The fashion house of Tatiana Parfenova is one of the oldest in St. Petersburg and in the country. The fashion designer showed her first collection “Safron” in 1995 in Vilnius and received the “Golden Button” prize from the hands of Paco Rabanne. Then she created a dress from 74 parts - this item from the “Marat’s Mountain” collection immediately went to the Russian Museum. Tatyana Parfenova has always been an innovator - curious fashion critics can see many of her ideas from past seasons on world catwalks. 20 years have passed since the first collection. The couture line is in incredible demand among the creative and business elite of Russia. It’s understandable, all things are collectible masterpieces. In addition to couture, Parfenova develops the Home collection, which includes clothes for the home and interior items, and produces sets together with the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Recently home launched line of ballet clothing in collaboration with ballerina Diana Vishneva - Diana Vishneva by Parfionova for Grishko - and 13 years later resumed the prêt-à-porter line WHITE by Parfionova, which was already taken to the Paris exhibition Tranoï, where the house received orders from buyers. And that is not all. Perhaps Parfenova is one of the few who engages in art every day: she writes canvases, books, organizes theatrical performances in Tsarskoe Selo, participates in exhibitions and collaborates with the Hermitage and the Russian Museum. She is an artist and fashion designer who runs a real fashion house, where about 30 seamstresses, 4 designers, 10 needlewomen and a whole team of young assistants work. We talked with Tatyana Parfenova about the influence of art, the younger generation and who needs couture today.
Olesya Iva
fashion designer
Tatyana Parfenova is an artist by training and opened her fashion house at 30 years old
You are an artist by training, your paintings are in the Russian Museum. Art is something you do your whole life. At the same time, we see that Now fashion houses are actively exploiting the theme of contemporary art. why is this happening? Why is literally everyone interested in art? Why did people become closer to him? Some decided to open a gallery for themselves, others went to study as an art critic.
Yes, I have absolutely no education in fashion design, I always wanted to move away from fashion and turned not to costume design, but to art history: painting, sculpture. In order to have ground under your feet. Art today is an insane, mass phenomenon: everyone is gripped by such a fever of creativity and image. If you think about it, art has become widespread, brought closer to a wide range of people through photography. Because photography has gripped absolutely everyone with mass fever. Every second person has an iPhone, which allows you to shoot anything, anytime. It happens that the resulting frames are masterpieces that can be exhibited in a gallery. So, a person, without even knowing it, became infected with creativity. A lot of people who don’t know how to draw make absolutely stunning, stunning primitive pictures. There are opera singers, and there are those who sing any way they want, they sing with operatic voices in their souls. In general, in principle, life for the sake of art, I must say, is a happy life, but we are all in search of happiness. Even those who are in search of grooms are still in search of happiness.
Who is your favorite artist?
It’s rather impossible to say which artist you don’t like. There is a lot of luxurious Western European painting. Walking through the Hermitage will just make your hair stand on end, what a beauty it is. And the Russian Museum too - Russian artists there are good and they bring luxurious exhibitions. There seems to be so much going on. It is possible, for example, to build a collection on Bazarova’s painting alone, filling it with an infinitely beautiful blue color, all the shades of the sky. Very beautiful. In general, I really like Matisse. I really love Matisse's "Red Room", "Conversation". For me, Matisse is a very close artist in style. I really love his drawings, graphics, painting of any period. I like both “Dance” and “Music”. I believe that art education is a must for everyone. I would call it basic education. Not legal, as everyone wants, so that you are not deceived and, God forbid, you do not deceive anyone, but art. After all, this is simply an amazing activity and the basis of all knowledge. The history of mankind should be taught through the history of art.
There is an opinion that over the past 20 years a generation of visual learners has grown up who perceive information through pictures. Among them are many designers, photographers, many people who strive to enter the fashion industry. They work with the image and we get a wave of the visual but impractical. Why is image important?
It is impossible to understand how life works without accepting it through the external. Now many extraordinary views have arisen among young people - this contributes to discoveries, the birth of paradoxical thinking, which is now necessary. After all, the birth of the art of a new century is taking place. True, young blood, in pursuit of the paradoxical, forgets about the picturesque, and these things must coincide: then grace will come, which is necessary after the kitsch and chaos that has flashed before our eyes over the past 10–15 years.
Items from the WHITE by Parfionova SS14 collection
What kind of chaos?
Since the late 90s, there has been a colossal release of energy: artistic, different ages and different sizes, educated and uneducated. This energy was influenced by negative people - adult artists of the old school, living today. They have a good school but a negative outlook. They lived through the difference between Soviet times and the euphoria of perestroika. Before they could open the borders, they were faced with crisis and capitalism and their outlook became pessimistic. On the other hand, there is the completely puppyish euphoria of the younger generation, contrary to the old school. The young are lucky: there is no control. There is a large information field that allows you to see anything, any artist. As a result, all this should crystallize into some new, interesting form, because in addition, a lot of new technologies have appeared. The 21st century, in search of its beauty, must give the world new styles and forms.
Is it necessary for a clothing designer today to have an artistic education in order to make beautiful things? To see the depth behind things, and not the utilitarian function?
