RUSSIA: ITALIAN DESIGN FIRM FENDI OPENS FIRST MOSCOW BOUTIQUE DESPITE POOR ECONOMIC CLIMATE

Record ID: 231177

  • Title: RUSSIA: ITALIAN DESIGN FIRM FENDI OPENS FIRST MOSCOW BOUTIQUE DESPITE POOR ECONOMIC CLIMATE
  • Date: 25th September 1998
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 24, 1998) (RTV) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF FENDI BOUTIQUE AND SECURITY / WINDOW (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SLV MODELS ON CATWALK / AUDIENCE (3 SHOTS) 0.27 3. SCU NATIONALIST POLITICIAN VLADIMIR ZHIRINOVSKY SAYING "THERE'S NO CRISIS, THEY'RE OPENING A BOUTIQUE HERE, WHERE'S THE CRISIS ? WHEN THERE'S A CRISIS THEY DON'T OPEN NEW STORES AND SELL NEW THINGS, IT MEANS THERE'S A CRISIS, BUT NOT FOR ALL." (RUSSIAN) 0.36 4. MV WOMAN LOOKING AT FUR COAT/ COATS AT SHOP OPENING/ SHOES (4 SHOTS) 0.51 5. SCU MAN ON STREET OUTSIDE THE BOUTIQUE SAYING "EVERYDAY I COUNT MY MONEY AND ECONOMISE AND HERE,LOOK AT THIS, IT'S COMPLETELY DISGRACEFUL, YOU UNDERSTAND, DISGRACEFUL." (RUSSIAN) 1.02 6. SCU WOMAN SAYING "THOSE WHO COULD BUY BEFORE WILL BUY NOW, DESPITE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS." (RUSSIAN) 1.06 7. SLV WOMEN SELLING CLOTHES ON STREET CORNER 1.12 8. SLV PEOPLE LOOKING AT CLOTHES (2 SHOTS) 1.22 9. SLV WOMAN SELLING VEGETABLES 1.30 10. SLV FUR EXHIBITITION 1.34 11. MV PEOPLE TRYING ON FUR COATS /LOOKING AT COATS (2 SHOTS) 1.48 12. SCU ERICH FICHTNER OF OST-WEST-PARTNER SAYING "IN THE FUR BUSINESS TIMES ARE ALWAYS CHANGING, SOMETIMES WE SLEEP, AND SOMETIMES WE GROW. ACTUALLY THE PRESENT SITUATION IS NOT THE WORST THING FOR THE FUR BUSINESS AND THE FIRMS IN MOSCOW." (GERMAN) 2.04 13. SLV CATWALK AND PRESENTATION OF IRINA KRUTIKOVA'S AUTUMN AND WINTER COLLECTION (3 SHOTS) 2.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th October 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • City:
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVAAWRT9018OTSWA5VAH9GBZKUHW
  • Story Text: Banks may have closed, people may be hoarding food, and the threat of hyperinflation may loom, but the Russian appetite for luxury goods has not waned.

    The Italian design firm Fendi opened its first Moscow boutique on Thursday (September 24), on schedule and regardless of the financial crisis.

    Maverick nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky was on hand at the opening, sipping champagne and taking in the floor show.

    "There's no crisis, they're opening a boutique here, where's the crisis?" he said, adding "when there's a crisis they don't open new stores and sell new things, it means there's a crisis, but not for all," he said.

    But as street corners in Moscow are filling up with people selling everything from cheap clothes to personal belongings, the contrast between what the average Russian can buy compared to what was on display at Fendi upset some Muscovites.

    "Every day I count my money and economise and here, look at this!" said an elderly man passing by the Fendi boutique.

    "It's simply, it's completely disgraceful, you understand, disgraceful!" he said.

    An international fur show also opened in Moscow on Thursday, and participants were confident that their business in Russia would not be affected in the long term.

    Erich Fichtner of Ost-West Partner told Reuters Television "in the fur business times are always changing -- sometimes we sleep, and sometimes we grow.Actually the present situation is not the worst thing for the fur business and the firms in Moscow".

    The mood was also upbeat at Pushkinsky Hall during the presentation of Russian designer Irina Krutikova's fall and winter collection.

    A packed audience watched the two-hour presentation of evening wear and furs.


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