The most famous Soviet models. Mila Romanovskaya (fashion model): photo, biography Famous model of the 60s in the USSR

The profession of a model, so popular in the modern world, was considered not prestigious. Models were called "clothes demonstrators", and their salary did not exceed 76 rubles.

And yet there were beauties who managed to build a career - one at home, the other abroad. Faktrum publishes a selection of Soviet top models.

Regina Zbarskaya

One of the most famous and legendary fashion models of the 60s, Regina Zbarskaya, after a stunning success abroad, returned to the USSR, but never found "her place" here. Frequent nervous breakdowns, depression, antidepressants led to the fact that she lost her job. As a result of failures in her personal life and professional failure, the most beautiful woman in the country committed suicide in 1987.

Galina Milovskaya

Galina Milovskaya was called Russian "Twiggy" - because of thinness, uncharacteristic for fashion models of that time: with a height of 170 cm, she weighed 42 kg. In the 1970s, Galina conquered not only the Moscow podium, but also foreign ones. She was invited to shoot in Vogue, in 1974 she emigrated and stayed in London. She married a French banker, left her modeling career, graduated from the Sorbonne film direction department and became a documentary filmmaker.

Tatyana Solovieva

Perhaps one of the most prosperous and successful was the fate of Tatiana Solovieva. She came to the House of Models by chance, according to an advertisement. Tatyana had a higher education, which is why the nickname “institute” stuck to her.

Later, Solovyova married Nikita Mikhalkov and still lives with him in a happy marriage. Although the profession of a fashion model was so unpopular that Mikhalkov at first introduced his wife to everyone as a translator or teacher.

Elena Metelkina

Probably everyone remembers a woman from the future - Polina - who helped everyone's favorite Alisa Selezneva in the film "Guest from the Future". Few people know that this role was brilliantly played by fashion model Elena Metelkina. Her unearthly appearance contributed to the fact that she played more than one role in the movie - in the movie "Through Thorns to the Stars", for example, it was the alien Niya.

Peggy Moffitt - these are just a few names of famous foreign models who conquered the world catwalks and graced the covers of glossy magazines of the 1960s. In the Soviet Union, on the contrary, the profession of a fashion model was not so prestigious, and few now can remember the famous beauties of that time - the era in which the famous fashion models of the USSR were born. Mila Romanovskaya shines especially brightly among them.

early years

Despite the fact that the future star of the Soviet podium was born in Leningrad, her first conscious memories are connected with another city - Samara. It was there that little Lyudochka and her mother were evacuated during the blockade. The father did not follow the family - the rank of captain of the first rank did not allow. Four years of separation did not pass without a trace. The charismatic, cheerful father of the girl met another woman and left his legal wife.

Officially, the divorce will be formalized after fourteen years, but already upon returning to Leningrad, the girl and her mother begin to live separately.

Restless childhood

Skinny, long, cocky Mila Romanovskaya is a notorious hooligan. It is difficult to describe the teenage portrait of a girl with greater accuracy. While my mother was at work, she spent all her time either at school or in the yard.

By nature, Mila Romanovskaya was not deprived of various talents: from an early age she was fond of singing and dancing, went in for sports - speed skating. The more surprising is the fact that the girl entered the electromechanical school. Who would have thought that Mila Romanovskaya is a fashion model in the near future? But time put everything in its place.

born model

Seriously, Mila Romanovskaya never thought about the career of a fashion model. Entering the conservatory, studying art history - that's what interested her at that time. And what genuine interest could the world of fashion arouse in a young girl, when in post-war Leningrad blouses were cut from parachute fabric?

Mila Romanovskaya is a fashion model whose biography should have been completely different. But an all-powerful chance played its role. Suddenly, at the upcoming show, it was necessary to replace a sick friend. The girls had similar parameters, and Mila was invited to audition at the Leningrad House of Models. There it was discovered that Mila Romanovskaya is a fashion model by nature. The defile of the young beauty caused such delight that a contract was immediately signed with her, and just a couple of months later she was sent on a business trip to Finland. The girl's career began to instantly gain momentum.

Marriage, birth of a daughter

No less rapidly followed the wedding with Volodya, a student at VGIK, with whom Mila met from the age of 18. Next was the move to the capital. Mila was not immediately taken to the Moscow House of Models: they said that the models had already been recruited, but asked to leave a phone number. A difficult period began: the expulsion of her husband from VGIK, isolation from the outside world, friends. And only some time later, a call is heard with a job offer in the House of Models.

Mila Romanovskaya, whose biography is described in the article, was forced to interrupt her career for some time due to the birth of her daughter Nastya. Relations with her husband began to deteriorate.