Doing art for art's sake is difficult. Moreover, for this you do not need to live by mass popular fashion. Fashion still has a utilitarian, practical purpose. Moreover, as an art, fashion is absolutely avant-garde from the point of view of all directions: the development of Suprematism, images, phenomena, physics and metaphysics. Everything that one could wish for an artist-fashion designer is there: sculpturality, color, and even such closeness to a person, such dependence on a person. There is perhaps no other art like fashion.
There are two trends. On the one hand, designers compensate for the lack of ideas by complaining that there is no access to fabrics in Russia. On the other hand, the ideas are off the scale and they are too carried away by the avant-garde. who is right?
Well, firstly, you can create fabrics yourself, even sprout them, duplicate them, join them, and dye them. You don’t have to just come to a warehouse, buy 40 meters of blue knitwear and make a collection, inspired by the works of predecessors, put models in huge geisha platforms and send everyone down the catwalk to psychedelic music. Better think about the cut of things, about proportions.
I know that at the Antwerp School of Design and Arts, young designers do not have the right to sew their final collection from ready-made fabrics, they must do something with it themselves, modify it themselves. ok, but what to do with strange clothes?
The designer is the author. The author needs to be sincere, and then if there are those who would wear it, that’s generally wonderful. Another thing is that deconstruction does not always come from a constructive mind. Plus, some simply don’t know how to cut and they don’t have the people, designers, or cutters to realize what they want. But there must be illusions. Nothing will happen without illusions. For example, at first a couple of friends work with you, you pay them a salary. They may not receive it for three months, live on their parents’ money, because they know that you are a genius.
There are only 10 people in your studio - these are only those who do hand embroidery and create decor. Do you work only with Russian masters? Do you follow new technologies and try to implement them?
You know, we have a lot of hand-made canvases embroidered by the French. We use Swiss fabrics, good quality laser prints, technological fabrics: knitwear duplicated with foam rubber, fabrics with a reflective effect (with reflective properties), coatings, all sorts of soldered threads. We worked with the French company Henri Portier, who make a lot of fabrics for the Japanese - very beautiful. Our fabrics crunched, flowed, and shone through. We even made evening dresses from thick Scottish mohair. Lots of stuff. In terms of materials, we are absolutely free. I believe that you can create beautiful things from both simple calico and luxurious French silks. The main thing is to have an idea.
Your fashion house is primarily associated with couture. You have managed to preserve the traditions of tailoring and handicrafts for many years. While big houses like Givenchy are closing their couture lines, you quietly work on one dress for up to four months, and then this dress ends up in the exhibition of the Russian Museum and becomes history. Is Couture more alive than dead today?
In Russia, couture is paradoxically in demand. There are a huge number of girls here who want special dresses and haute couture dresses - this is what interests them. Moreover, it is not difficult for a house like ours to show 20 couture dresses twice a year. These are frankly beautiful things that are not hidden behind any trends, technologies, or any sales or production volumes. Silk, beads, embroidery - it's such a pleasure. In some companies, couture has grown into a whole mass market, such as Chanel. It seems to me that couture will definitely not die in the next at least ten years. Then, couture does not harm either the environment or humanity. Although, of course, it is vanity to wear something special that costs a lot of money. Maybe it's not a good feeling. Well, I don't know. First of all, couture is a work of tailoring art, it is fine sewing. And a work of art balances vanity. Here the designer is not a person in search of new forms, but a person in search of a new image and the creation of unshakable classics.
Parfenova's fashionable house in the center of St. Petersburg is truly a home. You live and work here , are constantlyin the creative process. is work life?
This is just my way of life. I don’t know any other way, because I grew up that way, I was brought up that way, and I believe that an artist shouldn’t do anything differently. What other life could he have? Only this one.
Do you highlight any of your lines as the main one? Or do you manage to do everything and work on everything at once?
I take turns doing everything.
This is impressive.
Man has a lot of time, and we waste a lot of it. If I had pulled myself together, I would have found time for at least two more serious studies. I think carefully about what I do, and then I do everything quickly and carefully. And I think a lot and constantly on different topics in the process of life. You never know when something might come in handy.
Items from the White by Tatyana Parfenova SS14 collection
And do you manage Instagram yourself?
Yes, sure.
Modern!
My perception of life is very young. I haven't aged for a long time. I don’t pretend to be a teenager and don’t speak their slang, but I see and feel a lot of things. Nothing special happens to a person during life - only physics ages. And everything else is knowledge and experience. I perceive life as joy, as happiness. My generation, having broken through to the music of The Rolling Stones and the works of Andy Warhol, grew up in a new culture. Maybe you don't even know many things. Whoever his appearance allows him does not change, he wears jeans the same way he wore them 10–30 years ago. Then we are the hippie generation. We need to look at photographs of our parents. The most beautiful people- this is the generation of our parents. My taste was formed in childhood. And there was someone to form it. I saw something beautiful fly across the sky - that’s how I see it now. As much as I liked shades, combinations of certain colors, I have loved all this since childhood.
You have relaunched your prêt-à-porter line, which has not been released for the past 13 years, since 2001. White by Tatyana Parfenova surprised me because you showed clothes that look fresh and modern. It’s clear that people will want to wear it, and it costs ten times less than items from your main line.
