Beauty
The white force
Evelina Khromtchenko. fashion expert. Photo © Vogue.ru Evelina Khromtchenko. fashion expert. Photo (c) Vogue.ru
Evelina Khromtchenko. fashion expert. Photo © Vogue.ru Evelina Khromtchenko. fashion expert. Photo (c) Vogue.ru
Ksenia Wagner, Allure-Russia editor-in-chief. Photo © Allure-Russia
Renata Litvinova, actress. Photo (c) Allure-Russia
Renata Litvinova, actress. Photo © Allure-Russia
Maria Fedorova, Glamour-Russia. Photo © Allure-Russia
Evelina Khromtchenko. fashion expert. Photo © Vogue.ru Evelina Khromtchenko. fashion expert. Photo (c) Vogue.ru
Polina Kizenko, Podium creative director. Photo © Allure-Russia Polina Kizenko, Podium creative director. Photo (c) Allure-Russia
Polina Kizenko, Podium creative director. Photo © Allure-Russia
“And I have done internship with Evelina herself” – a girl aspirated the inmost fact of her biography. I interviewed her for an editor position and found myself a little confused as the phrase was full of ecstatic thrill, admiration, pride and anxiety all in one. I could not help recalling the Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep. Her voice in Russian, by the way, belongs to Evelina. On the Internet you can still find comments on this vocal performance: “Evelina’s voicework came in very handy. All the words associated with the fashion world were well pronounced».
Evelina not only speaks well, she does everything well. She is businesslike and determinate. She deals with all the matters like a fighter who goes on the offensive, seeing victory as the only outcome. Several years after that job talk, I read an interview with designer Vika Gazinskaya, who used to work at Russian L’Officiel. When asked about her former editor-in-chief she said: “When we could not do something, she did it herself.” And then I met Evelina in person. On business. I asked her to write a feature for Allure about how it felt to wear glasses all your life. And how to turn a disadvantage of poor eyesight into a great opportunity to wear accessories of dream. Our email correspondence resembled a ping pong between robots. “When is the deadline?” – “On the tenth” – “How many characters?” – “10 000″ – “Do you need photos?” No waste of time, zero ceremonies, prompt replies and all preciseness.
Evelina is demolishing all the statements about blondes – fragile, defenceless, juggling men to be comfortably well off. Frankly speaking, I have never met such a blonde. All those I know are like Evelyna, tireless workaholics, passionate, deeply in love with life, striving for victory whatever their goal.
Among famous blondes, I admire Renata Litvinova. I remember coming to the Moscow Art Theatre for an interview with her, and went to the local grocery to buy some fruit, while Renata was preparing to the performance. “What could I get for you?” – I asked. Renata chose a pear, or apple. The year before, in her feature for the first Allure issue she shared memories: “Any ugly piece of clothing looked good on the body that was close to a skeleton in shape. And I began to lose weight … “. She still diets.
I would say, she maintains slimness. Anyone who’s ever been through a long-term diet knows about serious privation and sacrifices to be made for the sake of good looks. Although Renata’s strongest feature is not her looks, no matter how good, but her way to infuse everything she touches with a vital energy – from a theatre stage to an iPhone screen with her retro-profile caught for Instagram. However, her approach to the way she looks is also a creative activity, exciting, and magic like Renata herself.
Polina Kitsenko is a blonde of a totally different kind. Sharp, tough, prone to risk. If perfectionism was a woman, it would be her in this perfect, strong and elastic like a taut string body. She is always on the alert and nothing escapes her control. She’s a great specialist in logistics, has excellent organizing skills, knows everything about selling fashion. She deals successfully with both the democratic Podium Market and the luxurious Podium, that dressed half of the Moscow International Film Festival guests. But most of all I am bewitched by her devotion to sports. There is no other woman I know who at the age over thirty gave birth to her second child and six weeks later came to give an interview in a top that revealed six-pack abs. In Polina’s Instagram a hashtag #donotgiveup appeared under her photos in a wetsuit up to the childbirth.
One more and different again blonde – sparkling, jovial, rollicking and witty – is my colleague from Conde Nast, editor-in-chief of Glamour Russia Masha Fedorova. In a picture dictionary her disarming smile should be put next to the word “charisma”. Or hedonism. Both are glamorous in her case. And to enjoy life the way she can you need strength, no doubt.
By the way, I am brunette. But I keep thinking of dyeing my hair into a blonde shade. To join the team.
Makeup by Tom Ford Beauty
Ksenia Vagner, Allure Russia Editor-in-chief
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