Omnipresent KGB

The work of a fashion model, associated with frequent trips abroad, could not but arouse interest in the personality of Romanovskaya from the Soviet special services. A few years after moving to Moscow, incomprehensible calls began, parcels from "relatives", futile attempts at recruitment. The young beauty had to visit the KGB building four times, but the result remained the same - Mila refused to cooperate. Strange as it may seem, my husband's advice to pretend to be such a fool who does not understand anything saved me.

Competition and Miss Russia 1967

In those years, two girls fought for the title of the best fashion model of the USSR: and Mila Romanovskaya. They were complete opposites. Regina is a burning brunette, quick-tempered, demanding, capricious. Mila is a blonde, soft, compliant, patient. The intensity of passions reached its climax when Mila Romanovskaya, in the dress "Russia", which was originally prepared for Zbarskaya, left for an international

She won this show! captivated the hearts of the members of the commission, who called her the Snow Maiden, and received the well-deserved title of "Miss Russia 1967".

Inspired by unexpected success, with a huge bouquet of flowers in her hands, the girl returned home. Following her came an American photographer who asked Mila Romanovskaya to pose for him for Look magazine. The fashion model made the dress "Russia" her calling card. In it, the girl appeared on the cover of a foreign magazine. It was an unprecedented event for that time.

Divorce and new romance

But her success caused a family break. A drunken husband gave Mila a scandal on the basis of jealousy. In fact, this scene put an end to the relationship between the spouses.

Shortly thereafter, Mila meets a stormy but short-lived romance between a famous actor and a fashion model. The initiator of the gap was Mila herself.

Another man. Wedding

Yuri Cooper burst into her life like a whirlwind. The acquaintance happened quite by accident - at a banquet in the House of Artists. But Mila almost immediately lost her head. The lovers quickly began to live together in Cooper's studio. The artist was not distinguished by fidelity - fans periodically visited him. But Yuri decided to make an offer to Mila, which she gladly accepted.

Almost immediately after the wedding, a young couple thinks about emigration. The exit permit was issued within a few months. But any emigrant automatically became an enemy of the people, so it is not surprising that Mila Romanovskaya left her career as a fashion model. The fashion history of the USSR forever remembered its Snow Maiden in the dress "Russia".

Years of emigration

April 22, finally, the long-awaited day of departure has come. First there was Austria, then Israel. Cooper and Romanovskaya were among the first to break through the Iron Curtain. Uncertainty awaited ahead, but all Soviet fashion models envied her.

Mila Romanovskaya quickly adapted to the new realities of life. At first she worked as a model for the Beged-Or company, a month later she was lured away by the Koteks company. But this state of affairs did not suit Yura, he kept trying to leave Israel in search of a better life. As it turned out, it was easier to get to Israel than to leave thereafter. Young specialists were reluctantly released from the country, putting all sorts of bureaucratic obstacles in their way. With incredible efforts, five months later, Mila managed to obtain "Nansen" passports, allowing her to travel freely around the world, but without the right to reside in another country. True, there was one snag: only one of the spouses could leave Israel, the second had to remain a kind of “hostage”.

Moving to the UK

Mila flies to London for a month, where Yura arrives just a couple of weeks later. Only by a miracle does she manage to take her daughter away from Israel, because in the event of the slightest check, the absence of the second “hostage” would be discovered immediately. Reunited, the couple begin to settle in England.

At first, Cooper did not earn anything. Funds from two or three paintings sold by him to his acquaintances could hardly ensure the prosperous existence of the family. Almost all financial worries fell on Mila's fragile shoulders. She literally climbed out of her skin - she took on almost any job. She managed to simultaneously work as a model in the London branch of Beged-Or, as a typist at the BBC and as a fashion model at the fashion shows of Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Givenchy.

Divorce again

Yura's affairs began to go uphill sharply: the publication of the first book, an exhibition in one of the galleries in Paris. The latter circumstance became fatal for the family life of Cooper and Romanovskaya: Mila and her daughter remain in England, and Yura moves to France. Long separations, rare meetings, frequent phone calls - and so on for several years. The logical result was the appearance in the life of the "master" of a new passion. Mila could no longer endure this - the couple broke up.

Late love

At that moment, my favorite work helped me to gather my thoughts, in which, having received a certificate of a translator, Mila goes headlong. Interviews, translations, writing various programs - there was no time even to rest, not to mention personal life. And only after five years, Mila ceases to avoid close contact with men, begins to start new novels - more and more frivolous and short-lived.