Until 2001, we had a prêt-à-porter line. Then there was a crisis and the legislation at that time did not allow clothing to be sold openly and exported. We left the seasons and started doing couture and atelier. WHITE by Parfionova is a new line. It is massive and will develop as a line for mass production, for stores, step by step, gradually increasing its interests and capacity. All items in it are made from 100% environmentally friendly cotton, high-quality wool, and my drawings are applied on top. The philosophy of WHITE by Parfionova is adding every season, not updating.
How is that?
The next color is superimposed. Then the color goes inside those things that were on top. Summer collections become lower winter ones. Just like that.
Now everyone is talking about denial, fashion fatigue. Do you see this process?
I have been involved in fashion for twenty years and I can say that fatigue from fashion lasts all twenty years. This trend is very old: denial of fashion, influence of the streets. None of this is new. This has always been the case. They have always said that fashion comes from the streets and goes to the catwalk. He leaves the podium and goes out onto the street. How could it be different? No way. There's always something you get used to. And there is something that becomes a challenge, something that makes you look at the world differently. I wouldn’t say that there is any special connection happening now. Not yet. Everything is quite pragmatic. Even those companies that were at the forefront, considered the strangest and most unusual, are now becoming more and more bourgeois, for example, like Comme des Garçons. Many commercial things appear, because sales growth is important. There are many stores, but no one wants to miss out on their customers. In principle, leather jackets and Cossack boots are as they were. There are a lot of things that have come and have simply not changed over the past 20–30 years. The same baseball caps and other things. A lot of everything. And wearing scarves around the neck in a loop. I wouldn't give up things. I would give up the ardent seasons that just twist people's arms.
It all started out harmlessly enough. The door, the bell, the androgenic image of the consultant, the conversation did not take place. The attempt was repeated again, after a while, the same door, the bell, the same ghost of the house. She attached a dress from the show with lilies of the valley embroidered on it, in response to my question: “When ordering this dress, you will make it...
Show in full
“Love passes, but letters remain...”
It all started out harmlessly enough. The door, the bell, the androgenic image of the consultant, the conversation did not take place. The attempt was repeated again, after a while, the same door, the bell, the same ghost of the house. She attached a dress from the show with lilies of the valley embroidered on it, in response to my question: “When ordering this dress, will you make its edge more neat?” The consultant was not embarrassed, answering indifferently: “Yes.” Realizing that even today the desire to work did not awaken in him along with his body, I decided not to spoil my mood and left.
In the fall, I called and inquired before making a visit to see if it was possible to find another consultant who was more interested in this life in general and the things I wanted. A woman’s voice answered the phone and I moved towards Nevsky Prospekt. The fishnet skirt had to wait. I was ready to wait. I waited for the call. The fishnet skirt was completely not for me. The required color was missing.
Measurements were taken. We filled out an agreement in which there were 2 conditions: 1. The initial payment is made in the amount of 50% of the cost of the product when placing an order.
2. Order execution time: no later than 1 month from the date of receipt of the order.
We made a payment of 17,500 rubles, following the agreement. The seller, Nadezhda Shaurina, said that the skirt would be ready after January 12 due to the tailors’ New Year holidays and the lack of black mesh for the skirt. I agreed to wait until January 12th. In mid-January, the phone rang and Nadezhda’s quiet, but not hopeful voice said that there was still no network. Later, I was given a date to see the finished product on January 29th! But again, sad androgenic Pierrot appears and reports that the skirt will be ready on February 1st, that setting up the machine takes time! Everything is said with aggression, with pretension, with anguish.
February 2, 2015, the door, the bell and again this... doomed doorman. Complete lack of hospitality. Atmospheres. Air! But everything was no longer important - the result was important! I went into the fitting room and they brought me a mesh skirt. They helped me put on and twist two plastic balls together. Black mesh. Machine embroidery in the shape of a dog. Rubber. 2 balls. Parfenov logo. All!
The first thing that caught my eye was that the length was not taken into account. But it doesn’t matter, it’s important to pay an extra 50%, cut off Parfenov’s logo and forget the way here. In the fitting room, I took off the net myself and decided to see the edge of the skirt, because... The first thing I told the tailor when ordering was accuracy in everything! And, oh Horror - HOLE! An even cut in the form of a triangle near the embroidery. Therefore, there is no quality control within these walls. As well as all of the above: service, hospitality, talent and decent materials.
Having called a consultant with the telling name Nadezhda, I restrained myself so as not to kill this very hope in myself and not to put an end to Parfenov’s untidy name. “This is the first time this has happened to us. What date do you need the skirt for?” - I thought I heard it. I put on my coat and went out. The annoying Nadezhda began calling: “We held a meeting with Tatyana Valentinovna and the tailor and decided to sew up the hole. You won't even be able to tell the difference." And please note this, THIS indulgence is all for the same amount: 35,000 rubles! Black mesh. Machine embroidery in the shape of a dog. Rubber. 2 balls. Parfenov's logo + Hole! I said no! I forbade the seller Nadezhda from repeating such words like crazy how-fashionable home and luxury in my presence. They have no right to! The last time I made an effort, I accepted a new date for the mesh skirt to be ready—February 9. But, having put forward only one condition: on February 9, I want to see a mesh skirt with a hole, which we have already become acquainted with, and a new mesh skirt without a hole, which I will actually come for. Understanding that Parfenov’s atelier and such concepts as honesty and decency are completely incompatible, having re-read the customer’s sheet again (2. Order execution time: no later than 1 month from the date of receipt of the order - dated December 9, 2014. The calendar showed February 2015 years, the time frame has been delayed, to put it mildly.) -
I decided that I won’t take the net skirt. The law was on my side! But, somewhere inside there was hope that perhaps Tatyana Parfenova herself had no idea about the lawlessness happening within the walls of her house. I wrote a letter to the designer’s personal e-mail. Describing in detail the situation around the skirt. Came a dry and indifferent answer. As dry as the reception in her store. On the faces of its sellers. In the nature of her products. All that remains is to wait for the appointed date.
