“Blonde goddess”, “Italian beauty” and “Russian birch”: 5 Soviet models who went crazy

Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Irina Shayk, Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner – everyone knows the names of these girls, even the most distant from the fashion world. Kate was the epitome of heroin chic, Giselle the epitome of 2000s glamor, and Bella became a role model not only in the industry but beyond.

The era of supermodels began at the dawn of the 1990s. It was then that the girls on the catwalk started paying great money, and Linda Evangelista uttered her iconic quote: “I won’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.” Of course, there were models before that. Remember Gia Karanji, Twiggy, Verushka, Jerry Hall and Iman. By the way, a few months ago we talked in detail about 20 podium legends from different decades.

And now we propose to play a fashion game and name at least five models from the era of the Soviet Union. can’t? Then our today’s material in the “Archive” section is for you. We’re talking about five models who earn a little over unemployment benefits, but drive all men crazy and cause envy among the same number of women.

Regina Zbarskaya

Regina Zbarskaya was called the Soviet Sophia Loren, the Italian beauty and the main weapon of the Kremlin. Her modeling career began in the mid-1950s, almost immediately after she moved to Moscow. At the audition for the movie “War and Peace” by Sergei Bondarchuk, Zbarskaya met fashion designer and costume designer Vera Aralova. It was he who invited the girl to work in the All-Union House of Clothing Models. In a few years, Regina will go to Paris, where she will be remembered as the most beautiful gun in the Kremlin and will be called the Soviet Sophia Loren. They say that they admire the looks of Pierre Cardin, Marc Boan, Guy Laroche and other French fashion designers. However, not everything was as spectacular as it might seem at first glance. Due to a painful breakup with her husband and multiple attempts to become a member of the KGB, Regina locked herself in a psychiatric hospital and committed suicide there.

Lyoka Mironova

Leocadia (model full name) got into the industry purely by chance. She just came to the show to support her friend, whom Vyacheslav Zaitsev noticed Leka. It was the Soviet fashion designer who invited her to become a model. Thus began a collaboration that lasted for 10 years and the title of Soviet Audrey Hepburn emerged. In 1966, American journalists came to Moscow to shoot the movie Three Stars of the Soviet Union. The first star was the champion of the USSR in athletics, Valeria Brumele, the second was the ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, and the third was Lyoka Mironova.

But even in this case, there was some drama. Mironova denied closeness to an influential party leader, and then decided to deprive her of everything. She was constantly threatened and even harassed, she. Therefore, the model had to leave the Zaitsev fashion house, and the official did everything so that the girl could not find a job anywhere.

Valentina Yashina

In the Western press, Valentina Yashina was compared to Hollywood actress Greta Garbo and in her homeland she was called a blonde goddess because of her pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Yashina began to build a career in the modeling industry in the 50s and immediately got a job at the All-Union House of Models in Kuznetsky Most, where she worked for more than 40 years. She participated in almost all the performances, and by her standards, costumes were sewn for general consumption, and personally for the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

As surprising as it may sound, the life of the famous model also ended tragically. After her husband’s death, she had to take care of her son, who had a problem with alcohol and illicit substances. I had to make a communal apartment from a large apartment inherited from my husband. But there was still not enough money, so Valentina Yashina began to wash the entrances.

Mila Romanovskaya

And yet another happy accident. Mila’s friend, who works part-time at the Leningrad Fashion House, asked her to take her place at the evening presentation. They immediately noticed the future “Russian birch” (that’s how the Soviet mannequin was called) and St. They were offered a job in St. Petersburg, and then in Moscow. By the way, Mila was constantly compared with Regina Zbarskaya, although the girls were completely opposite both externally and internally. Also, at the First International Fashion Festival in Luzhniki in 1968, Mila Romanovskaya appeared in a “Russia” dress made of wool boucle, originally created for Regina Zbarskaya. But everyone decided that this suited Romanovskaya better.

Galina Milovskaya

“Soviet Twiggy” – so they called Galina Milovskaya because of similar facial features with the legendary British model. In the 1960s, Milovskaya was considered the most outrageous and scandalous model, and also became the first model in the Soviet Union to pose for Vogue magazine. Spoiler: The results were very serious. In 1969, French photographer Arnaud De Ronet invited Galina to pose for an authoritative glossy publication. The Kremlin Armory and Red Square were chosen for the photo shoot. Empress II in the first pictures. He had appeared with Katerina’s scepter and King’s apple, but he was sitting cross-legged on the model cobblestones in the capital’s main square. This picture cost Milovskaya not only her modeling career. She was expelled from the university and asked to leave Russia, she. She later moved to Rome, married a banker, and became a documentary filmmaker.