The final point in the relationship between Cooper and Romanovskaya was put in Paris - lunch, a couple of bottles of champagne, a calm conversation and a joint decision to live separately. In a light, heady euphoria from the newfound freedom, Mila goes to the airport, where a surprise awaited - her ticket was mistakenly sold. The fateful moment - Mila receives a ticket not only for first class, but also for a new life. It is on board the business class that Mila meets her third husband, Douglas. They got married just three months later. Today they have a common business, and they travel around the world on their own plane.

The biography of Mila Romanovskaya is reminiscent of the story of Cinderella. Despite all the vicissitudes of life, fate treated her very favorably: a brilliant career, a loving husband and beloved daughter. The Snow Maiden, as she was called in the West, has become a real symbol of unsurpassed Slavic beauty both at home and abroad.

Today, almost every second girl dreams of becoming a model. In Soviet times, the profession of a fashion model was not only not prestigious, but was considered almost indecent and at the same time poorly paid. Clothing demonstrators received a maximum of 76 rubles at a rate - as workers of the fifth category. At the same time, the most famous Russian beauties were known and appreciated in the West, but at home, work in the "model" business (although there was no such thing then) often created problems for them. Today "RG" talks about the fate of the five brightest fashion models of the Soviet Union.

"The most beautiful weapon of the Kremlin"

"The most beautiful weapon of the Kremlin" - so wrote about Regina Zbarskaya, Soviet model No. 1, the French magazine "Paris Match"; even in the West she was called "Soviet Sophia Loren". However, the concept of "model" in the world of Soviet fashion did not exist then, only "fashion model", which did not differ much from "mannequin".

Regina Zbarskaya is one of the most famous and at the same time mysterious Soviet fashion models. There are many gaps in her biography, starting with the place and circumstances of her birth and ending with her death. It is authentically known that 17-year-old Regina came to conquer Moscow, having entered the Faculty of Economics of VGIK. The girl, drawn to a beautiful life, quite likely composed a biography for herself, more suitable for the image and the moment than the ordinary "mother is an accountant, father is an officer; originally from Vologda." The legend said that Regina was the daughter of circus gymnasts who crashed in the arena, that her Italian dad gave her a bright appearance. This version was much more romantic than the real one.

In Moscow, Regina, in modern terms, actively "hung out" - went to private parties, even without being invited, acquired connections. So she met the famous graphic artist Lev Zbarsky. The son of a famous scientist who embalmed Lenin, fashionable, stylish, wealthy, sharp-tongued - he was a typical representative of the "golden youth" of that time. She and Regina quickly found a common language, and she became his "muse" and wife.

The artist Vera Aralova brought Regina to the House of Models on Kuznetsky Most, instantly highlighting her in the crowd with a trained eye. But Aralova's find was not immediately appreciated, they say, "she brought some kind of bow-legged." Regina's legs were indeed not perfect, but this shortcoming, which could put an end to the career of any other fashion model, the clever Regina knew how to hide by developing a special gait on the podium. The girl attracted Aralova with her "western" beauty. Indeed, Zbarskaya quickly became "model No. 1", representing the USSR in almost all foreign shows. She had a gloss. She was admired by Yves Montand and Pierre Cardin. But what price did she pay for the opportunity to travel abroad, popularity and beauty? An "exit" supermodel, she simply could not help but be out of the attention of the "authorities".

All sorts of things were said about Zbarskaya: allegedly, she and her husband specially invited dissidents to their house in order to denounce them. That she was "planted" under Yves Montand during his visit to the Soviet Union. That on foreign business trips she acted as a secret agent - a sort of Mata Hari ... What really happened - now no one can say for sure. But the attention really was.

Her female fate was unhappy. She wanted children, her husband was against it. At his insistence, she had an abortion, falling into depression after him. I got out with the help of antidepressants, hooked on pills. Soon the relationship with her husband completely went wrong. A keen nature, Zbarsky first had an affair with Marianna Vertinskaya, then with Lyudmila Maksakova, to whom he soon left for good, and then gave birth to a child - for Regina it was a blow below the belt. She attempted to commit suicide but was rescued and even returned to the Model House.

The straw, which the drowning Zbarskaya grabbed, was the Yugoslav journalist with whom she began an affair. But her lover answered her with ingratitude. According to one version, after his return to his homeland, the book "100 Nights with Regina Zbarskaya" was published in Germany, in which the author describes Regina's murky love stories with the highest ranks of the USSR party leadership. Vyacheslav Zaitsev and other persons who were directly related to the world of Soviet fashion mention this book in their interviews. But whether the book actually existed is not known for certain. But it is known that during this period she was indeed summoned to the KGB, but what was the reason is not clear. It is possible that the emigration of the ex-husband.

