decade’s political and financial state is the stagnant economy that gave no opportunity to the poor, but made the rich richer, increasing the social division gap. On the 26th of December 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved, along with the communist nomenklatura. What did not get dissolved, VOGUE 5

however, was the class structure present during the communist years: the “new wealthy” in Russia made up 2% of the population and their goods came from private properties, which were supposed to be banned during the previous regime.

The fall of Communism brought to the rise of Capitalism It set the rich and the poor even more apart. This is due to the fact that even though capitalism brought more goods to the country, more than 85% of people fell under the “working poor” class: not only they could not afford the goods, but they were also no longer supported by the communist policies, such as the “full employment” policy, meaning that this would increase poverty even more. This same year Gorbachev resigned, and the Commonwealth of independent states was created.

VOGUE History

The Wild Decade

0

VOGUE 6

Creation of Alena Akhmadullina on October 2, 2006 in Paris - Photo: Pierre Verdy/AFP

Evgenia Volodina for Armani 2004

to these events was the first attack, the “Moscow theatre hostage crisis”, followed by the “Beslan school hostage crisis” and, finally, the “October 2005 Nalchik attack”. All of these events increased tension among Russians and between the country and Chechen Republic, as Chechen terrorists were the main actors of these catastrophes. To increase the already high friction present in Eurasia these initial years, Russia and Ukraine started contending Tuzla Island and the wealthiest man of the country, Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky, got arrested as a result of the Yukos Affair: Yukos was an oil and gas company owned by the billionaire, who eventually got accused of tax evasion and fraud. All of these events led Russia into a state of chaos and instability, both economically and politically.

ur decade of interest starts with the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, the election of Vladimir Putin (March 26th 2000) and continues towards a transitioning phase. Years after the end of the Space Race, in the early 2000s, Russia’s “out-ofearth” researches continued their development. The new millennium, however, did not start on a positive note. 2002, 2003 and 2004 were years united by the terrorist attack that charachterized them all: chronologically and respectively, what gave way

VOGUE History

While in 2004 Vladimir Putin reconfirmed his power by being reelected as president, the following years brought a lot of change on the political side. As a matter of fact, former president Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly died due to heart failure in 2007, while one year later Vladimir Putin stepped down from his position becoming prime minister and leaving his place to Dmitry Medvedev, who won the 2008 presidential elections. Finally, apart from the gas contentment dispute between Russia and Ukraine, the decade ended on a positive note thanks to the Russian victory of the Eurovision song contest in 2009 and the 2010 reducing of nuclear arming with the “New Start Treaty” signed between Russia and the United States.

VOGUE 7

VOGUE History

The New Money

This means that with the rise of Vladimir Putin, only oligarchs who were unwilling to obey him were taken down: the rest fueled the economy of the country. This led the country to be open towards a more lavish, glitzy and luxurious lifestyle: an example is the opening of Hermes in Moscow in 2000. VOGUE 8

The 2000s in Russia were marked by a “new money” boom. What caused this economic growth was the recovering of the state from the inflation that hit in the mid 90s. As previously mentioned, the new money was not accessible to the whole population. Only a miniscule percentage of the population had access to big amounts of money, and they were normally known as Oligarchs. These figures were in control of the whole economy of the state, which led to a conflict with the new president of those years, Vladimir Putin: his deal was to let them have their money, under the condition of recognizing his authority.

HIGHLIGHT

VOGUE Music

VOGUE 9

In the 2000s Soviet rooted music continued their evolution. Examples of classical composers who started their musical profession are Martynov, who created the soundtrack for the movie “Island”, Pekarsky, specialized in percussions and Pavlova, who wrote various compositions for the symphony orchestra. To start the new century, music festivals were introduced in Russia, starting with the rock music festical “Nashestvie”, which brought together hundreads of thousands of people.

The multiverse of Russian pop Once upon a time, two 16-year-old girls from Russia Yulia Volkova and Elena Katina released their first album in 2001 under the name t.A.t.u, Next year they released english version of one of their songs “Ya Soshla Suma” named "All the things she said". The music video feaured the girls dressed in Britney Spears-esque school uniform (think short skirt, knee-high socks) kissing each other. The music video exploded onto the international charts ,broke into the Billboard Top 20. Tatu sold millions of albums around the world, earning gold status in seven countries and platinum in five. Another russian star is Vitas, who became notable in December 2000 with his hhit song Opera N.2 . His exceptional manner of singing falcetto has amazed the interest of the public and brought unprecedented popuarity not only in Russia but abroad as well

VOGUE Fashion

Russia In

Colours

Fashion in the early 2000s in Russia was colorful, loud and more openminded. What led to this change is the longawaited access to fashion: during the Soviet Union years, fashion was simply not available, even if you had the money, fashion stores and boutiques were simply not there! As a direct consequence, as soon as Russians got their hands on clothes, when the first clothing shops opened, they dared and played with them. At the same time, men’s fashion was professional, with darker tones and slimmer silhouettes Fashion in that place and at that time was very much influenced by the western world: television and MTV were the main sources of inspiration, however Russian fashion media was developing as well, examples are Fashion TV Russia, Moda.Ru or our Vogue Russia, which was founded in 1998 and followed by editor in chief Alëna Doleckaija. As a reaction to this “westernalization”, proud Russian citizens started wearing traditional accessorizes, examples are the ushanka or astrakhan cap.