On February 9, the bell rang, the voice of Svetlana Parfenova spoke (I deliberately do not write IF in small letters, there is no respect even in my hands), a hysterical squeak, impatient, shrill. The voice demanded that you come for a refund, when asked, “Where is the skirt?”, I heard in response, “We are ready to give you a refund.” A smile of pity appeared on my face, and I tried again to break the sounds of a broken record, but then Parfenov’s daughter-in-law, who introduced herself general director At home, the visor fell and I had to put the phone on speakerphone. The room was filled with the hysterical scream of a female macaque, Svetlana the Eagle, shouting over herself, clearly reading from the sheet: “First of all, this is a fashion house, and not some kind of boutique. We do as we please. Secondly, you wouldn’t call Karl Lagerfeld either, so don’t you dare write or call Tatyana Parfenova. And thirdly, Tatyana Valentinovna refuses to sew a skirt for you. She doesn't want to see clients like you. We are a fashionable house and act as we see fit for ourselves.” Apparently the text on the piece of paper, which was approved at the same meeting, had run out, and perhaps the air in the lungs had run out, but the terrible screeching was interrupted by telephone beeps. The general director left without saying goodbye! The level of education and customer orientation was off the charts! Enjoying the silence, I wrote an SMS: “For your information, Svetlana, Lagerfeld will never allow himself to make something of inferior quality!!! And even more so, taking out your complexes on clients. You need to be kinder and more professional!!!” The answer came five minutes later: “Dear young lady, I invite you to the Fashion House for a refund. Please confirm your visit in advance. Sincerely, Svetlana Parfenova." It’s amazing how respect for my person suddenly arose. I ended our “conversation” with the message: “Keep your undisguised rudeness to yourself! And don’t dare compare yourself to a fashion house, your level is comparable to that of a depot atelier in both service and quality! And you don’t have to worry about my visit, I’ll take my money when it’s convenient for me!” But the story continued... my husband tried to find out from the gene. director, who gave her the right to be rude to the client? We were accused of contributing only 50% of the order cost, however, this is a condition of the contract! When asked to invite a more competent person to the phone, Svetlana suggested calling Tatyana Parfenova and immediately said that she would not call Tatyana)) Lack of logic in the answers, intellect in general, incoherent speech, rudeness and the absence of a prepared speech on the sheet led to that the phone was snatched by another gene director - Parfenova's son - Mitya Parfenov. Accusing his husband of insulting his chosen one, he makes an appointment to sort things out with us. Needless to say, upon arriving at Parfenova’s store-atelier, the impudent family was absent, but the staff of hipster campaigners arrived in full force, creating the appearance of vigorous activity.
What's behind this name? Famous people of St. Petersburg, people of art, what our city is saturated with is ballet, painting, architecture. Machine and hand embroidery - which is absent within the walls of the Parfenova atelier and is made to order.
Maybe you really shouldn’t rip people’s masks off!...
Throw away all this and the bottom line is that you will get: things made from fabric purchased at best from the Tissura store, at worst you will be content with mesh that you purchased back in the 90s, and according to legend, the mesh will be brought to you from Paris. Parfenova is a store-atelier, with unprofessional staff, from a consultant to a tailor (when taking measurements, the tailor showed me Diana Vishneva’s measurements, saying that Diana is the face of the house and can take things and return them back for sale), with an unhospitable hostess , who did not receive education in childhood and did not give it to her son.
Pomposity, negligence, sloppiness...100% synthetic in everything!
What did we want, to buy a mesh skirt, for only 35,000 rubles!... Black mesh. Machine embroidery in the shape of a dog. Rubber. 2 balls. Parfenov logo. That's all!
What did you get- true face“one of the key figures in the fashion industry of modern Russia, Tatyana Parfenova”
On the eve of the women's holiday, VP correspondents Zinaida Arsenyeva and Natalya Chaika went to the famous St. Petersburg fashion designer to talk about her new collection, collaboration with ballerina Diana Vishneva, about Emma Bovary and how to be happy
But as often happens, the conversation went beyond the designated framework. There was also a conversation about politics - about the events in Ukraine. After all, Tatiana’s mother is Ukrainian, she was born in Poltava, and everything that is happening there now cannot but worry her.
"My new collection born in Poltava"
— Your new collection “I was born a gardener” reminded me of the Rococo era, paintings by Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard. There are so many light, airy fabrics, embroidered flowers, and the faces of the models are thickly powdered and rouged, like the beauties of the gallant 18th century - the century of “ghostly marquises.” But maybe everything is simpler, and the collection was created under the impression of your summer holiday in Ukraine - in Poltava, the city where you were born?
