I am just so happy to hear that in Russia there are now designers who realize that furs come from actual animals, much like cats and dogs most of us have (and don’t realize that in China, for example, the same cats and dogs are skinned, often while they are still conscious for cheap fur, and thus when a person buys any type of fur (mink or foz or whatever) they automatically support the skinning of cats and dogs). Being Russian and having grown up in Russia, it has always been a painful subject for me: the love that us Russians (myself cateorically excluded since as far down my memory lane as I can recall) have for real fur, and the abundance of fur, fur and more fur that you see in Russia on nearly every woman you see. I thought it was hopeless to ever expect any kind of realization what really stands behind fur industry (ie., when It thought of Fashion industry in Russia, I mostly thought of Yelena Yarmak, who specializes in furs aka in torture and murder of countless animals).

I am so happy to realize that there are designers in Russia who don’t use fur for and it’s their conscious choice (possibly partially to some detriment of their sales in Russia) and that Vika Gazinskaya, who creates truly amazing designs of that old Dior quality yet fresh and new, has made this choice too. I found out about Vika just recently through a very interesting boutique in New Yor called Five Story that carries her designs. I hope Vika and other eco-conscious designers in Russia will be successful there and on the international market and, very important, show Russian customers and the Russian fur-loving boheme that fur does not equal beauty or class – quite the opposite.