The day started at midday, when I was roused awake by a text message from my Inessa. We spent the better part of the afternoon checking out this "invitational" fashion show by Sultanna Frantsuzova on the Andreyevsky Most (St. Andrew's Bridge) on the Frunzenskaya Naberezhnaya (Frunzen Embankment). My first reaction, while eyeing le beau monde queuing at the foot of the escalator, was: Is that a real name, Sultanna? I was drawn to the double "n" of her name. (Later I would find out that there's confusion over how to transcribe her name in English, with a single or double "n". Is this the same as the Odessa Question?) We were still trying to figure out the whole set-up (much like the initial premise of the French film we saw later) when we found ourselves amidst a full-fledged fashion show - catwalk, anorexic models and gaggle-eyed fans, the works.
But it was no ordinary fashion show. Rather, it actually achieved an anti-snob appeal by being completely accessible, open and mass-based. It was cool the way the organizers did it, blocking off one side of the bridge escalators to convey all the guests, setting up a long catwalk (200 meters, according to FashionStyle.ru, certainly the longest I've seen in my life), serving wine (mostly Crimean) and selling clothes in situ along the whole span of the bridge.
Before coming to Moscow, the only thing about fashion shows that appealed to me was the models. The clothes worn by models had always seemed to me impractical and frivolous. Since coming and attending The Russian Fashion Week twice (the first time in April 2004), I've been impressed with the practicality of the designs. Now we have Ms. Frantsuzova and her fresh ideas. For the two-day event, open from 10 to 10 on the bridge adjacent to Gorky Park, some 10,000 people were expected to gather. The ramp shows showing off her autumn line went on non-stop. People who liked what they saw could just go up to the endless racks of clothes and try on their fancy - there were changing booths expressly for the purpose! The simplest idea, why is it no one had thought of it? Plus, buffets (furshet in Russian) were even planned. The food was modest (nuts, fruits) but considering hundreds of smart-dressed yet modest people showed up it wasn't at all bad.
Coming in completely clueless about the designer and actually looking a little bit more forward to the free food, I am now surprised to learn that this 30-year-old designer is actually causing a stir of sorts for her smart but inexpensive designs. One fashion reporter even called her the first true Russian pret-a-porter designer.
However, her biggest appeal actually might even work against her. The article "Democratic Fashions" which appeared in Context, the weekend edition of The Moscow Times, provides a sharp insight into the bizarre buying habits of Muscovites:
Frantsuzova, who is originally from Kalmykia, manages to maintain her line completely demokratichnye, otkrytye and massovye by having all her threads sewn in China. (A-ha, taking a page from WalMart!) Figures. Although I didn't notice any tags saying so on the clothes labels. According to another site, Frantsuzova who has participated for a couple of years in the Russia Fashion Week (oh, Valya should've heard of her then), apparently is also causing a flurry in Europe and Asia (and presumably over more than just her name spelling).
The Russian Fashion Week website has this to say about her:
In January 2005, she partipated in the Hong Kong Fashion Week. The following month she opened several shops there under her name. Her clothes are also being sold in Anhui Province in China. Her first boutique in Moscow was launched in December 2004 in the "Moskvichka" department store on New Arbat, selling clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry. At the same time she has partnered with Moscow shoe retailer "Ж" (Zh), which has a shop on the Garden Ring at the corner of my street. (The lastest buzz about her: she tied the knot with Yevgeny Merman, the creative director of "Ж" shoe company, in Hong Kong last month.)
Her clothes were simple but elegant in design. Dearie picked up a few items off the rack. The attendants were very helpful and attentive. On top of that, they actually give you a cumulative 10 percent discount if you buy more than one item. So I was able to get my poppet a very satisfying birthday gift.
After the fashion show we headed home. We finally bought watermelon, something we'd been keeping from doing for about a month now since Inessa insists good ones from Astrakhan and Volgograd don't really ripen until the end of August. And so there we were. After a quick pasta dinner, my ducky lit up the hookah or nargila for the first time since I got it in Istanbul in November last year. Saw on DVD Embrassez qui vous voudrez, a star-studded but nasty and amoral French comedy whose only redeeming value is Mélanie Laurent, who plays the summer girlfriend of Loïc (Gaspard Uillard).
But it was no ordinary fashion show. Rather, it actually achieved an anti-snob appeal by being completely accessible, open and mass-based. It was cool the way the organizers did it, blocking off one side of the bridge escalators to convey all the guests, setting up a long catwalk (200 meters, according to FashionStyle.ru, certainly the longest I've seen in my life), serving wine (mostly Crimean) and selling clothes in situ along the whole span of the bridge.