VOGUE 10

VOGUE Fashion

Gosha Rubchinskiy:considered by the critics the pioneer of the postsoviet style, Rubchinskiy is a russian “street-designer” born in 1984 in Moscow’s suburbs, who likes to be considered as “narrator of stories”. After studying at the Moscow College of Technology, in 2008 Gosha founded his sportswear Гоша Рубчинский brand “ ” from which his skater inspiration and background clearly transpires. Since his first collection “Evil Empire” till his latest one “Slave” Gosha refers to cultural movements and artists, like Aleksandr Rodchenko, and thanks to his global success he was recently granted a place at the London Fashion East Menswear exhibition. VOGUE 11

Vika Gazinskaya: originally from a Russian middle class family and born in 1989, Vika grew up with an extraordinary talent that led her to study fashion costume at 16. At the age of 17 she had already been scouted at a fashion contest and she eventually won the Smirnoff costume competition. While working as stylist for a fashion magazine, she developed her first collection, characterized by a cocktail attire and feminine silhouettes. Distinguished by her humble, sophisticated and simple style, Gazinskaya claims much success from the launching of her brand in 2006.

Ulyana Sergeenko: Ulyana Sergeenko was born in saint Petersburg and grew up in Kazakistan surrounded by intellectuals, thanks to whom she developed a passion for literature that will characterize her work as a designer and photographer. Her fashion work is still emerging: she does not own stores or boutiques as she only creates clothes on commission. Her promising brand still needs to be discovered in the western world as it is all matter of word of mouth.

VOGUE Fashion

Valentin Yudashkin Born in 1964, Valentin Yudashkin is rewriting Russian fashion. Ten years after opening his own Maison in 1990 and debuting at Paris Fashion’s Haute Couture Week in 1991, he is now a globally renowned designer and carries with pride his title of first Russian member of the Parisian Syndicat of Haute Couture and active participant of the creation of the Russian Fashion Week.

Valentin Yudashkin Milan fashion week 2006

In 2010 he redisigned russia’s military uniforms, creating 85 designs to dress all branches of the russian armed services

VOGUE 12

N

ot only his pieces have been displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Californian Fashion Museum, it is possible to see them at the International Museum of the Olympic Games, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Historical Museum of Moscow.

VOGUE Fashion

Akhmadullina in this Spring/Summ er 2007 collection, Alena Akhmadullina delved into her past to give us garments in white tones inspired by the vertical static dresses of cutout dolls, as if they attached to the body thanks to a little tab

Akhmadullina Alena Asfirovna Moscow based designer known for her extravagance. Intricate embroideries and use of rich fur

Alena Akhmadullina: the woman designer was born in 1978 in Leningrad. Her designing career started both with the beginning of the new millennium and with a bang: in 2000, Alena was the winner of the “Art - Parallel Worlds” competition and in 2001 she launched her brand “Alena Akhmadullina” presenting her first collection the same year at the Russian Fashion week.

VOGUE 13

Akhmadullina’s timeline is quite busy: in 2005 she debuted in Paris with fur coats and miniskirts. From 2007 to 2008 she focused on her sportwear line and in the same year she opened her first boutique in Moscow followed by the opening of a second boutique in 2010. Unfortunately the young designer has lately been the protagonist of a debt scandal that resulted in the confiscating of her latest winter collection.

VOGUE Fashion

VALENTIN YUDASHKIN HAUTE COUTURE A/W 2004/2006

VOGUE Fashion Julia Kalmanovich: daughter of a businessman and a costume designer, Kalmanovich ended her university education with two degrees: a financial and a fashion one. After completing her education, she started working at the renowned Russian fashion designer Slava Zaitsev.



VOGUE 16

In 2006 she presented her first collection at Urel’s fashion week where she met Evelina Khromchenko, at that time l’Officiel’s editor in chief, who motivated and inspired her to go down that path. Now Julia is focusing on white and black tones, knits and various upcoming multicultural collaborations.

VOGUE Icons Olya Thompson: textile designer and resigned dancer just settled down with her photographer husband. Ilona Stole: started her fashion photography career and worked for GQ and Vogue Russia during the 00s, she is now focusing on the writing of her first book. Oksana On: After being fired from her fashion-assistant role at Grazia, Oksana was hired at Cosmopolitan Russia and is working her way up to fashion director at Glamour Russia, while working on her costumejewelry capsule collection, Oksana On X Masterpeace.

