Soviet and Russian Fashion Icon Zaitsev Dies

In this file photo taken on March 29, 2013 Russian fashion designer Vyacheslav "Slava" Zaitsev (C) walks on stage surrounded by models during the Fashion Week in Moscow. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on March 29, 2013 Russian fashion designer Vyacheslav "Slava" Zaitsev (C) walks on stage surrounded by models during the Fashion Week in Moscow. (AFP)
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Soviet and Russian Fashion Icon Zaitsev Dies

In this file photo taken on March 29, 2013 Russian fashion designer Vyacheslav "Slava" Zaitsev (C) walks on stage surrounded by models during the Fashion Week in Moscow. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on March 29, 2013 Russian fashion designer Vyacheslav "Slava" Zaitsev (C) walks on stage surrounded by models during the Fashion Week in Moscow. (AFP)

Vyacheslav "Slava" Zaitsev, the couturier behind world-famous Soviet fashion that was often adorned with colorful Russian folkloric motifs, died on Sunday at age 85, Russian news agencies reported.

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."



Hermes Shows Slick Leather Ensembles on Dirt Runway at Paris Fashion Week

A model presents a creation by designer Nadege Vanhee as part of her Fall/Winter 2025-2026 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Hermes during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 8, 2025. (Reuters)
A model presents a creation by designer Nadege Vanhee as part of her Fall/Winter 2025-2026 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Hermes during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Hermes Shows Slick Leather Ensembles on Dirt Runway at Paris Fashion Week

A model presents a creation by designer Nadege Vanhee as part of her Fall/Winter 2025-2026 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Hermes during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 8, 2025. (Reuters)
A model presents a creation by designer Nadege Vanhee as part of her Fall/Winter 2025-2026 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Hermes during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, March 8, 2025. (Reuters)

Hermes designer Nadege Vanhee presented a fall-winter 2025 collection of glossy coats, dresses and trousers in dark-colored leather on Saturday, showing the sleek styles on a dirt-covered runway in Paris.

Held at the Garde Republicaine, the sprawling stables of the French capital's mounted gendarmes or police, the fashion house built a set with curved walls that resembled a Richard Serra sculpture - but were covered in brown felt.

Attendants raked the catwalk before the start of the show and the models strode out in riding boots, the toes stretched out into points, their silky hair bouncing.

They paraded skirts and micro shorts with tassels, a cropped jacket with quilted panels and long coats lined with felted wool, zippers running down the back - all of it in leather.

Extra layers came in the form of ribbed knit gloves that covered the arm and piles of sweaters worn like scarves around the neck and cinching outerwear. Contrasting with the mostly all-black looks were a few styles in beige, a brown marbled pattern molded into a fitted dress and a coat and trouser ensemble in bright green leather.

Paris Fashion Week, which runs through March 11, featured debut runway shows by Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford and Sarah Burton at Givenchy. It brings together shows from some of the world's biggest brands like Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Saint Laurent as well as Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney.