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Born into a working-class family in 1938,
Zaitsev's first international recognition came in 1963 when the
French Paris Match magazine wrote about his collection of
overalls for female workers, according to a note posted on the
website of his fashion house.
The RIA news agency reported that the bright, flowery jackets
and skirts of the collection were rejected by the Experimental
Clothing Factory for which Zaitsev worked.
The French press nicknamed him "Red Dior" in the 1960s.
In 1965, he began working as the artistic director of the
experimental All-Union House of Fashion Models in Moscow, and
some of his designs, which often implemented flowery traditional
Russian patterns, were displayed in the West.
In 1969, the Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted a show of
women's dresses based on sketches by Zaitsev, among others.
After the show, Zaitsev received offers to open stores in the
West, which the Soviet authorities rejected.
In 1979, Zaitsev left the All-Union House of Models for a small
atelier, which by 1982 he turned into the Slava Zaitsev Moscow
Fashion House, becoming the first Soviet designer allowed to
label his clothing.
Among Zaitsev's Russian clients were music stars, actors,
socialites and politicians.
The patronage of Raisa Gorbacheva, the wife of the last Soviet
Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, elevated his international fame
in the 1980s.
He also counted the former wife of President Vladimir Putin,
Lyudmila, as his client.
"I was incredibly lucky that at the beginning of my conscious
life I decided, thank God, what to strive for, who I should be,"
Zaitsev wrote in a note on his website. "Thank God, I found the
meaning of life in search of Harmony and Perfection through
means of the Highest art of clothing, art of painting and
graphics, photography ... in life, poetry."
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
(Photo: Designer Slava Zaitsev and models pose for a picture
after the show during the Moscow Fasion Week in Moscow, Russia,
June 20, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo)
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