Suicides, psychiatric clinics and forced emigration: how did the model girls live in the USSR?
The model in the USSR was considered to be almost a synonym for lightheadedness and a dissolute way of life. The average citizen of the country had no idea how the life of the "girls from the cover" happened. Some of them could not survive the loud divorce, someone sacrificed a career for the sake of the family, well, someone became the shadow of a more successful and influential spouse ...
1. Regina Zbarskaya
The "Red Queen", as it was called, was known far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. In 1953 she came to conquer the capital, dreaming to enter the VGIK. She invented herself a legend about the parents-gymnasts from Yugoslavia, tragically crashed during the performance. The girl, boldly communicating with Cardin and Dior in French, all her life feared that someone would learn the truth about the fact that she was born in a simple peasant family. Regular trips abroad and high incomes convinced Regina that looking for a man of her life is necessary among the creative elite. Her husband was a painter Lev Zbarsky: he so did not want children, that he once escaped from his wife, who did not want to be chayldfri. Regina was sent to a psychiatric hospital where she committed suicide in 1987, and did not forgive Zbarsky's betrayal.
2. Evgenia Kurakina
In the sixties of the last century, Eugene was the only embodiment of the image of a "sad angular teenager." She was an employee of the Leningrad Fashion House, to which foreign photographers were lining up to seek to come to Russia in order to capture Kurakin. The model in her interviews often regretted that most of those photos she could not see, because they were published abroad. She herself, like Zbarskaya, traveled to Europe, but was constantly under the supervision of special services. Once she tried to protest against the system: Eugene appeared in the center of Moscow in a red translucent blouse without a bra. When she realized that she no longer wanted to live in the USSR, she found a fiance in Germany and went to live in Berlin.
3. Tatyana Chapygina
Every housewife of the country, who was fond of needlework or knitting, knew her: Tatyana often starred for publications in which dress patterns for making clothes at home were published. But in those days it was not customary to sign the name of the model in the pages of magazines about the household, so the real name of the model was known only by the metropolitan fans of catalogs of fashion houses, who were also happy to work with Chapygina. Tatiana never quarreled with her colleagues, was not seen in excessively free behavior and therefore had no interest in gossip. From the podium, she refused to take off her career, giving preference to marriage and family happiness.
4. Tatiana Mikhalkova
Today, very rarely anyone remembers that the wife of the most famous director in the country has received from Vyacheslav Zaitsev the nickname of "Botticell's girl". For five years she was the star of the podium and regularly received the title of "Russian Twiggy". Rivals often talked that she managed to get the work of the model from the exit in the ultra-short mini-skirt: the full-fledged artistic council was fascinated by the beauty of her legs. When she got married, she had to make a choice, like Chapygina: Nikita Mikhalkov said that only their own mother should raise children. The final exit to the podium took place when Tatyana was the seventh month of pregnancy the eldest daughter of Anna.
5. Galina Milovskaya
"Russian Twiggy" entered the history of modeling in the USSR as the first model that was allowed to pose for foreign photographers. She posed for the French Vogue in the interiors of the Armory and the Diamond Fund. In the same photoset later, pictures were found on Red Square - on one of them Galina even turned her back to the mausoleum. She was actively hinted that the best way for her would be to leave for permanent residence in another country. Milovsky first fell into a depression, obeying the will of the former compatriots and moving to France. But later she began to cooperate with the agency Ford, became a documentary director. Family happiness Galina found, meeting the French banker Jean-Paul Dessertino, in a marriage with whom she lived for 30 years.
6. Valentina Yashina
The cold beauty of the model, which was associated with Greta Garbo, was inherited from her father-Swede, who disappeared from her mother's life after only one night of love. Valentina was an actress, but her successful career was destroyed by treason: her husband learned about Yashina's novel with her stage partner and did everything to make her lose her place in the theater. Valentina tried her hand on the podium ... and stayed there until she was 65! Among her admirers was Joseph Kobzon, the son of a high-ranking official of Vladimir Gushchin and other influential men. Almost before the end of her career, she accepted the offer of the hand and heart, made by the director of the House of Artists, Nikolai Malakhov. The husband soon died and left her a crazy state - $ 5 million, but Valentine herself spent the rest of her days in poverty.
7. Mila Romanovskaya
The Soviet supermodel Romanovskaya was the sworn enemy of Regina Zbarskaya. The rivalry of the girls reached a peak when the Moscow Fashion House chose Mila to show the achievements of light industry in Montreal, although everyone was confident that Regina would go there as the first beauty of the country. That fashion show opened for Romanovskaya road to the West, where she was called "Russian Snow Maiden." A series of bright novels with actors and directors led Mila to get acquainted with the British businessman Douglas Edwards, who became Romanov's third husband and the love of her life.
8. Leka Mironova
Having reduced his name to Leokadia to Leka's creative pseudonym, the model that still works on photo sessions and television has become one of the best models of Zaitsev's house, like many mannequins of the times of the USSR. Today she actively shares with journalists details of work in the world of trends and designers. Leka does not hide that she and her colleagues often had to endure the harassment of officials. She herself once refused a high-ranking fan and paid for it with her career.
9. Elena Metelkina
Journalists of the times of the USSR called her "the woman of the future" for her bright roles in "Guest from the future" and "Through thorns to the stars". Beauty really radically differed from the usual Slavic type of appearance: a fragile figure, huge eyes and sensual lips attracted the sight of anyone who saw her. Elena became famous when the profession of the mannequin was almost never considered popular - she worked in the showroom of GUM and appeared on the pages of magazines. The disintegration of the Union made her get used to the fact that there will be no previous popularity. Metelkina became a secretary, but after a lucky chance saved her from dying with an attempt on her boss, she devoted herself to singing in a church choir of one of the churches in Moscow.
10. Rumia Rumi Rae
The eastern beauty of her friend was given the nickname Shahinya, which only emphasized her sensual beauty. To make a successful career, she helped Vyacheslav Zaitsev - it was he who saw Rumia on one of the views and wanted to make her his favorite model. Despite the fact that Rei herself admitted that she can not be called a girl of good character, her colleagues treated her with respect and even admiration. Lover of controversy and struggle with conservative orders even in adulthood looks great and maintains friendly relations with Zaitsev.