A white émigré was a Russian subject who emigrated from Imperial Russia in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War, and who was in opposition to the contemporary Russian political climate. Many white émigrés were participants in the White movement or supported it, although the term is often broadly applied to anyone who may have left the country due to the change in regimes.
Some white émigrés,
like Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, were opposed to the
Bolsheviks but had not directly supported the White movement; some
were just apolitical. The term is also applied to the descendants of
those who left and still retain a Russian Orthodox Christian identity
while living abroad.
The term is most
commonly used in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. A
term preferred by the émigrés themselves was first-wave émigré
(Russian: эмигрант первой волны, emigrant pervoy
volny), "Russian émigrés" (Russian: русская
эмиграция, russkaya emigratsiya) or "Russian military
émigrés" (Russian: русская военная эмиграция,
russkaya voyennaya emigratsiya) if they participated in the White
movement. In the Soviet Union, white émigré generally had negative connotations. Since the end of
the 1980s, the term "first-wave émigré" has become more
common in Russia. In Japan, "White Russian" term is most
commonly used for white émigrés even if they are not all Russians.
Most white émigrés
left Russia from 1917 to 1920 (estimates vary between 900,000 and 2
million), although some managed to leave during the 1920s and 1930s
or were expelled by the Soviet government (such as, for example,
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Ivan Ilyin). They spanned all classes and
included military soldiers and officers, Cossacks, intellectuals of
various professions, dispossessed businessmen and landowners, as well
as officials of the Russian Imperial government and various
anti-Bolshevik governments of the Russian Civil War period. They were
not only ethnic Russians but belonged to other ethnic groups as well.
Beauty
in Exile: The Artists, Models, and Nobility who Fled the Russian
Revolution and Influenced the World of Fashion
by Alexandre
Vassiliev
Book Review by By K.
Maxwell on July 5, 2003
This book covers the
now vanished world of Russian exiles from the Revolution till the
1950-60's. It covers such areas as the influence of the Ballets
Russies in Paris prior to the revolution, the clothes the exiles
bought with themselves, and the importance of the Kokoshnik to
Russian fashion design.
We are also given
the history of the now vanished Russian émigré communities in
Constantinople in Turkey, Berlin in Germany and Harbin in China, with
a smaller amount of discussion of the communities in Paris and
London.
London and Paris
mostly get discussed in context with fashion, as many émigrés, both
noble and poor made a living in the various parts of the fashion
industry in exile. There is a whole chapter devoted to the house of
Kitmr with its exquisite embroideries and beading, which was run by
Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna the younger in the 1920's.
The author has also
unearthed other Russian émigré fashion houses which were well known
and respected in the 1920's but are mostly forgotten now, houses such
as Anely, Mode, Paul Caret, Tao, Yteb and Irfe which was run by the
Youssoupoff family.
The majority of the
book concentrates on fashion, but there is also discussion of the
theatre, cafe's and other craft oriented activities which the Russian
communities produced, especially in the 1920's. Many years of
painstaking research as been conducted by the author to reconstruct
this lost world. The book is full of black and white photos, which I
imagine would not have been easy to find. However, if you are looking
for nice colour photos of Russian costume, you will not find it here,
but if you are trying to find something out on the background on
émigré communities or the Russian fashion industry in the 1920's
this book will be the standard work for many years to come.
Émigré
enterprise: How Russian aristocrats became fashion pioneers
February 19, 2014
INNA FEDOROVA, SPECIAL TO RBTH
These days fashion
trends typically make their way to Russia from Europe, but a century
ago Russian designers were dressing the chic and fashionable on both
sides of the Atlantic.
Every year, from
January onwards, the world of fashion fixes its attention on what is
happening on catwalks and behind the scenes at Fashion Weeks across
the world. Industry professionals, lovers of beauty and glamor, and
it-girls from all over the world put New York, London, Milan and
Paris into their diaries.
One event unlikely
to feature on their itineraries, however, is Moscow Fashion Week,
which is not that well known even among fashion industry
professionals. Although the Russian couturiers of today lack the high
profile enjoyed by the giants of France and Italy, at one time
Russian designers dressed fashionable people on both sides of the
Atlantic.
The history of
Russian "expansion" into the foreign fashion market began
with the break-up of the Russian Empire following the revolution of
1917. Hundreds of members of the Russian aristocracy found themselves
making a new life abroad as refugees.
Most of the women
among them had brilliant education as well as fine manners and
impeccable taste. Moreover, as young girls they were all taught
embroidery and needlework.
The Paris magazine
Illustrated Russia wrote about them at the time: "A Russian
émigré lady has shyly entered this city. There was a time when her
mother and grandmother ordered their dresses from Worth and Poiret,
but this young Russian woman has just escaped from the hell of the
revolution and civil war! She has arrived in the capital of female
elegance and knocked on the doors of a luxury maison de haute
couture. And the massive doors opened to let her in and she has
captured everyone's heart…"
The Russian
Revolution created ripples even in the world of fashion. Chic women
in Europe began to wear styles à la russe: kokoshniks (headdresses),
furs and boyar (aristocratic) collars. Collections featuring these
elements were presented in the 1920s by Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel and
many others.
