Russian girl about town turned designer Ulyana Sergeenko showed her first couture collection two weeks ago in Paris and I am digging some of the threads. The collection is below, including some gorgeous coats, dresses and shoes, and also a few shots from her Spring 2012 collection which is seriously to die for, I am officially obsessed. When I first started working for Russian Vogue after they launched I was a mere youngen in my early 20’s and the attitude towards the Russian fashion market was not quite what it is today. I remember sitting next to some PR guy from NYC who shall remain nameless (but who did work for one of the BIG Italian houses at the time, no idea what happened to him since, perhaps this story will give insight to his lack of imagination or education in Russian literature, art, music, film and the art of revolution…) Anyway, I was at the Principe in Milan after a long hard day of shows, sipping a cocktail with the other young editors from London and NYC, the Charlottes, the Joes, the Katarinas, the Katies etc, when this young publicist from NYC heard I was working as the fashion editor for Russian Vogue and he made some sort of snorting sound, rolled his eyes and made a comment about “Russia”. Well, needless to say I was thrilled when a few seasons later he was no longer at the house but my editors and I were all sitting in the first and second rows for the shows because by then Milan and Paris had realized where their strongest customer base was. I never took the seating personally, whether it was good or bad because it is after all a business, ads are sold, clothes are bought and there is no other way to see it but I did enjoy my view. Now Russia is as cool as it was before the revolution (and maybe in the 60s and 70s during the Russian New Wave when Tarkovsky made all those amazing films that won prizes at Cannes). Life would surely have been easier for me if today’s enthusiastic attitude towards fashion in Russia prevailed back when I was an editor there but then where would the fun be?…
Her gorgeous Spring 2012 collection below…