Regina again tried to commit suicide, and after that she ended up in a psychiatric hospital for several years. In the end, one of her suicide attempts was a success - Regina Zbarskaya voluntarily passed away in 1987, at the age of 51. The circumstances of death are also not known for certain. According to one version, she died in a psychiatric clinic, according to another - at home alone, swallowing pills. Her mythical diary (either existed or not), in which she allegedly described all the secrets of her relationship with the KGB, disappeared. The location of the grave is unknown. Most likely, the body was cremated, and the ashes remained unclaimed.

Russian "birch"

Mila Romanovskaya shone on the podium at the same time as Regina Zbarskaya, and was her main competitor and antipode. Regina is a burning brunette, Mila is a blonde, Regina is arrogant and impregnable, Mila is easy to communicate with and friendly, Regina is capricious at fittings and shows, Mila is patient and meticulous... The apogee of their rivalry happened in 1967, when fashion designer Tatyana Osmerkina created a dress, which later received the name "Russia" from art historians and for several years became a kind of hallmark of the Soviet Union.

The bright red dress was sewn especially for Regina Zbarskaya, but Mila Romanovskaya got it. When the blonde Mila put it on, the artists of the House of Models unanimously decided that this was a more accurate hit in the image.

It was an evening dress made of woolen bouclé - fabric for outerwear, embroidered around the collar and on the chest with gold sequins, creating the effect of chain mail. Inventing a dress, Osmerkina was inspired by Russian icon painting, studied ancient Russian ritual clothing.

Mila Romanovskaya demonstrated this dress at the International Fashion Festival, then opened the show in it at the International Light Industry Exhibition in Montreal. It was then that Mila's "Western" nicknames were born: berezka and snegurochka - that was how she was called in the foreign press.

Fashion models told me that our emigrants cried during the show. By the way, about fashion models. The organic image of Mila Romanovskaya coincided very much with my model. At the festival, in this dress, as eyewitnesses say, she was the best, - Tatyana Osmerkina recalled.

Upon her return, an American photographer photographed Romanovskaya in a "Russia" dress for Look magazine, and not just anywhere, but in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin - an unprecedented event for that time.

There is a common feature in the biography of Regina Zbarskaya and Mila Romanovskaya: they were both married to artists. Mila's husband was a graphic artist Yuri Kuperman. In the early 1970s, he emigrated from the Soviet Union, first to Israel, then to London. In 1972, quite officially, Mila followed him. She was 27 years old.

They say that before leaving, she was summoned to the Lubyanka and allegedly asked the beauty not to organize anti-Soviet campaigns in the West. Mila didn't like it. Little is known about her subsequent fate. According to some reports, she managed to break into the modeling business - she advertised products of British brands, not only clothes, and even worked with leading fashion houses - Pierre Cardin, Dior, Givenchy ... But the Soviet fashion model Lev Anisimov in one of his interviews with the link Mila herself said that in the West her modeling career never took place.

But the personal life took place. They broke up with Yuri Kuperman rather quickly after their departure - the artist began an affair with Catherine Deneuve, and he moved to France, Mila remained in England. She was married three times, her third husband is businessman Douglas Edwards. She herself is also engaged in business - she has two stores. The business is going well - the spouses travel around the world on their own plane.

"Solzhenitsyn" of the fashion world

The story of Galina Milovskaya is indicative in terms of attitudes towards fashion models of the Soviet system. Galina is from the same generation of fashion models as Regina Zbarskaya and Mila Romanovskaya, but of a completely different type. A student at the Shchukin School, on the advice of a friend, she began to earn extra money at the All-Union Institute of Light Industry Assortment. At that time, they were looking for the Soviet analogue of Twiggy, who revolutionized the fashion industry. And Galya Milovskaya, with a height of 170 centimeters, weighed 42 kilograms and had a "western" appearance. Fashion designer Irina Krutikova immediately "saw" Galya and her potential. But her star really rose at the Moscow International Fashion Festival.

Galya was then noticed by Western agencies. For two years, Vogue magazine sought permission to shoot Milovskaya - and achieved it. Galina Milovskaya became the first Soviet model to pose for a foreign magazine. Photographer Arno de Rhone came to Moscow especially for the photo session.

This project is still considered unprecedented in terms of organization - the shooting took place on Red Square and in the Kremlin Armory, Galina posed with the scepter of Catherine II and the Shah diamond, presented to Russia by Iran after the death of Griboedov. They say that the work permit was signed by Chairman of the Council of Ministers Kosygin.

The scandal erupted when one of the Vogue photos was reprinted by the Soviet magazine America. In an innocent picture for today - Galina in a trouser suit is sitting on the cobblestones of Red Square - the ideologists saw "anti-Sovietism": a vulgar pose (the girl spread her legs wide), disrespect for Lenin and Soviet leaders (sitting with her back to the mausoleum and portraits of party leaders). Milovskaya immediately became "restricted to travel abroad", and the rest of the fashion models were forbidden to even think about working with foreign magazines. But this was only the beginning of a series of scandals associated with Milovskaya.

