Fashion is having a Russian moment. Miu Miu has done village headscarves and flowery, embroidered skirts. Anna Sui and Costume National are both channe-lling Julie Christie in Dr Zhivago, with lashings of blond hair under huge fur hats. Yves Saint Laurent is full of winter white. Nearly every label has a nod to the Red Army, with military references at Michael Kors, Eley Kishimoto and Balenciaga. And the look is already on the British high street: a Russian-inspired jersey dress with folk embroidery.
And it is hardly surprising. Russian women -- most visibly the Chelski wives, of whom the queen is Irina Abramovich -- have made a huge splash on the London fashion scene in recent years.
"The fashion world has been so influenced by this Russian theme because now most of the serious clients are Russian," says Marina Prokopiva, 37, the London-based designer of Voltage, her own label. "In the 1980s it was the Arabs; now it's us."
Prokopiva is originally from Novorossiysk, a town in southern Russia near Putin's favorite Black Sea holiday resort, Sochi. Russian women are fashion's new muse, she says. Russians buy the clothes and Russians also sell the clothes, on the catwalk. The girls backstage at the shows are as much an influence as those on the front row: Natalia Vodianova, Euguenia Volodina, Natasha Poly and Valentina Zelyaeva all recently featured on a Vanity Fair cover heralding "the new supermodels from behind the iron curtain."
And they also exert an influence from afar. For the past five years, the majority of designer Julien Macdonald's sales have been in Russia.
"Russians are every designer's dream. They are the savior of almost every glamorous fashion brand in the world. Without them, a lot of us would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. They are the only women in the world who are buying luxury designer items."
So no wonder that the fashion industry has chosen to pay homage to all things Russian. It's a wasted tri-bute, though, says Macdonald.
"They're probably flattered, but they would never wear it. I mean, would you have an Eiffel Tower model in your living room if you lived in Paris?"
A lot of the designers showcasing the Russian trend are not necessarily bought by Russians, he says, "They're trying to entice the Russian market; they're teasing them to make them look at that brand."
But Russians are more interested in red-carpet glamor than edgy references, he says.
"The Russians with money are young and glamorous. They hate avant-garde and grunge. They spend a huge amount of money on their bodies, and they want to show them off. They are fabulous, glamorous women who buy the most expensive things -- they don't even look at the price tag."
Vogue Russia has dedicated its entire September issue to the Russian trend, much of it shot around Red Square. But fashion editor Lidia Korneva thinks that her readers -- while being very flattered and interested -- will not necessarily be sporting the look as seen on the catwalk.
"We are very delighted that designers would look to Russia for inspiration, but Russian women are more European-oriented." Many of the looks are a caricature for her. "I was at the Jean-Paul Gaultier show and it was fun with all the Russian music. But the last model came on carrying vodka, pretending to be drunk and dropping the glass. I was, like, `Hmm, we don't behave like that.' But then everyone has the right to interpret Russia the way they imagine."
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