— Yes, the collection “I was born a gardener” is dedicated to Ukraine. It was demonstrated to the accompaniment of Ukrainian music - “Vopli Vidoplyasov” and Ivan Kozlovsky. The background sound was also the singing of birds, the sound of a thunderstorm - the rumble of thunder, the rustle of rain... My mother is Ukrainian, I was born in Poltava, and spent 50 days last summer in Ukraine. I dreamed of making a collection that would be dedicated to such a garden of Eden... Flowers... The collection is my attitude towards a woman as a flower. And to all the times of life that are comparable to the life of a flower: first a bud, then a blossoming flower, then seeds, fruits...
- Yes, and if flowers are loved, they do not fade for a long time, even if they are cut. Like these red roses that stand in a vase on your table. It can be seen that they have even sprouted fresh shoots.
— Yes, we have flowers in the Fashion House for months. Everyone here is a florist! (Laughs.)
— I can’t help but ask you: what do you think about the events in Ukraine?
“I’m thinking about it, but I can’t find the words to talk about it.” I think we need to hope that the current situation there will somehow magically return to normal. And there will be no more victims. That the government and the people will be able to agree and solve all problems peacefully. For example, I believe that the Russians have never offended Ukrainians. I have an international family: my mother is Ukrainian, my father is Russian. We have never had any conversations related to the national problem. We never used the words “Khokhol”, “Katsap”, “Moskal”.
— Does Poltava still fuel you?
— I love my homeland very much, I grew up there, I was brought here to St. Petersburg when I was 8 years old, but I spent every summer with my grandmother in Poltava. My tastes, of course, have Ukrainian influences, and I love Ukrainian music. And I love Gogol, he is generally my favorite writer. Although now he is considered a foreign writer in Ukraine. Because he wrote in Russian, not in Ukrainian language.
“Zholdak’s Emma Bovary lives her life many times over”
— At the Russian Entreprise Theater named after. Andrei Mironov” recently hosted the premiere of the play “Madame Bovary,” directed by Andrei Zholdak. You made the costumes for Bovary. I read Flaubert and admired how in detail, in the smallest detail, he describes all of Emma's dresses. These huge crinolines surrounded the woman like armor, preventing her from getting closer than a meter. But as it turned out, this armor could not protect against anything...
Please tell us about working with Zholdak...
— Andrey Zholdak is a director who has no concept of a specific time. He did not create a precise, line-by-line dramatization of the novel. With him, Emma Bovary lives her life many, many times. And it is transported to different times. I made costumes for Emma Bovary from the past, her image was embodied by Elena Kalinina. And the stylists of our Fashion House selected costumes in stores for the modern incarnation of Bovary. The play begins with something that is not in the book: the gods sit and discuss how to generate love in a person, poke their finger into the ground and end up in the French province, in the heart of Emma. And from that moment on, Emma is doomed, her life falls apart.
In general, of course, I believe that men's literature is cruel towards women. If you love, then you must be faithful, if you don’t love, die. Male writers are selfish, they throw their heroines under the train, force them to poison themselves with arsenic. Positive heroes in literature are mostly men. And if a woman is a positive heroine, then she is usually insipid, boring and is always somewhere in the background or third plan.
A man, as an egoist, demands unaccountable, absolutely sacrificial love. I saw another performance not long ago made by Zholdak - the opera “Eugene Onegin” at the Mikhailovsky Theater. This performance has two endings. In the second ending, Tatyana and her husband, the general, remain in a black office, in which there is also a little girl. A new reading of this story, adding, thinking about whether she will be happy. For some reason, many people believe that, of course, Tatyana will be unhappy because she does not love her husband. But in “Eugene Onegin” nothing is actually said about the fact that she does not love her husband! I think she can't help but love him. This is a young brilliant general who won the War of 1812.
- Yes, and Gremin is not old at all, but by today’s standards he is simply young, he is 36 years old, no more!..
- Yes, yes, he is young and handsome, and she is happy, of course, happy with him. In general, I believe that women should write answers to all these male manifestations of selfishness.
China doesn't need to conquer anything. He has already conquered everything
— Why is there still no fashion industry in Russia? Does this have anything to do with China taking over the market?
— China is no longer conquering anything. He has already conquered everything. Fashion industry no, but people don’t run naked in the streets and obviously won’t be running naked in the near future. There will still be clothes, they will still produce them, and so will we. After all, in Soviet time very few new garment and weaving factories were built. Our “Nevskaya Manufactory” had pre-revolutionary roots. The factory of Vera Slutskaya, which produced cotton fabrics, also worked on machines from 1914. And yet, the USSR produced wool, cotton, silk, and there were some raw materials. And then the revolution happened again, perestroika began, economic difficulties began, the collapse of the Soviet Union. Communications were once again interrupted. All factories were located in the city center. Many have now been converted into lofts and all sorts of exhibition spaces. But probably, over time, some industrial zones will appear again. Although, in my opinion, the future still does not belong to large enterprises, but to small, fairly mobile handicraft industries, as in Italy, as in France. There are also very large companies there. Same Chanel. In terms of production volume, this is a huge company; it is practically a mass market. And they open production facilities themselves. They produce their own fabrics, fittings, and accessories. As our companies grow, so will our production. But this, of course, is a matter for the future.