The leaders of my course somehow ended up at the Vialegprom swimsuit show, both, by the way, were under 80 years old, - Galina recalled in an interview. - I morally fell in their eyes so much that they showed me the door at the school.

Then the Italian magazine "Espresso" published a picture of Milovskaya, taken by the photographer Caio Mario Garrubba - Mario worked as a reportage photographer and was looking for interesting material for his publication. He was attracted by the drawing made on the body of Galya by her friend, nonconformist artist Anatoly Brusilovsky, who painted a flower and a butterfly on the girl's shoulders and face. In the same issue, under the heading "On the ashes of Stalin," Tvardovsky's poem "Terkin in the Other World," banned in the USSR, was published. Such Milovskaya could no longer be forgiven.

In 1974, Galina Milovskaya emigrated. She recalled that the departure was a tragedy for her. But her modeling life abroad turned out well - she was patronized by Eileen Ford, the founder of the Ford modeling agency, and Galina participated in shows and competitions, starred for Vogue. But if in the USSR she was the "Russian Twiggy", then abroad she became the "Solzhenitsyn of fashion".

All this continued until Galina married the French banker Jean-Paul Dessertino, with whom she lived for more than 30 years. At his insistence, she left her modeling career, entered the Sorbonne at the Faculty of Film Directing, graduated from it. She took her place as a documentary filmmaker, the film "This is the madness of the Russians" about avant-garde artists who emigrated from the USSR in the 1970s brought her world fame.

"Juno and Avos" in Soviet

Leka (full name - Leokadiya) Mironova is one of the most famous Soviet models. Like most fashion models of that time, she came to the House of Models on Kuznetsky Most by accident: she came to support her friend, there she was seen by aspiring fashion designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev, and immediately offered to stay to work. Leka just graduated from high school. She was engaged in ballet, but had to part with dancing due to leg disease. I wanted to enter the Faculty of Architecture, but it also did not work out because of vision problems. And the girl agreed to try herself as a fashion model.

Later, Leka recalled this moment many times with gratitude, repeating in an interview: "My parents gave me life, and Slava Zaitsev gave me a profession." She became his real muse, one of his favorite models. Neither he nor she could have thought then that their cooperation would last more than half a century.

Unlike Regina Zbarskaya, Mila Romanovskaya and other famous Soviet fashion models, Leka Mironova was "restricted to travel abroad" because of her origin. Her parents, theatrical figures, were descendants of noble families. Nevertheless, Leka was known abroad and called the "Russian Audrey Hepburn" for her outward resemblance to the great actress. After filming in the American film "Three Stars of the Soviet Union" (one of them, by the way, was Maya Plisetskaya), Leka was invited to the parade of the best fashion models in the world. But she was never released abroad.

Leka Mironova is one of the first who openly spoke about the harassment of beauties by those in power.

Men endowed with power are convinced at all times: all the most beautiful things in the world should belong to them. How many broken women's destinies! - Leka Mironova said in an interview. - During international shows, party members assigned to monitor the moral character of the girls came to the rooms with wine. And getting a turn from the gate, they began to take revenge.

Leka herself was also one of the victims. Not once, not a single publication, did she name the person who broke her career, "because his children and grandchildren are alive," she explained. But about how in an instant the doors to the profession closed in front of her, how she sat without a job for a year and a half and lived almost starving, how they threatened to put her in jail for parasitism, but she never gave in, she told willingly.

In the late 1960s, they wanted to put me in the escort of the powerful. Our bosses openly said: "Either you will be with us, or with them." And I said that I wouldn’t be there, I wouldn’t be there. For which she then paid the price, ”Leka recalled.

Leka Mironova's personal life did not work out - beauty guarantees the attention of men, but not women's happiness. She was married to a television director, but broke up with her husband when her mother became seriously ill and she had to take care of her. Between mother and husband, she chose mother. But there was also a great love in her life - to a photographer from Lithuania named Antanis. Fleetingly seeing each other at some show, they fell in love with each other at first sight. But they really got to know each other only a few years later. Their romance lasted two years, but the Baltic nationalists threatened Antanis: “If you meet this Russian, we will kill you. And she will come to you, we will send her to the next world. we won't leave my sister alive." Leka was afraid for Antanis's life and chose to leave. But she loved him all her life, never letting a single man near her, left alone and without children. His personal life also did not work out - after Leka, he never married. Such is the version of "Juno and Avos" in the Soviet way.

