It is no secret that the Russian aristocracy in the tsarist times was fluent in French. No wonder that whole passages in the novels of our great classics – from Pushkin to Leo Tolstov were written in the language of Molière. The history of these two countries intertwined; French were captivated by Nordic beauties while the high society ladies of the both Russian capitals were attracted by handsome men from the extreme west of Europe, which sometimes took forms of real drama.
The bloody terror of the October Revolution was the cause of the flight of Russian noble families, many of which naturally immigrated to France: at the atelier of Chanel great princess worked as mannequins, and in a country house of the feminist designer the author of “The Rite of Spring” (Stravinsky) was writing the music for the new ballets of the legendary “Russian seasons”.
Ballet. It is perhaps in this form of art manifests best all its melancholic purity and generosity the Russian soul. To the theme of a classical ballet decided to address Yulia Yanina in her new couture collection. From soft pastels of silvery pearls turning into powder pink get born weightless silhouettes of sylphs inspired by Russian primas. In front of us appear images of Anna Pavlova, Ida Rubinstein and Maya Plisetskaya, transferred by the couturier’s talent into the modernity of XXI century. Yanina uses her favorite, only the noblest, fabrics: prevailing in the show translucent tulle, structure giving taffeta and curve following velvet. Dresses, of which on 100% consists the summer collection of the fashion house, are embroidered with motifs of frozen in a jump dancers. Some looks got inspired by ballet tutus, following the laws of the classics in the Odette-Odile form (Swan lake). The hem of Odile (black), decorated with feathers, causes admiration – how many hundreds of hours of painstaking manual work lie behind this false lightness?
“Swan Princess” by Mikhail Vrubel comes to life in the final bride’s dress. As acknowledged by Yanina,this fascinating fairy-tale portrait of a fabulous beauty from a legendary painting of the Russian artist gave the initial inspiration to the collection. The designer believes that aristocracy, generosity of soul and good education, along with an inherent sense of style and good manners of heroines of Pushkin’s novel are back in fashion. I would designer is a little cunning: after all, Russian beauty, synonymous of femininity, is timeless! Thank you Yulia for reminding us about this.
Photo credits: Yanina Couture