— In the meantime, designers work in atelier and fashion studio formats?
- No, why? Many cooperate with industries. And we also cooperate. For example, we do upholstery for furniture - all kinds of embroidery. But we order furniture from production, we don’t cut it out of wood ourselves!
Ballet tutus for Diana Vishneva
— Tell us about your collaboration with prima ballerina Diana Vishneva. I think you made clothes for her for ballet rehearsals?
— No, we made a whole line of such clothes. It will be sold in a chain of stores around the world and, of course, in Russian cities.
— Is this clothing different from what ballerinas usually rehearse in?
— No, these are traditional things, just of higher quality. I think Diana's style will be added to this rehearsal line.
- What is her style?
— Diana is smart, purposeful, interesting. Of course, Diana realizes that she is a world-class star. But at the same time he behaves very correctly. She is easy to work with. She trusts me professionally, she doesn’t have any whims: “I won’t wear this, it doesn’t suit me!” She is sure that everything offered for her in the Fashion House suits her.
— Does Diana participate in discussing things?
— If we talk about the rehearsal line, then, of course, yes! Because first of all, she must feel on her body how comfortable, flexible, and functional this thing is. Only she can put on trousers, do the splits in them and say how comfortable it is. The outer part is my story.
— Didn’t you make costumes for ballets?
- No no. I only made tutus for the Swan Lake ballet. For white swan and black. These are Diana's tour tutus.
— How difficult was this work for you?
“I only drew them, but they were sewn in the workshops of the Mariinsky Theater.”
— How do they differ from traditional packs?
- They are no different, maybe only in decor. Nothing can be changed radically there. In fact, this is a performance of museum value. Scenography, costumes - everything must be consistent within the same style. If someone wants to stage “Swan Lake” in a modern interpretation, then there will probably be different costumes and different sets.
“St. Petersburg is a special city. It needs not reconstruction, but restoration."
— What do you think about St. Petersburg? Can it be considered a European city?
“We all paint an ideal picture for ourselves.” I want everything to happen quickly. Now you close your eyes, in five minutes you open them - and everything in the city is perfect! But everything has a certain pace. And in my opinion, the pace at which we are developing is colossal. When I watch the video from 1993, it’s such a depressing impression that I can’t help but cry. The asphalt is full of potholes. Everyone walked along the streets without raising their heads so as not to break their legs. Everything was dim, unlit, and the people were dressed in such a terrible way - beggarly! The stores were empty, it was impossible to buy anything, and there was nothing to feed the child. Look now. There are a huge number of personal cars on the roads. And along all the streets there are parked on the sides in two rows. New buildings are such as were never dreamed of in Soviet times. Apartments are affordable or not, but the houses are all occupied. The city center is being reconstructed and major renovations are being carried out. Another thing is that our city is special, very valuable, it requires not reconstruction, but restoration. And I think that the people who live in it should understand this and treat the city with care. But now at least you can walk into the entrance without fear, without fear of stepping into a puddle or something else. A huge number of all kinds of cafes - for every taste, the pricing policy is varied, you can eat very inexpensively and tasty, or you can go to an expensive restaurant. The choice of clothes is colossal, as is the choice of products. Of course, there are things of higher quality, and there are things of lower quality. But you have a choice. Overall, we have come a long way over the years.
— Have people in St. Petersburg started to dress better?
“They always dressed better than in the provinces, and better than in Moscow.”
The price of a wasp waist, or male egoism
Here our conversation is delicately interrupted by the designer of the Fashion House, who brought out what was put on the mannequin, not yet finished Evening Dress Made from dark pink Scottish mohair.
“Look what a beautiful dress,” says Tatyana Parfenova. — The back will be open, and there will be a strip of bugles in the front. There will also be a corset inside, with the help of which we will create a straight wasp waist. A dress for very thin girls!”
— Tatyana, the wasp waist is, of course, very beautiful. But how good it is that today, if corsets are used, it is only on special occasions!
- Yes, the price of the wasp waist was high. It is known that for the sake of a thin waist, women sometimes went under the knife and removed two ribs. The reason for such sacrifices is again male egoism. He absolutely had to have his fingers touch her waist! I am for men who allow a woman everything.
- Are there really such people?
- Yes. True, they usually live with smart women who allow themselves only what they can afford (laughs).
“Human beings are characterized by optimism”
— One of your favorite images is the St. Petersburg young lady. It seems to me that he is a little out of touch with reality. There are very few young ladies left. Those from good families, with roots and traditions.
— We don’t sew much. Exactly as many young ladies as we can meet (smiles).
— So, young ladies still meet?
- Of course, there are people who treat themselves very carefully. Trembling. They understand that life is wonderful. And you need to treat her with respect. Like a valuable gift.
— Despite the fact that all sorts of unpleasant things happen in this life?
— Unpleasant things happen, it’s impossible not to react to them. But still, it seems to me that optimism is inherent in humans. Here I am, an optimist. I know that I need to try to find a way out of the situation. Then, you know, there is so much work, and interesting work, that... Life is wonderful! Now people have died in Ukraine. My heart is heavy. Very. You can't help but think about how happily these young people could live their lives. In a world where there is so much beauty...
— Tatyana, our interview will be published on the eve of March 8th. What advice would you give to women? Not even in terms of how to dress, but in a broader sense. For example, how to live to be happy?