Niya the Alien

Elena Metelkina, who also belongs to a galaxy of talented Soviet fashion models, began her career a little later - in 1974 at GUM. Peers at school openly laughed at her - tall, awkward, with huge glasses, while closed and unsociable, Metelkina was almost an outcast. But, having got into the "clothes demonstrators", the girl changed, blossomed and quickly became one of the leading models in the Soviet Union. Participated in filming for fashion magazines, in shows.

It was in a fashion magazine that the writer Kir Bulychev and director Richard Viktorov, who were then working on the film Through Hardships to the Stars, saw her photograph and were painfully looking for an actress for the role of the alien Niya. The production designer of the film, Konstantin Zagorsky, depicted Niya as a thin, fragile girl with ideal body proportions, practically flat chest, long neck, small bald head, beautiful unusual face with huge eyes. When Bulychev and Viktorov saw the photo of Lena Metelkina, they exclaimed in unison: "That's her!"

Elena Metelkina had neither the appropriate education nor any worthwhile film experience. Elena later recalled that, after reading the script, she thought that it was written as if about her. It was a 100% hit in the image - both "internally" and "externally".

I could not cover the whole role at once, because I was small and stupid, and he saw further. I obeyed, and everything worked out, ”Elena later recalled working with Viktorov.

The film "Through thorns to the stars" was a triumphant success. For a year in the Soviet Union, more than 20 million viewers watched it, and Lena Metelkina turned from a fashion model unknown to the "broad masses" into a popular actress, and also received a prize for the best female role at the international film festival of fantastic films in Italy. After that, she played in several more films, mostly fantastic, but she was not invited to the cinema very actively - too specific role was assigned to her. In between filming, she continued to work as a fashion model.

There was no need to experience "persecution" for the beauty of Metelkina: the 1980s were in the yard - another era had come. On the contrary, the unusual appearance opened the way to success for the once notorious schoolgirl.

In the early 1990s, Elena got a job as an assistant secretary to the well-known businessman Ivan Kivelidi. It was rumored that the boss and the secretary had a closer relationship than just working. After his death (and Kivelidi was poisoned by treating the phone in his office with a toxic substance, his secretary also died, the forensic expert was poisoned), miraculously surviving, Elena Metelkina fell into religion, became extremely pious. She changed several of the most common jobs, now works as a customer service manager at a foreign language learning center, sings in the choir of one of the churches in Moscow.

The sixties are the time of a revolution in fashion, in music, the very consciousness of a person turned upside down. The conservative post-war 50s gave way to the era of the Beatles. Bold attractive girls in mini-skirts with bright makeup and incredible hairstyles took to the streets to loud music. Like every time, the 60s had their heroines and style icons, women who were imitated in the manner of dressing, in hair and makeup. In this article we will talk about the models of the 60s.

Her real name is Leslie Hornby. World famous model, actress and singer from the UK. She received her pseudonym "Twiggy" for her incredible thinness (translated from English twig - reed, twiggy - thin). The future model was born in the suburbs of London in 1949.

At the age of 16 she became the face of a beauty salon. At 17, the Daily Express named her Face of the Year. She worked with cult photographers of the 60s: Helmut Newton and Cecil Beaton. She is called the first supermodel in the history of the fashion business. In 67-68, Mattel even produced Barbie Twiggy. She initiated a fashion for a very thin, childish body, which caused a wave of anorexia, girls wanted to be like her.

Her style is a cocktail of rock and roll, hippie culture, punk paraphernalia. She is like a child, like a big doll. Short skirts on her did not look defiant, but very cute, as if on a schoolgirl. Twiggy made the boyish haircut incredibly popular, against the background of the complex "Babylon" and "Babbet" it looked more than original. In makeup, she focused on her huge eyes, trying to visually enlarge them even more. Twiggy painted her eyelashes very thickly with mascara, painting over even the lower eyelashes, so that they practically stuck together, creating an absolutely doll-like impression. She emphasized the moving fold of the eyelid with a dark tone, which made her eyes simply huge. At the same time, eyebrows and lips were as natural as possible, and delicate porcelain skin acted as a backdrop for bright eye makeup.

The German model Veruschka is actually blue-blooded, she is the nee Countess Vera Gottlieb Anna von Lendorf. Nazi meetings were held in their possessions during the Second World War, but later, her father appeared before a military court and was executed, and little Vera, with her mother and sisters and brothers, ended up in a concentration camp, where the family's surname was changed.