Russian émigré
women, who had been trained in delicate needlework since childhood,
found themselves in great demand. Duchesses and countesses began to
produce embroidered accessories, costume jewelry, embroidered
fabrics, clothes and interior design items in the Slavonic style.
Russian aristocrats
mainly specialized in embroidery work and did it so well that they
began to receive orders from leading fashion houses. The most
successful of them all was Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who set up
an embroidery workshop called Kitmir and signed an exclusive contract
with Chanel to design and manufacture embroidery.
All in all, Russian
aristocrats founded over 20 fashion houses. Maria Putyatina set up a
hat firm called Shapka (“hat” in Russian), which became so
successful that it soon branched into London.
Countess
Orlova-Davydova opened a Russian fashion house in Boulevard
Malesherbes, which specialized in "hand-knitting and printed
wool and silk fabrics". Meanwhile, Duchess Lobanova-Rostovskaya
set up her own Russian fashion studio in London, called Paul Caret.
The parents of one
of the founders of modern U.S. fashion, Ralph Lauren, came to America
with their parents from Russia in the 1920s. Until he turned 16, the
legendary fashion businessman was known under his father's surname,
Livshits.
Having started out
selling neckties that "looked expensive but cost little to make"
from an office without windows, Ralph Lauren now runs a fashion
empire of his own and is a regular fixture at New York Fashion Week.
Or take, for
instance, "the father of modern cosmetics", Max Factor
(Maksymilian Faktorowicz), the founder of cosmetic industry giant Max
Factor & Company.
Though a Polish
businessman of Jewish origin, he too was born in the Russian Empire,
of which eastern Poland was then part.
He opened his first
cosmetics store in Ryazan, and later worked in Odessa and Nikolayev.
Today one of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame bears his name.
Another incredible
success story took place in Italy, where Irina Borisovna Golitsina, a
girl from a titled family of first-wave émigrés, brought up in
Russian aristocratic traditions, became a principessa of the Italian
fashion world.
Her fashion house,
Galitzine, was on a par with the houses of such established masters
as Gianni Versace, John Galliano and Yves Saint Laurent. It was she
who in 1963 designed the famous "palazzo pajamas", silk
pajama sets that were chic enough to be worn as eveningwear.
A special place
among successful Russian fashion houses abroad belonged to IRFE (the
acronym stood for the initials of its founders, Irina and Felix
Yusupov). Princess Irina, nee Romanov, was a niece of Tsar Nicholas
II and a favorite granddaughter of Alexander III.
Her husband, Prince
Felix Yusupov, famous for his involvement in the assassination of
Rasputin in 1916, belonged to one of Russia's oldest and richest
noble families.
All the splendor and
sophistication of their background was reflected in the models they
created.
Delighted by the
house's first collection, a review in the French edition of Vogue
magazine said: "This is a collection which is at the same time a
selection because it does not have a single model that does not
work."
The aristocratic
nature and flavor of the brand brought it enormous success and IRFE
opened branches in Normandy, Berlin and London.
In addition, it
released a revolutionary line of perfumes: Blonde for blonde women,
Brunette for dark-haired women, Titiane for redheads, and Grey
Silver, for elderly ladies - all in limited edition.
The sports of the
Russian tsars: Chess, cycling and tennis
Read more! The
sports of the Russian tsars
And yet in 1931,
seven years after its spectacular launch, IRFE was forced to shut
down, unable to cope with growing competition.
The same fate
awaited the majority of Russian fashion houses in Paris. Smart and
sophisticated but lacking in business acumen, Russian aristocrats
created beautiful pieces but were unable to fight for their place
under the sun.
However, the story
has a silver lining: In 2006 a Paris-born Russian, Olga Sorokina,
revived the brand IRFE, which is now available in more than 20
countries of the world and has already presented its 2014 spring and
summer collection at Paris Fashion Week.
Countess Olga “Lala”
Hendrikoff was born into the Russian aristocracy, serving as a lady
-in- waiting to the Empresses and enjoying a life of great privilege.
But on the eve of her wedding in 1914 came the first rumours ofan
impending war – a war that would change her life forever and force
her to flee her country as a stateless person, with no country to
call home.
Spanning two of the
most turbulent times in modern history- World War I in Russia and
World War II in Paris- Countess Hendrikoff’s journals demonstrate
the uncertainty, horror and hope of daily life in the midst of
turmoil. Her razor-sharp insight, wit and sense of humour create a
fascinating eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution and the
Occupation and Liberation of Paris.
In “A Countess In
Limbo”, Countess Hendrikoff tells her remarkable true story that
includes the loss of her brother in the Russian Gulag, her
sister-in-law, Anastasia Hendrikoff, murdered with the Russian
Imperial family and herself being robbed at gunpoint and accused of
being a spy by the Nazis. She also speaks of the daily life that
continues during wartime - ration cards and food restrictions, the
black market, and the struggle to just get by for another day. Her
gripping story and thoughtful analysis provide an invaluable look at
life and humanity in the face of war.
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