Natasha Goldenberg: journalist, stylist, and designer, she wrote for Grazia, served as fashion editor of Hello! Russia and is currently working on a readyto-wear line. Polina Kitsenko: creative director of Podium, Russia’s boutique chain, which opened a jewelry outpost in Paris in 2009. “Now Russian women are looking at what’s happening worldwide to determine how they shop and dress.”

.

E

katerina Mukhina: former fashion director of vogue russia

Maria Bogdanovich: former Bolshoi Ballerina, victim of an injury, she focused on fashion creating an online outlet called “Look Mania”. “But it will not be easy for me to combine two such different directions.” VOGUE 17

INTERVIEW

VOGUE Icons

Featuring

Evelina Khromtchenko

Today we have the opportunity to interview one of the most relevant names in russian fashion; journalist and media figure Evelina Khromtchenko, also known as the Russian version of Miranda Presley from “The Devil Wears Prada”

When is it that you first approached the fashion industry?

It’s not what most people expect, but I approached the fashion world rather late compared to the people that surround me in this dynamic industry. As a matter of fact, it was not something that got passed down from my family: my mom was a teacher and my dad an economist.

What studies brought you to where you are now?

I studied journalism, television and radio broadcasting at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Tell us more about your career

I started to work for a broadcasting company, and after that, in 1995, I decided to open my own PR agency with my husband, while working as a fashion reporter at Europe Plus.

Three years later I became editor and creative director of L’Officiel Russia and I have just now decided to work for the editorial house Les Editions Jalou as international editorial director. VOGUE 18

VOGUE Icons

NATALIA VODIANOVA Natalia Vodyanova aka “The Russian Cinderella" was and still is the main role model for all Russian girls dreaming of fame and a dizzying career.

T

he story of the girl from Nizhny Novgorod, who sold oranges at the market, and then became the most sought-after model in the

world and married a British aristocrat, has become a textbook story. It was with Vodianova that a boom of touching "baby" faces with big eyes and plump lips began in modeling. And it was thanks to her that all the girls of the post-Soviet space had a new dream: now everyone wanted to become not ballerinas, but top models. Now Natalia, unlike many of her colleagues, still continues to work. Not as actively as at the beginning of her career, but her superstar status obliges her to be selective in shoots and advertising contracts. The model appears on the catwalk much less often than in advertising campaigns or magazine shoots, but she is always ready to make an exception for her designer friends, including Stella McCartney and Riccardo Tisci.

Fashion idol, philanthropist and a mother of five: how a girl from a city on the Volga River won hearts worldwide. VOGUE 19

VOGUE Icons

Irina Shayk: Irina has been a rising star of the early 2000s. She started modeling encouraged by her mom, who saw a casting ad on a bus stop and took her to the local beauty school.

Evgenia Volodina: Evgenia Volodina is one of the most popular models in Russia during this decade: her career took off in 2002 with the Gucci fall-winter advertising campaign and appeared in many more, for example, she was the face of Valentino's "V" fragrance.

In 2007, Shayk became the face of Intimissimi, for which she eventually became official ambassador, and debuted in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She also starred in the Beach Bunny Swimwear and Guess for the spring/summer 2009 season campaigns and in the same year, she signed with IMG Models.

Alexandra pivovarova: Pushed by her her husband Igor Vishniakov and the designer Miuccia Prada, Alexandra Pivovarova gave modelling a try. Since the beginning of her career, Pivovarova was a Prada Girl and starred in the advertising campaigns of the brand for six consecutive seasons, setting a record that no one was able to surpass. Characterized by the nickname "alien" due to her unusual appearance, she’s the pioneer in fashion for this type of appearance. VOGUE 20

VOGUE News On October 10, 2006, Russia’s first social network, VKontakte, was officially launched. The day also happened to be the 22nd birthday of its founder, Pavel Durov. In its first year, VKontakte attracted over 3 million users. Currently, VK has more than half a billion registered users, making it one of the top ten most popular social media platforms in the world. VKontakte users are especially reactive to fashion, health, gadgets and tourism ads. Advertisers of clothing and fashion accessories enjoy higher conversion rates of up to 40%. VKontakte’s expansionist ambitions have led its developers to translate the platform into Spanish, Armenian, English, Ukrainian, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Serbian, Greek, Romanian and even Esperanto, among others.