- To be happy? I don't know, it's different for everyone. You don't have to be beautiful to be happy. As is known. You don't have to be dressed up to be beautiful...
- Is there only grief from the mind?
- This is for men (smiles). But with us it’s different. A smart woman can say to herself: “I am happy!”
fashion
Twenty years ago, the designer founded her Fashion House, whose couture line recently expanded age boundaries with the advent of Kids Couture, and the democratic brand WHITE by Parfionova showed seasonal collections not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow, Vladivostok, Venice, Paris and Milan. Plus a new line of shoes for indoors and outdoors, sportswear for the whole family within the TATYANA PARFIONOVA Home Design brand, TATYANA PARFIONOVA for Electra bicycles, a photo project with Diana Vishneva at the Mariinsky Theater, new paintings and a fifth book - events follow one after another.
Are you celebrating your anniversary on a grand scale?
We don't celebrate, we celebrate. As every year, we celebrate with new collections and shows. What difference does it make - nineteen, twenty, twenty-one? I treat round dates the same way as I treat any others. Twenty years ago I just registered the Fashion House, but it all started long before that. For example, we settled in a building on Nevsky Prospekt in 1993.
Even then, did you imagine that the House would have so many different lines?
Yes, I knew about it from the very beginning. Perestroika had not even begun yet, and once in a conversation with colleagues I described in detail my future Fashion House and what exactly it would consist of. If you see something inside yourself, it will happen.
And they built a real fashion empire, without loud statements, just doing their job.
We still don’t have enough momentum to talk about an empire. The Fashion House has many projects that can be commercialized and grown into big businesses, yes. We will do this in the future, it just takes time. In order for the house to stand well and solidly, you need to build a high-quality foundation. In any other place favorable for the development of fashion, we would already say that in twenty years a solid building has been built. But the soil for the fashion business in Russia is the same as in St. Petersburg at the time of its founding - shaky. There was a period when we had to overcome the reluctance of our people to dress in the clothes of Russian designers, then there were other obstacles: for example, the lack of many specialists who were necessary for the Fashion House was hampered - there simply were no professional stylists, merchandisers, or fashion PR specialists. People who loved fashion somehow huddled together, all this happened by inspiration and inspiration, but not by science. However, obstacles are needed in order to jump over them and rejoice at the solution found, otherwise there will be no development. A fashion designer in Russia requires a combination of many qualities, and it just so happens that I have them.
Can you be called a businesswoman?
I don't have the ability to run a business, I have common sense. Business people think differently, but I always thought like an artist. For example, I was not interested in opening another store. Creating virtual stores, from which at any moment a good, beautiful product will come to your home, is more important for me, because we have a very wide geography of clients.
On the one hand, you are a completely St. Petersburg designer, and on the other hand, you are not a reflective St. Petersburg woman at all when it comes to the ability to achieve your goal. How does this city influence you?
My artist husband, a fourteenth-generation St. Petersburg resident, endlessly paints the city. I cannot love him the way he or my son loves him. I admire it, and I certainly love Poltava, my homeland. I love its sights, smells, all my memories of childhood - from the age of eight I lived in Leningrad - St. Petersburg, but I spent every summer in a house with a garden with my grandparents. In Russia, of course, Moscow is the place to which people with victorious plans travel from all over the country. It’s simply pointless to go to St. Petersburg with such intentions. It seems to me that this city is a structure for which people are quite secondary, Gogol wrote about this. We are so spoiled by the beauty of the center that it’s even difficult to travel anywhere from here.
Have you been traveling infrequently lately?
Several years ago I lost this desire. Last year, with great difficulty, I forced myself to fly a couple of times to Italy and Vladivostok for my own shows, although before I could have just gone to wander around Paris. In general, now I feel very uncomfortable not being at home. I like to draw and read, I take a break from this. I am ready to follow the blue bird anywhere, but I know that it lives in my house.
How do you manage to do everything: create several clothing lines, write paintings and books, organize exhibitions and performances?
Now it seems to me that time drags on infinitely slowly and I need to constantly occupy it with something. Pictures are painted well at night, the morning is good for putting down on paper what comes to mind, during the day I work with clients.
Do you easily find a common language with customers?
Of course, a person must have a common vision with us. So, we recently made a dress “Meerkats are delighted with you” for Diana Vishneva, in which she took part in a charity evening in London, organized jointly by her and Natalia Vodianova - we wanted to give people a little fun, and we succeeded. I can take the maximum number of steps forward, but I cannot change my consciousness - I do not tolerate violence against myself, in which case we recommend turning to another fashion house. In the same way, I don’t tolerate violence against other people, and that’s why I don’t want to work in the theater anymore: I feel infinitely sorry for the actors who end up in a meat grinder, after which you come out and don’t understand why it’s all for.
There are always a lot of young people around you. Do you have the ability to find and discover talents and new names?
I think it's a mutual attraction. In general, I believe that a new Renaissance era is beginning now: children have incredible talent. We recently recruited new tailors - and all the smart guys came, it’s just nice. When I find myself in the company of young people, I am amazed by their ease of communication, politeness, beauty, erudition, and not an empty look. They have so much empathy, tenderness and kindness.