Before coming to Moscow, the only thing about fashion shows that appealed to me was the models. The clothes worn by models had always seemed to me impractical and frivolous. Since coming and attending The Russian Fashion Week twice (the first time in April 2004), I've been impressed with the practicality of the designs. Now we have Ms. Frantsuzova and her fresh ideas. For the two-day event, open from 10 to 10 on the bridge adjacent to Gorky Park, some 10,000 people were expected to gather. The ramp shows showing off her autumn line went on non-stop. People who liked what they saw could just go up to the endless racks of clothes and try on their fancy - there were changing booths expressly for the purpose! The simplest idea, why is it no one had thought of it? Plus, buffets (furshet in Russian) were even planned. The food was modest (nuts, fruits) but considering hundreds of smart-dressed yet modest people showed up it wasn't at all bad.
Coming in completely clueless about the designer and actually looking a little bit more forward to the free food, I am now surprised to learn that this 30-year-old designer is actually causing a stir of sorts for her smart but inexpensive designs. One fashion reporter even called her the first true Russian pret-a-porter designer.
However, her biggest appeal actually might even work against her. The article "Democratic Fashions" which appeared in Context, the weekend edition of The Moscow Times, provides a sharp insight into the bizarre buying habits of Muscovites:Although experts agreed that Frantsuzova's designs were stylish and well-made for their price range, some suggested that their low prices had an almost detrimental effect on her brand name, given the realities of Moscow's price-obsessed fashion world. Yana Melkumova, fashion editor of Jalouse, said that many of the city's fashion trailblazers love to wear Frantsuzova's stuff but hate to admit it because it's so cheap.
"Everybody wears her things -- everybody who's into fashion -- but people are a bit embarrassed about it," she said by telephone Thursday. "They'll gladly accept compliments [on their looks], but if you ask them, 'Who made that?' they'll say, 'I'm not telling.' And then you'll know, oh, it must be Sultanna Frantsuzova."
Frantsuzova, who is originally from Kalmykia, manages to maintain her line completely demokratichnye, otkrytye and massovye by having all her threads sewn in China. (A-ha, taking a page from WalMart!) Figures. Although I didn't notice any tags saying so on the clothes labels. According to another site, Frantsuzova who has participated for a couple of years in the Russia Fashion Week (oh, Valya should've heard of her then), apparently is also causing a flurry in Europe and Asia (and presumably over more than just her name spelling).
The Russian Fashion Week website has this to say about her:
Hong Kong's work ethic and living standards impressed Frantsuzova: "You leave for Moscow for two weeks, and when you are back there's a new house constructed nearby. The living standards here are higher than in Switzerland. The people are very pleasant. All technological innovations are at your feet. Everything is done in no time".Sultanna Frantsuzova's given name is not a pseudonym, as it may seem at first glance. Sultanna inherited it from her Kalmuck mother. But in her profession the combination of an imposing name and surname is a winner hands down.
The former student of Vyacheslav Zaitsev's Fashion Laboratory is obstinately conquer[ing] one peak after another. While all the young designers are striving to get to Paris or London, Sultanna Frantsuzova moved from Moscow to Hong Kong - now her production facilities and design bureau are situated in the city that Sultanna nicknamed "New York No. 2".
In January 2005, she partipated in the Hong Kong Fashion Week. The following month she opened several shops there under her name. Her clothes are also being sold in Anhui Province in China. Her first boutique in Moscow was launched in December 2004 in the "Moskvichka" department store on New Arbat, selling clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry. At the same time she has partnered with Moscow shoe retailer "Ж" (Zh), which has a shop on the Garden Ring at the corner of my street. (The lastest buzz about her: she tied the knot with Yevgeny Merman, the creative director of "Ж" shoe company, in Hong Kong last month.)Her clothes were simple but elegant in design. Dearie picked up a few items off the rack. The attendants were very helpful and attentive. On top of that, they actually give you a cumulative 10 percent discount if you buy more than one item. So I was able to get my poppet a very satisfying birthday gift.
After the fashion show we headed home. We finally bought watermelon, something we'd been keeping from doing for about a month now since Inessa insists good ones from Astrakhan and Volgograd don't really ripen until the end of August. And so there we were. After a quick pasta dinner, my ducky lit up the hookah or nargila for the first time since I got it in Istanbul in November last year. Saw on DVD Embrassez qui vous voudrez, a star-studded but nasty and amoral French comedy whose only redeeming value is Mélanie Laurent, who plays the summer girlfriend of Loïc (Gaspard Uillard).
