'He brought colour to the USSR' - Soviet and Russian fashion icon Slava Zaitsev dies

Record ID: 1723057

  • Title: 'He brought colour to the USSR' - Soviet and Russian fashion icon Slava Zaitsev dies
  • Date: 1st May 2023
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MAY 1, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ZAITSEV BOUTIQUE EXTERIORS WOMAN LOOKING AT WINDOW DISPLAYS VARIOUS OF FLOWERS LEFT AT THE BOUTIQUE DOOR MANNEQUIN IN DISPLAY BOUTIQUE EXTERIOR VARIOUS OF ZAITSEV’S LATEST COLLECTION INSPIRED BY RUSSIAN MILITARY SEEN THROUGH WINDOW COUPLE WALKING PAST SHOPS IN CENTRAL MOSCOW (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MOSCOW RESIDENTS, BAKHIT AND IRINA (NO LAST NAMES GIVEN), SAYING: BAKHIT: I don’t know why he was called a Soviet Pierre Cardin. For his style, probably. For his taste. For his sensitivity. We remember full well what Soviet fashion was. We used to go here in 1987 (to TsUM - the central department store) IRINA: All the clothes looked the same BAKHIT: Yes, we remember full well what they used to sell there. But he was a pioneer. He had style, he had taste. IRINA: He stood out. BAKHIT: Yes. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MOSCOW RESIDENT, NATALIA ZHUCHKOVA, SAYING: "For me, he was a symbol of Soviet and Russian fashion. He was an ordinary guy from a small town, yet he reached such heights. He was known not only in the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation, but throughout the world." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MOSCOW RESIDENT, YELENA GRINGAUS, SAYING: "He means a lot to us because we come from the same town - Ivanovo. We love and value Slava Zaitsev. He used to hold a festival in Plyos called 'Linum palette'." EXTERIOR OF CENTRAL DEPARTMENT STORE (TsUM)
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2023 12:52
  • Keywords: DEATH DESIGNER FASHION OBIT ZAITSEV
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA / PARIS, FRANCE
  • City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA / PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Fashion
  • Reuters ID: LVA009903301052023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PARTIALLY ORIGINALLY SHOT IN 4:3
    Vyacheslav "Slava" Zaitsev, the couturier behind world-famous Soviet fashion that was often adorned with colorful Russian folkloric motifs, died on Sunday (April 30) at age 85.
    Born into a working-class family in 1938, Zaitsev's first international recognition came in 1963 when the French Paris Match magazine wrote about his collection of overalls for female workers, according to a note posted on the website of his fashion house.
    The RIA news agency reported that the bright, flowery jackets and skirts of the collection were rejected by the Experimental Clothing Factory for which Zaitsev worked.
    The French press nicknamed him "Red Dior" in the 1960s.
    In 1965, he began working as the artistic director of the experimental All-Union House of Fashion Models in Moscow, and some of his designs, which often implemented flowery traditional Russian patterns, were displayed in the West.
    In 1969, the Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted a show of women's dresses based on sketches by Zaitsev, among others. After the show, Zaitsev received offers to open stores in the West, which the Soviet authorities rejected.
    In 1979, Zaitsev left the All-Union House of Models for a small atelier, which by 1982 he turned into the Slava Zaitsev Moscow Fashion House, becoming the first Soviet designer allowed to label his clothing.
    Among Zaitsev's Russian clients were music stars, actors, socialites and politicians.
    The patronage of Raisa Gorbacheva, the wife of the last Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, elevated his international fame in the 1980s.
    He also counted the former wife of President Vladimir Putin, Lyudmila, as his client.
    "I was incredibly lucky that at the beginning of my conscious life I decided, thank God, what to strive for, who I should be," Zaitsev wrote in a note on his website. "Thank God, I found the meaning of life in search of Harmony and Perfection through means of the Highest art of clothing, art of painting and graphics, photography ... in life, poetry."
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