Will you be traditionally very busy in the coming months?
We will hold a presentation of Electra bicycles with my design - we used the drawing “Seagulls at Sunset”. At the end of June there will be shows of new collections of couture and ready-to-wear, a very beautiful performance, which has already become an annual event, will be held in Tsarskoe Selo, in July a large exhibition will open at the Erarta Museum, I will most likely publish a book “On My Own” “is a serpentine of stories in which people, while talking, jump from one topic to another, starting from one word or another. This year I will also be decorating apartments using the Tatyana Parfionova Home Design line.
Tatyana Parfenova was born in 1956 in the city of Poltava. In 1964 she moved to St. Petersburg, where she lives today. In 1977 she graduated from the School of Painting. V. Serov, and in 1990 - Moscow Institute of Technology. In 1988, Tatyana Parfenova became a laureate of the Interfashion competition in Czechoslovakia, and in 1989, the Young Designers competition in London.
Parfenova became famous in the early 90s. At this time, she was interested in the artistic and iconic aspects of clothing design and drew inspiration from the works of Russian and European avant-garde artists of the beginning of the century (projects "Matisse's Harmony" and "Miro's Blue Space"), in the correctness and precision of geometric objects (project "Geometry", including the "Squares" and "Lines" series).
In February 1995, Tatyana Parfenova decides to open her own fashion house. Success was not long in coming: in April 1995, Tatiana received from the hands of the chairman of the jury Paco Rabanne the first Golden Button award at the international festival "In Vogue" for the first collection of the House of Saffron. In the fall of 1996, at Russian Fashion Week, Parfenova’s “Marat’s Mountain” collection was recognized as the best collection of the year, and a dress from this collection received the “Golden Hanger” Grand Prix at the Moscow “Dress of the Year-96” competition. (Later, this dress, created from seventy-four parts, was acquired by the department of the latest trends of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.)
In the spring of 1997, Parfenova's "Garda" collection, in the first show of which the famous fashion model of the 70s Benedetta Barzini took part, was shown in many cities in Germany, including at the Days of St. Petersburg in Hamburg. In the same year, a dress from the collection “A Chinese Man Walked Through the Courtyards” received a prize at the “Dress of the Year-97” competition as the best evening dress.
In the fall of 1998, Tatyana Parfenova took part in the Moscow High Fashion Week with her “Demonstration” collection, and in March 1999, the next collection of the House - “City Details” - was presented in Ottawa and Toronto, where it aroused keen interest from representatives of the Canadian “fashion” business, public and press. At the same time, the House was developing a corporate identity for large companies: in 1998, suits were made for the reception service of the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg, and in 1999, a corporate identity was developed and a uniform was created for the staff of the Baltchug Kempinski Hotel. .
In September 1999, at the professional exhibition Salon Pret-a-Porter in Paris, in the "La Boutique" sector, Tatyana
Parfenova presents the spring/summer 2000 collection. Later, in November 1999, at the VI Week of High Fashion in Moscow, the House presented another collection, called “Tourmaline”. It was based on a mixture of ethnic motifs of various peoples of Russia - Buryat, Tatar, Chuvash. The collection is very warm and cheerful, simple and accessible. It uses high-quality, expensive fabrics - silk, cotton, synthetics and smooth wool, which have undergone manual processing (wetting, pressing, pressing, dyeing), so that even the business jackets of this collection look like knitted sweaters.
The main colors of the collection are red, terracotta, brick; dark blue, gray, white and the whole range of golden-ocher shades characteristic of Russian peasant costume were also used. The models are stylized as antique and decorated with embroidery, sequins and colored beads. To emphasize the integrity of the collection, Parfenova uses accessories as a contrast - a collection of colored jewelry, glass beads from the 50s-70s, and beaded jewelry. The models are decorated with satin stitch embroidered compositions, repeating in miniature the works of avant-garde artists and subverters of dogmas in world art ("Marilyn Monroe" by Andy Warhol, "Black Square" by Kazimir Malevich).
Today, the Tatyana Parfenova Fashion House employs forty people; two seasonal and two intermediate collections are released annually.
During her career, Tatyana Parfenova was awarded: the title of Master of the “Master Class” festival (1996, St. Petersburg); "Golden Business" prize (for the most successful enterprise based on the results of 1996); "Silver Tunic" in 1997 at Russian Fashion Week in Moscow (for his contribution to the development of Russian fashion); "Brilliant Brains" prize in the category "Best Designer of the Year" in 1998.
Tatyana’s works in theater and cinema are widely known: costumes for the 2nd and 3rd episodes of the film “Winter Cherry” (dir. I. Maslennikov); costumes for the film “The Circus Burnt Down, the Clowns Ran Away” (dir. V. Bortko); costumes for the performance of the Bolshoi Drama Theater. Tovstonogov "California Suite" with the participation of A. Freundlich and O. Basilashvili.
The works of Tatyana Parfenova participated in numerous exhibitions: "Garderop" - an art exhibition of modern carnival costumes in Manege (1993, St. Petersburg); an exhibition of new acquisitions by the Department of Contemporary Currents of the Russian Museum, dedicated to the 5th anniversary of the department (1996, St. Petersburg, State Russian Museum); "Gifts and acquisitions of the Russian Museum" (1999, St. Petersburg)