Vershuka's first serious contract as a model was with the American agency Ford Models, to which she was invited when she moved to work in Paris. After that, she leaves to work in America, but soon comes from there with nothing. Returning to her homeland, in Munich, she becomes famous, starring in a short episode of Antonioni's legendary painting "Blowup". Photographer Franco Rubartelli discovered her as a big model with a series of avant-garde photographs. After that, she worked with the great provocateur Salvador Dali. During her career, she has appeared on more than 800 magazine covers!

The experience of working with Dali did not go unnoticed for the formation of her style. It was very unexpected and avant-garde even for the revolutionary fashion of the 60s. Having met the artist Holger Tryuch, Verushka found not only a husband in his face, but also a colleague in creativity, with whom they created body painting masterpieces. We can admire ingenious photographs where Verushka becomes part of nature or architecture, merging with the landscape around her. It is interesting that in life she preferred black in clothes, which acted as a frame for her body, which became a real canvas for her husband's paintings.

Jean Shrimpton

British model Jean Shrimpton was born at the height of the war in 1942, in Buckinghamshire. At the age of 17, she met director Saem Endfield, who opened her way to the big modeling business. She entered modeling school and very soon looked from the covers of such glossy monsters as Harper`s Bazaar "and Vogue. As in the fate of many models, her meeting with photographer David Bailey turned out to be very important and fateful in her life, who made her wildly popular.

She was called the most beautiful model in history. She was really good, all her parameters were perfect, big eyes, thick hair, easy gait. She also had the title of "highest paid model." Jean was very fond of miniskirts and made them incredibly fashionable.

Her face was recognized as the standard of beauty. For almost her entire modeling career, she exploited the image of the “scared doe,” as many called it. Her charming bangs, high bouffant made her features even more pretty. Raised eyebrows in eternal surprise made the face even younger, it turned out such a slightly capricious, but very beautiful Jean doll.

Marisa Berenson

The daughter of an American diplomat, Marisa Berenson, has been accustomed to living beautifully since childhood. She was born into a wealthy and famous family. Her love for fashion was passed on to her by her grandmother Elsa Schiaparelli, an artist and fashion designer who chose surrealism as a means of expressing her thoughts.

The beginning of her career was very loud, she almost immediately got on the covers of Vogue and Time magazines. But being just a model was not enough for her, born in such a famous family, and she began to realize herself as an actress. Marisa has starred in a large number of films throughout her career. Marrisa's life ended tragically - she was a passenger on one of the planes hijacked on September 11, 2001.

Her image, which pops up in memory, is, first of all, a mane of hair framing a beautiful face. Her bottomless eyes, always with "a little too" painted lashes, were her calling card. She knew how to very skillfully present classic things and at the same time look in absolutely avant-garde outfits as if she was born in them - this is a real gift of the model. Her makeup must-haves are colored eyeshadows, eyeliners, mascaras and false eyelashes.

The unusual appearance of the model is remembered at first sight. Thick straight bangs like a little pony, huge eyes, porcelain skin with a scattering of freckles and plump lips, which she liked to emphasize with the shine of delicate shades. Come to think of it, she was the girl that the Beatles and Eric Clapton sang about. Of course, everyone wanted to be like her. She borrowed a lot from the hippies, in the style of clothes, hair, makeup, wore floral prints, flying dresses, braided her golden hair in pigtails, wore funny round glasses.

Follow the fashion blog from FACE nicobaggio, we will tell you the most interesting things about the history of fashion and makeup, remember the most beautiful and influential women in the fashion industry, tell you about men who create beauty.

What then, what now, the work of the model is one of the most mythologized professions. They bathe in luxury, the most enviable suitors lay their hearts and wallets at their feet. They lead a dissolute life and end up in luxury or oblivion. In reality, things are much more complicated.

Working conditions

The Soviet fashion model was an absolutely anonymous podium employee. “They were known only by sight” - this is about fashion models. In order to write about you in the press with the mention of your name, you had to get on the cover of a foreign publication, no less. Only then did the woman have a name.

The model's rate was from 65 to 90 rubles per month, depending on the category. A five-day working week on my feet, with constant fittings and in terrible quality cosmetics, almost in theatrical make-up.

The dresses that were shown by the models, in real life, they did not get, of course. Therefore, if you wanted to look good not only on the podium, you had to get out as best you can. You will agree that you don’t want to put on a chintz of a “curtain” color if you know what decent clothes are.

Shooting for a fashion magazine could bring a fee as much as 100 rubles, but not everyone got to the shooting. And so among the models there has always been fierce competition.

Competition

About what kind of relationship reigned among the fashion models of the USSR, their memories are best told. “Women's friendship?” - No, they haven’t heard. Intrigues, denunciations of colleagues in the KGB, stalking each other and arrogance towards less successful colleagues. The girls who got into the modeling business had to grow thick skin and nerves of steel, otherwise it was simply impossible to survive. And don't get out. The attitude of society to the profession of a model, as to the profession of a prostitute, only contributed to this.