VOGUE 21

0

n October 10, 2006, Russia’s first social network, VKontakte, was officially launched. The day also happened to be the 22nd birthday of its founder, Pavel Durov. In its first year, VKontakte attracted over 3 million users. Currently, VK has more than half a billion registered users, making it one of the top ten most popular social media platforms in the world.Olympics On October 10, 2006, Russia’s first social network, VKontakte, was officially launched. The day also happened to be the 22nd birthday of its founder, Pavel Durov. In its first year, VKontakte attracted over 3 million users. Currently, VK has more than half a billion registered users, making it one of the top ten most popular social media platforms in the world.Olympics On October 10, 2006, Russia’s first social network, VKontakte, was officially launched. The day also happened to be the 22nd birthday of its founder, Pavel Durov. In its first year, VKontakte attracted over 3 million users. Currently, VK has more than half a billion registered users, making it one of the top en most popular social m

EVGENIA VOLODINA FOR OSCAR DE LA RENTA 2005

VOGUE Theater



Documentary productions. One example of this direction is the performances in the Moscow Theater.doc. It was was founded and carried out by volunteers. The plays were based on real life situations, testimonies and improvisation. This “documentary theater” was recognized as the Most Creative Theatre by The Creative magazine and it received the mask award. Humorous theater. Popular in Russia "Quartet I", which also released several films. Musical. This genre appeared in Russia in the early 2000s and became very popular Opera. One of the most popular in this genre are the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Moscow Academic Musical Theater. Classic productions. An example of such a theater is the Bolshoi Drama Theater in St. Petersburg. Modern theater. The Novosibirsk Globe Theater successfully experiments with unusual forms of theatrical art. VOGUE 23

VOGUE Cinema

Light Camera Action Two thousands were a period of recovery for the national cinema due to the deep crisis that began after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. As the 21st century emerged, Russian film experienced a resurgence. Young filmmakers such as Andrei Zvyagintsev and Aleksandr Sokhurov began garnering international acclaim. Some of the most famous Russian movies are “Brat 2” which is a criminal drama released in 2000 as a sequel to “Brat” filmed in 1977, It won the National Award in the nomiination of “representation of cultural event” Another iconic movie is “The island” , a 2006 biographical film that closed the 2006 Venice Film Festival, It got many awards such as “Nika award for best film” , “Golden eagle award for best motion picture” etc.

VOGUE 24

VOGUE Literature

A

s every other artistic realm, literature underwent a big change with the beginning of the new century, which brought in a new generation of authors along with new movements known as “new realism” and “postmodernism” .

Ljudmila Evgen’evna Ulitskaya. Two are the authors that we’re going to mention in this issue, starting with Ljudmila Evgen’evna Ulitskaya. Ulitskaya is one of the most successful contemporary authors of the 21st century. She describes in her books daily habits, love, life and death and is involved and active when coming to human rights; she was inspired by strong women growing up and portrayed this aspect of her life by writing about strong women in her books. Her works have been published internationally and many are the prizes she won: an example is her novel based on true facts “Daniel Stein, Translator” which won the “big book” award in 2007.

Vladimir Sorokin The second author featured in this issue is Vladimir Georgievič Sorokin, known as a revolutionary of contemporary literature, as he did not follow schemes and often criticized the society of that time. Born in Bykovo in 1955, the writer gains international fame with his dramatic and critical novel called “blue lard” in 1999, which was then followed by noteworthy works such as “day of the Opričniki” published in 2006, “sugar kremlin” in 2008” and, finally, “Metel” in 2010. Alongside his novels, Sorokin wrote many theatrical plays and screenplays and won various prizes, such as the Andrej Bely and Gorki award, despite his scandalous image.

VOGUE 27

VOGUE Literature The late 90s and early 2000s... The iconic print media of those years proclaimed trends and dictated fashion: what to listen to and what to watch, how to dress, what to eat, where to rest, what to play. They were the main sources of scandalous news and gossip in the "pre-Internet" era. Let’s recall Russian magazines that were the most popular before the heyday of social networks and video blogs.



"Cool girl" Magazine for girls about fashion and relationships, musicians, actors. Reviews on cosmetics and fashion trends, personal stories of readers and advice from psychologists. Fascinating tests, posters with favorite stars. All in all, an interesting magazine for the modern girl.

"Molotok" A weekly magazine for a young audience. The magazine dealt with youth topics and spoke its own language. Over time, most of the material was devoted to show business.

VOGUE 28

" Vse Zviozdi" " Vse First of all, the Zviozdi" All-Stars are First of all,with the All-Stars associated posters. are associated with posters. "Who is it this time?" "Who is it this time?" excitedly bought the excitedly the magazine andbought quickly magazine and quickly checked whose posters are in checked whoseThe posters are in the latest issue. second the latest issue.news The from second benefit is current benefit is current news from the lives of the stars. There the lives of the stars. had never been any There had never been Instagrams before, soany you Instagrams before, so had to go to All-Star you had to go toall All-Star magazine for the magazine for all the information. information.