|
The following is a general introduction to the
subject - for a more detailed look and lots of model pictures and
reports from modeling events, check out the New
Generation of Russian/Ex-USSR Fashion Models
site
For a number of reasons, most
Eastern European models - and especially Russian ones - have
had a tough time in the west, particularly in the
English-speaking countries. It was - and still is -
extremely rare to see a Russian/ex-USSR
model on the cover of a U.K. magazine - things
have been better lately in the States, but not
by much.
Many of the fashion followers in
the English-speaking countries can't believe that the ex-USSR can
produce modern fashion models - and that attitude is shared
by many in the fashion business,
too. The result is that few models
from this region are internationally known, and the
media exposure they get, in much of the
"established" fashion press, is relatively small.
Things for the
Russians were a lot better in
Paris during the second half of the nineties - anything the
Anglo-Saxons don't favor, the French are almost certain to love. Many
Russians have had successful careers in Paris. Milan has also been
an important starting step for many of these girls, especially the
younger ones.
The Russian
"revolution" in fashion modeling
started in the early nineties and
continues in full strength.
The world's major internationally oriented model agencies
in the saw Russia as one of
the big new emerging markets
and did a lot of marketing
there in the early 90's - that helped bring the
new Russian talent into the forefront. The
"Model Look" contest and the "Red Stars"
agency have produced much of the early talent - most of the ex-USSR
models who work internationally have some connection with this contest,
but other agencies have come on strong in recent years.
A nineties "Model Look" short history
- in 1993, Tatiana Zavialova was a finalist in Miami USA, while
in 1994 it was Natalia (Natasha)
Semanova who won in Ibiza
Spain - a first for a Russian fashion
model, the other two girls were Tatiana Nikiforova
and Paulina Tasheva. Natalia is strongly supported
by her agency - she is the best known Russian fashion model today,
certainly in Paris and Milan, but still
not very widely known in the US or UK. She
represents the fragile, elegant side
of Russian beauty. The 1994 Russian win was
followed by a bigger overall success in 1995 in Seoul, Korea with
three Russian girls out of a total of four ending up in
the top 15 finalist group. Irina Bondarenko
stunned everybody and should have taken first
place, but according to the Russians, fashion politics(?)
won instead and a Swiss girl was voted first, with
Irina second. The other two Russian finalist girls, Elena
Lyandres and Daria Ptitsina were also impressive, and
so was the fourth one, Maria Bitaeva.
The
"Model Look" international finals moved to Nice, France,
and in 1996 the combination of gorgeous Diana
Kovalchuk (who is Ukrainian - in case some people object that we confuse
Russians and Ukrainians) at the age of 14, along
with Russian Olga Otrokhova was awesome - the third
girl was Tatiana Suvorova. Diana, in my opinion, is
among the most exciting model discoveries in the past
few years - she is still only 18 years old (born in Feb
1982) but has huge potential, and this should become evident when
fashion trends change towards the "classic beauty" side.
In the 1997
final things cooled down a bit - the two
Russian girls, Elena Buneeva and Elizabeta
Shmakova, were very good but the comparison to Diana and Olga was tough
- plus the Russians can't win every year!
The two Russian contestants did not make it to the top 15,
but the girl who represented Belarus, Alina Shilak did. The
Ukrainian girl was Lubov Zakharova, but she wasn't in the top 30
group.
In the 1998 final, in addition
to the "official" Russian girls,
Maria Nevskaya and Ksenia Agafonova, there were contestants
from Ukraine - Lessya Oprichko - and another two Russians, from
Kazakhstan - Irina Alexeeva and also Tatarstan -
Tatiana Kovilina. Masha Nefskaya already has a number of magazine
covers and editorials and Ksenia Agafonova got the French Gillette
campaign - in less than a year after their appearance in the
finals.
The 1999 international "Model Look" final took place on
Sept 11th 1999 - there were two Russian (Karina Olkhovskaya, Vilina
Fokina) and two Ukrainian girls (Katya Karatsentseva, Vika Sementsova)
participating - Vika Sementsova, only 14 years old, won 1st place. In
our opinion, and for a number of reasons, Ukraine will probably produce
the most impressive models in the near future - already some major
agencies got the message and are setting up offices in Kiev.
All references so far concerned
"Model Look" contestants and the "Red Stars" agency
- however these are not the only well known
faces from Russia/CIS - nor is "Red Stars" the
sole provider of high-quality fashion models in Russia. Recently many
other Russian agencies - Modus Vivendis, ABC, President, Gilar, Slava
Zaitsev, Prestige, Idole, etc. are holding their own contests, often in
cooperation with major international agencies - the contest system still
produces the best models despite some recent attitudes to the contrary
in the west - mostly by people who find it more convenient to use
"discovered in the street/airport/party" models who last
for 1-2 seasons and cost a lot less money to "develop".
Other Russian/CIS models who are
successful - Irina Pantaeva is quite popular in the US these days after
her role in the new "Mortal Combat" movie, a book and
several stories in US media - she was already
well known for bearing all in the
Pirelli 1997 calendar.
Larissa Bondarenko (not to be confused with Irina Bondarenko) was in
a GUESS campaign, Svetlana Griaznova has appeared in a number of US
magazines and in the "Cache" ads - she is from Estonia.
Olga Pantyushenkova was one of the early successes with Cacharel's
perfume " Eden". Christina Semenovskaya has
received a lot of publicity in Paris - she is the
gorgeous face of Dior's "Dune" perfume
and a current model for Dior cosmetics. Newer names include Ukrainians
Olga Kurylenko (US Glamour and French Elle covers), Tanya Rudenko
(French Madame Figaro cover) and Russians Julia Vizgalina ( from
Estonia, active also in the UK with agency Premier), Inna Zobova - who
had a very big year in 1999 and continues very strongly in early 2000,
Elena Soldatova who is very active in the Haute Couture shows and has
done ads for Gerbe Paris, Anna Azarova, Zanna Daskova, Lana Ivaniounkina,
Luidmila Bakhmat from Belarus, and many more.
More visible last year were a number of
girls who appeared often in various Vogue editorials and covers -
Colette Pechekonova has a current Calvin Klein and several other
campaigns, and the same is true for Audrey Tchekova, Marleen Berkova,
and twin sisters Lida and Alessandra Yegorova, who are probably the most
succesful names currently.
Very recently, some names that have made
an impression - Anastasia Kozhissova, Maria Nevskaya (Look 98
finalist) who is in Armani ads and Kristina Tsirekidze in the Miu Miu
campaign. Tatiana Zavialova is currently in a series of TV
ads in Italy and continues to get major campaigns, Natalia Semanova is
still very visible in the runway and should become more widely
known outside Milan/Paris next fall, Irina Bondarenko is modeling for
Dior - all this is very impressive, considering that some
"specialists" have discounted the success potential of ex-USSR
models, and despite the current climate, with the "Brazilian
invasion" on one hand and the "Cool/Edgy" trend still
holding strong on the other. With the Ukraine still to be exploited and
more agencies in Moscow and the provinces working closely with the major
international model powerhouses, a lot more is yet to come. As they say,
quality never goes out of style.
For more details on the new Russian Model
scene check out the the " New Generation of Russian/CIS
Fashion Models" site
here
|
