Paris Designer Thierry Mugler Wows Moscow : Fashion: If his collection of patent-leather hot pants and micro-miniskirts didn’t leave the Soviets breathless, his runway models, sets and music did.
In 1985, when Paris designer Thierry Mugler met Slava Zaitsev, favorite designer of Soviet First Lady Raisa Gorbachev and creator of Moscow police uniforms, it was the beginning of a great adventure.
He photographed Zaitsev’s collection in Moscow for Paris Match magazine and has since returned to the Soviet Union for other photo assignments.
This season the flamboyant Parisian was invited back, to show his fall ’90 ready-to-wear collection and organize the first “U.S.S.R. ’90 Supermodel Contest.” In typical Mugler fashion, he made it into a modern day Ziegfield Follies the Soviets won’t soon forget.
For three months news of the event was broadcast on nationwide Soviet television, and 2,000 super-model candidates sent everything from professional photographs and sophisticated videos to clumsy snapshots for consideration. The competition was set for June 10 in Moscow.
Forty finalists were chosen to walk the runway in front of an international jury of movie producers, actors, journalists and photographers, as well as Valentine Yudashkin, a Zaitsev disciple and the new name in Moscow fashion, and Iman, the Somalian model and actress who lives in Los Angeles. Mugler presided over the jury.
In May, the finalists moved into a “training camp” by the Black Sea, sunbathing and relaxing, but also learning how to walk in the stiletto-heeled shoes Mugler likes best and to dance to rap, the fashion-show music of choice these days.
Two New York modern dancers, Willie Ninja and Adrian, were flown to Moscow at the invitation of Mugler to show the women how to strut down a runway “the Mugler way.” Contestants with previous modeling experience said it was a tougher, more aggressive style than they were used to. Then, on the eve of the contest, the contestants spent 48 hours watching and listening attentively as their makeup was professionally applied, and their hair was styled, by Danilo, of New York’s Oribe salon. Each was so transformed their boyfriends and families hardly recognized them.
The model competition was part of a three-night event, open to the public. Spectators paid 20 rubles (about $3) each night. (The average monthly salary here is 120 rubles.)
About 2,500 spectators turned up each night at the Rossia Hotel theater. The program included a public rehearsal the first night, followed by the super-model competition and finally the runway show of Mugler’s fall-winter 1990 collection.
The clothes are something else. Mugler made his reputation cutting “heroic” silhouettes, with large shoulders and trim waistlines. His taste for the sleek, unadorned “Star Trek” look sets him apart from other Paris designers. This collection, with its ‘60s overtones, includes stretch vinyl boots, patent-leather hot pants and the most micro of miniskirts. Along with the collection Mugler brought boldly scaled accessories, platinum wigs, stage sets and music, as well as his staff of technicians, hair and makeup artists and top models, plus the dancers to spice things up.
Everyone stayed at the Ukrainia Hotel by the Moskva River, one of the huge buildings completed during Stalin’s rule.
Among the other hotel guests that week were a group of Russian Orthodox clergy garbed in traditional robes and accessories. Their exquisite robes and headpieces were quite a contrast to Mugler’s trendy, international group.
The night of Mugler’s extravagant fashion show, it was a frenzy backstage: The contestants and Mugler’s team bombarded translators with questions; fashion accessories flew across the changing room as models exchanged them; adoring fans mobbed Iman. Mugler somehow managed to loose one of the boots he had been wearing when he arrived at the theater. Until the last second, it was total chaos. But the show did go on, and the audience was flabbergasted.
The Soviets had never seen anything like it. The only Parisians to present collections in Moscow in the recent past have been the more traditional Pierre Cardin, Nina Ricci and Yves Saint-Laurent. Mugler’s show left the audience breathless.
Mostly young, but from various levels of society, spectators said they were impressed by the clothes, as well as the sets, the lights and the music. It had the feeling of “the greatest show on Earth,” a grand tradition here, and one the Soviets adore. Many thanked Mugler for the excitement and pleasure he gave them that night.
Lena Boznyakova, a gracious woman with the triangular face and the longest of long legs, won the super-model contest. Afterward, she would not be seen anywhere without a new, short platinum wig, a gift from Mugler. Next for Boznyakova is a trip to Paris in October. She and several other candidates will add some Slavic spirit to the French ready-to-wear shows.
