Fur Without Tears

by Alexandra Strelnikova

Photos by Vladimir Vyatkin

But our Northern summer

Is a caricature of Southern winters

It is gone in a flash, and don’t we know it

Although we won’t admit it

— Alexander Pushkin,

Yevgeny Onegin.

These verses become very appropriate in Russia when the temperature outside falls below zero. Like it or not, Russians live in a climate where it is cold for most of the year. If they lived in Italy or the south of France they might not have needed fur so much, but here it is a necessity rather than a luxury.

A famous line from Eldar Ryazanov’s classic 1970s film Sluzhebny Roman (A Love Affair at the Office),‘there’s no bad weather in nature’ produced the parody ‘there’s no bad weather but there are bad clothes.’ Winter clothes here need to be warm, comfortable and attractive.

“And weightless,” said Olga Moiseyenko, fashion designer, international prize-winner and member of the Russian Guild of Manufacturers.

“It’s no secret that some fur coats are a bit heavy,” she continued. “My hand-knit coats and jackets are designed in wool. They’re as light as if they were made of air, but at the same time very warm.”

Moiseyenko created her collection of environmentally friendly coats using natural fabrics, but not fur. Her concept of clothes which provide an alternative to fur has unexpectedly made her a welcome guest and participant in various ecological movements and animal rights groups, such as the ecological party CEDAR. She recently took part in the 130th anniversary celebrations of the Russian Imperial Society for the Protection of Animals with a fashion show entitled World Without Cruelty.

Providing an alternative to fur could ultimately prove lucrative in today’s Russia. Given the long history of the fur trade in Russia, it is perhaps not surprising that anti-fur movements here have a much lower profile than in the West. But this is starting to change. Last September, to coincide with the opening of a fur trade fair in Moscow, the international animal rights group People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals staged a demonstration in Red Square which had a colorful, if insubstantial, effect. Three women, two Britons and one Russian, stripped naked in public and wrapped themselves in a banner which read: “I’d rather go naked than wear fur.”

If Olga Moiseyenko’s clothes go on general sale, these people may no longer feel the need to go naked, especially when winter temperatures in the minus twenties begin to bite.

When you see them, it’s difficult to believe that her clothes are simply a product of needlework — their subtle lightness and transparency of patterns are so much like real fur. Reddish, black-and-white and beige embroidered coats in the collection imitate fur of red, silver and blue foxes.

It takes about three months (more than 2,000 hours) to complete one luxury coat.

“I’m not keen on embroidery in its purest form,” said Moiseyenko dismissively, though she’s been familiar with needlework since childhood. “You can work all your life making designs for towels, tablecloths and napkins. But I’m interested in it as an element of creativity, which I can contribute to contemporary clothes.”

It would not seem that there was much still to be invented with the help of a needle and thread. But Moiseyenko has proved that there is, and her innovation has not gone unnoticed. She recently received a patent certificate [roughly equivalent to a trade or service mark] for a ‘New Way of Making Clothes.’ And last summer her models were highly acclaimed at the International Competition of Fashion Designers in Germany, where she got a gold medal.

These unusual ‘fur’ coats were preceded by a ‘white collection,’ as Moiseyenko herself called it, made of cotton and flax. Maximum use was made of this material, with all sorts of dresses, jackets and even woven bags and bathing suits.

Moiseyenko has another passion — working with white leather. The leather was cut into strips and used to make leggings for high boots. The collection made with this material was as unusual as it was brilliant. Unfortunately, attempts to set up a joint venture in Russia have had no success and the collection has been purchased by an Italian partner.

Moiseyenko has also begun designing a collection of evening clothes in black, still unfinished. Items vary from slim, embroidered dresses to more expansive and relaxed cuts.

Among Moiseyenko’s customers are Moscow Animal Theater chief director Natalya Durova, pop singer Irina Ponarovskaya and folk singer Tatyana Petrova.

Moiseyenko could not say exactly what it was that transformed her from a Moscow State University Applied Math graduate into a fashion designer.

Perhaps the roots of her creativity come from her love for folk music. After finishing music school, she spent ten years singing with an amateur folk choir and traveling with expeditions in search of old Russian and Ukrainian folk songs.

Now she plans to bring her creative talents to the world of trade.

“I want to open a small shop,” she concluded. “I want to design clothes, not for the elite or for concerts, but just for ordinary women. I want to seek, find and create...

“... And also I’d like to make a fur coat for [actress and anti-fur campaigner] Brigitte Bardot...”