And we will take off and swim – Newspaper Kommersant No. 41 (7486) of 03/13/2023

Last week, your correspondent went to Dubai to assess the density of the secular movement of wealthy compatriots that have accumulated there. However, a secular week has begun in Moscow, more precisely, in the Museum of Moscow, where the fashion exhibition “House of Models. Image Industry. The exposition demonstrates the best that happened in the Fashion Atelier, founded 100 years ago, later transformed into the All-Union House of Models. Not only professionals and fashion lovers of our days, for example, Snezhanna Georgieva and Victoria Shelyagova, but also former employees of the House of Models, Nelly Kobzon and Tatyana Mikhalkova, appeared at the opening. Having viewed the exhibition, Olga Panchenko complained that everything presented is fine, but all this is Soviet haute couture, accessible to about the same minimum number of people as real haute couture in the West. As an example, she cited her own parents, who did not have access to such things – to the 200th section of GUM – although Olga’s father Vladimir Aleshin became the director of the Luzhniki stadium in 1982. But high fashion in the USSR also existed not without limitations. For example, the famous “Russia” dress, created in 1967 by Tatyana Osmerkina, was made from boucle fabric, which was usually used for outerwear, only because no other fabric of the right shade of red was found.

What happens when luxury becomes massive, and there is no shortage of fabrics, precious leathers, or rhinestones, just perfectly visible in Dubai. Even the Louis Vuitton guide, which came out just ten days ago, does not hesitate to call it New Babylon. I was curious to test the theory of how much the current Dubai can be considered the new Harbin, that is, how big the influence of the Russian-speaking diaspora, which has increased dramatically over the past year. Of course, in the celebration of March 8, as in a pure female tear, this should have been reflected. Shortly before the holiday, the Art Dubai fair ended here, alas, not a single Russian gallery was allowed to participate in it. The international sponsors of the event are said to have been opposed (one German automaker and one bubbly manufacturer from the Champagne region of France). However, many Soviet risk professionals from Moscow decided not to miss the event and noted that the artistic level was very decent. On the same days, the Desert Rose dinner of Natalia Vodianova and her Naked Heart Foundation was held at the Bulgari Hotel – however, not much was said about the foundation and the geography of its work. The tables were bought by the brands of the LVMH concern and invited their clients, among whom were Russians, but in a clear minority. This compact but spectacular event was organized by the production company Berin Iglesias Art. On Women’s Day, they also gave their traditional Big Art Festival evening, which takes place in Monte Carlo, Courchevel, Forte dei Marmi and in general wherever there are enough Russian-speaking vacationers. Mot and Leonid Agutin performed at The Theater club, among the guests were Mikhail Kuchment, Alexei Vasilchuk, Nikolai Vlasenko, Vitaly Korzun, Dmitry Margelov, Vasily Vakulenko. The plan of the organizers was clear: young women were delighted with Mot’s performance, everyone was delighted with Leonid Agutin’s concert, but especially the adult companions of young women. In terms of atmosphere, it reminded Alexander Sorkin’s Cabaret club, which opened several times in the 2000s, where people spent money without an account. And yet, Maxim Berin claims that it is impossible to get a profit on one sale of tables and tickets – without partners and sponsors. True, at this stage of the development of the festival there are no problems with this, so he began negotiations about Sting’s performance.

A more non-obvious business model is demonstrated by the Chalet Beryozka nightclub, where Olga Buzova gave a concert on March 8. More expensive artists are regularly brought there, with a more complex and weighty rider. However, the hall is very small, and although the guests are walking around as if it were their last time, it is simply unrealistic to recoup such performances. The exclamation “Champagne to all!” – after which, with firecrackers and other pyrotechnics, endless bottles of Dom Perignon are carried into the hall, – in “Birch” it can sound more than once a night. Blogger Gusein Hasanov, singers Lucy Chebotina and Anastasia Slanevskaya came to support Ms. Buzova’s performance. The artist welcomed them very warmly. It is curious that her performance, including communication with the audience between songs, perfectly combined with the essence of International Women’s Day. She urged women to believe in themselves, to achieve everything on their own – in a word, she broadcast empowerment. Women at this time flirted, smoked a hookah, noisily sucked in oysters, changed from one male knee to another.

Probably, Mrs. Buzova would have found a more grateful audience at the We Convention women’s forum, which took place on the same days and was organized by Mila Semeshkina, founder of the Lectera educational platform. Tatyana Bokalchuk, Renata Litvinova, Natalia Vodyanova and an international pool of speakers spoke here. Actually, except for Mrs. Litvinova, everyone spoke in English. One of the speakers noted: “Every woman has a story,” and that’s exactly what happened in this spirit. But it should be noted: when so many voices merge into a choir, it is really inspiring.

The concert of the foreign agent Zemfira became the general meeting of the Russian-speaking Dubai activists. Of the approximately 40 thousand Russian speakers in the Emirates, about 15 thousand gathered in the hall. Those ladies who took selfies against the backdrop of singing Agutin, and those who smoked a hookah to Buzova’s songs, and those who listened to the success stories of other women, came here, and those that have nothing to do with this Babylonian bustling Dubai, living in the silence of villas in the best areas of the city and in closed clubs, membership in which money alone does not provide. When Mrs. Ramazanova sang a fresh song about love for the motherland, the audience listened to her approvingly, but dispassionately. But at the final “We won’t take off, we’ll swim,” at the end of which the necessary words were spoken about the material produced by the foreign agent Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova, the catharsis was complete and universal.

Evgenia Milova, columnist for Kommersant