April 30: the day of death of Vyacheslav Zaitsev, the "Red Dior"
Vyacheslav Zaitsev was a Soviet and Russian couturier, nicknamed "Red Dior" by the Western press. Born into a working-class family in Ivanovo, he created world-class fashion under the Soviet system and dressed celebrities from Alla Pugacheva to Valentina Tereshkova. He died on April 23, 2023, in Shchyolkovo, near Moscow, at the age of 86.
A provincial boy in the world of high fashion
Zaitsev was born in 1938 in Ivanovo to a working-class family. His father was captured by the Germans during World War II and arrested for treason. Until the age of 20, Vyacheslav bore his mother's surname, Kokurin. As a child, he helped his mother, a cleaner, and dabbled in embroidery. At 18, he graduated from the Ivanovo Technical School with a diploma in textile design, and at 24, from the Moscow Textile Institute.
He was assigned to a garment factory at the Moscow Regional Economic Council and immediately began to change the established order: he designed a collection of workwear for female rural workers—colorful jackets, boots, and skirts with Pavlovo Posad patterns instead of the drab, standardized outfits. The USSR Ministry of Light Industry rejected the collection. The French magazine Paris Match soon published it with the headline, "He Dictates Fashion to Moscow."
"Russian Dior" in Soviet conditions
Zaitsev became the artistic director of the All-Union Fashion House. Three years later, he was discovered by Pierre Cardin, Guy Laroche, and Marc Bohan of Dior—all four were featured in WWD under the headline "Kings of Fashion." In 1965, he designed a collection for America. Western journalists wrote: "Slava Zaitsev is the Russian Dior."
Before perestroika, Zaitsev was unable to travel to capitalist countries—all fashion shows took place without his participation. But it was his collections that represented the USSR at world exhibitions. In 1967, he created the famous "Russian Series" based on folk motifs from Ivanovo chintz.
In the late 1970s, he temporarily left the fashion industry. "I realized my utter uselessness. I couldn't understand why people couldn't wear what we made, and instead, there was such dull, gray clothing all around," he later explained.
Fashion house, stars and the Olympics
In 1982, Zaitsev took over the new fashion house, where his classic black coats brought him great popularity on the opening day. In 1989, he presented the "One Thousand Years Since the Baptism of Rus'" collection in New York and the "Russian Seasons" collection in Paris.
Zaitsev dressed figure skating champions, Aeroflot flight attendants, and the Soviet delegation at the 1980 Olympics. He created looks for Alla Pugacheva, Edita Piekha, Valentina Tereshkova, Muslim Magomayev, and Philipp Kirkorov. He also worked with the band Na-Na and Bari Alibasov. In 2003, he designed Lyudmila Putina's costume for her visit to the UK.
At the same time, he created costumes for leading Moscow theaters and film studios, including for the films "The Magician," "Nameless Star," "Bambi's Childhood," and others. In the late 2000s, he hosted the television show "Fashion Sentence" on Channel One.
Last years and departure
Zaitsev designed his last collections in 2016. At the same time, he was diagnosed with a serious illness. He was rarely homebound and suffered two strokes. He died in the hospital from a stomach hemorrhage.
He was buried in a bright red suit—the "Red Dior" look. According to the priest, Zaitsev was a diligent parishioner. One Easter, he noticed that all the paths in the church were red, just like in his shows, and said, "You have it here just like we do."