Society attitude

Yes, you could have the most beautiful and charming admirer, husband, boyfriend. But at the same time, this did not protect you in any way from the neglect of relatives, neighbors or your husband himself. Lucky with husbands, by the way, not everyone, regardless of beauty and popularity.

Being a beautiful and bright woman, if you are not an actress, was generally considered indecent.

The fashion world itself as a whole was officially associated with something vicious, remember at least the "Diamond Hand", where the main villain performed by Mironov is a scoundrel, a smuggler and a fashion model. Or “The meeting place cannot be changed”, where every first fashion model was in ties with bandits, and Verka, a milliner, a tailor, kept the loot.

Regina Zbarskaya

Retelling the fate of Regina, about which, in fact, the Red Queen series was filmed is a thankless task. Everything is shown in the film: the path to glory, and at what cost this glory was gained, and a life full of betrayal, with its tragic decline. What was not included in the film are the memories of Regina's colleagues. 30 years have passed since her death, but you will not find a single kind word about Zbarskaya in the memoirs of other models. This speaks not so much about the “Soviet Sophia Loren” herself, but about the people who surrounded her then.

Mila Romanovskaya

The main competitor of Zbarskaya. Romanovskaya, a bony blonde, was considered abroad in the late 60s as the "embodied Slavic beauty", she was called "Birch". She broke the applause when she stepped on the podium in the dress "Russia".

The dress "Russia" was originally sewn on Zbarskaya - in it Regina looked like a Byzantine princess, luxurious and arrogant. But when "Russia" was tried on by Romanovskaya, the artists decided that this was a more accurate hit in the image. In addition, unlike the "capricious" Regina, Mila turned out to be accommodating and calm - she withstood many hours of fitting.

After the foreign fame that Mila inherited, in 1972 she emigrated with her husband from the USSR. But it seems that she was only interesting as a curiosity from the country of bears, because after that no mention of her modeling career is found. Although some talk about her successful career and collaboration with famous fashion houses.

Galina Milovskaya

Galina Milovskaya was sometimes called the Russian "Twiggy" - because of the thinness, uncharacteristic for fashion models of that time: with a height of 170 cm, she weighed 42 kg. In the 1970s, Galina conquered not only the Moscow podium, but also foreign ones. She was invited to shoot in Vogue.

For the "blasphemous" posing on Red Square with her back to the Mausoleum, she received many complaints and problems in her native USSR.

In 1974 Galina emigrated and stayed in London. She married a French banker, left her modeling career, graduated from the faculty of film directing at the Sorbonne and took her place as a documentary filmmaker.

Tatyana Chapygina

Tatyana Chapygina, one of the most beautiful fashion models of the 1970s, according to her, never dreamed of a career as a "clothes demonstrator." After school, she received the profession of a health worker and worked modestly in the sanitary and epidemiological station. Chapygina entered the All-Union House of Models on Kuznetsky Most only at the age of 23.

Vyacheslav Zaitsev himself hired her, and two years later the girl was abroad for the first time, in the GDR. Then there were America, Mexico, Japan. She left her professional career, having married her beloved man, with whom she has been happily married for more than 20 years.

Tatyana still looks great and even now she is photographed for fashion magazines from time to time.

Elena Metelkina

We know her better from her roles in the films Through Hardships to the Stars and The Guest from the Future, but before success in the cinema, Galina was a fashion model and worked as a model in GUM.

Metelkina's work in "Thorns" was highly appreciated by professionals - in 1982, at the international film festival of science fiction films in Trieste, the fashion model was awarded the Silver Asteroid Special Jury Prize for Best Actress.

Four years later, Elena starred in the children's fantasy film "Guest from the Future", where she played a cameo, but memorable role of a woman from the future - Polina.

The personal life of an unearthly beauty, unfortunately, was sad - the only husband turned out to be a marriage swindler, leaving her with her son.

Tatyana Solovieva (Mikhalkova)

Models were not prepared for the profession in the USSR. The recruitment announcement sounded like "models and cleaners are required."

Solovyova was one of the few among her colleagues who had a higher education, for which she received the nickname "institute". But Vyacheslav Zaitsev called her the Botticelli girl.

Her life was quite successful - marriage to Nikita Mikhalkov, the birth of children, social life. In 1997, Tatyana created and headed the Russian Silhouette Charitable Foundation, established to support Russian designers and domestic fashion manufacturers.

Although, if we return to the question of the prestige of the profession, Nikita Mikhalkov, until the early 90s, hid from friends and relatives that his wife was a model, calling Tatyana simply a “translator”.