Polina Kitsenko's menu. Personal life of Polina Kitsenko. About sports plans

For the fashionable Russian elite, the name Polina Kitsenko is far from an empty phrase. The owner of the Podium boutique chain has been a trendsetter for several years and is one of the most influential people in Russian fashion. Such “stylish things” as Ksenia Sobchak, Miroslava Duma, Daria Zhukova, Olga Slutsker and many others are proud to know her personally. At one time, it was Polina Kitsenko who taught all Moscow young ladies, and after them the whole country, to wear leggings in combination with mini-dresses.
The niche that the Podium brand occupies in the capital's clothing market can roughly be called “clothing for very rich people.” For the first time in Moscow, these luxury stores opened in 1994 and since then have become a real Mecca for the “cream of society.” The official website of the Podium Fashion Group company says that it marked the beginning of the development of the fashion industry in Russia. The assortment of boutiques includes almost all the leading fashion brands specializing in the production of clothing, shoes and accessories of the highest price category. Polina Kitsenko herself has said more than once that the people who dress in her salons are mainly those clients for whom buying outfits at the price of small cars is a common thing. Podium does not adhere to any particular style concept; it offers clothing collections both in the spirit of the mainstream and in the spirit of the avant-garde. Next to things from Alexander McQueen, Pucci, Baldessarini, Balensiaga there are new items from Celine, Chloe, Antonio Berardi, Emilio Gardem, Hugo Boss, Jean Dsquared2. Podium boutiques also offer expensive niche perfumes and cosmetics, jewelry and interior items. Profitable business Polina Kitsenko's boutiques are open in a number of regional centers of Russia, in particular in St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Samara and some others. The company is not inclined to advertise information about its turnover; Moreover, at the peak of the crisis, the owner of Podium did not lag behind the general fashion of expressing dissatisfaction with economic trends in the country and complained about the decline in interest from buyers in dresses from Balmain worth 425 thousand rubles. But according to experts, the volume of investment in opening one Podium store can reach twenty million euros, and its net annual profit will be approximately twenty-five million rubles. But Madame Kitsenko’s success in business can be judged by how she spends her leisure time. Polina, her husband Edward and their children often visit the fashionable ski resort in Courchevel: going there for the New Year holidays has become a family tradition. In addition, the Kitsenko spouses opened one of their famous boutiques there. It presents jewelry from the brands Loree Rodkin, Garrard, Palmiero, costing from 15-20 thousand euros. Kitsenko’s Courchevel project called Podium Jewelery is aimed at wealthy tourists from Russia, countries of Muslim Asia and Latin America, primarily Argentina.
One of Polina Kitsenko’s most high-profile purchases was the purchase of an unusual lot at a charity auction organized by Natalia Vodianova. The “style icon” paid ninety thousand euros for a personal serenade performed by singer Bryan Adams, turning a deaf ear to Andrei Malakhov’s comments that “we have the Factory singing for that kind of money.” A fan of ironic style But, probably, like most women with different levels of income, Polina prefers to invest the lion's share of investments in her personal wardrobe, since her financial possibilities for this are almost unlimited. She often wears clothes from Azzedine Alaia, Phillip Lim, Givenchy, Chapurin Couture. The owner of Podium considers it her professional duty to be present at all world-class fashion events, including all famous Fashion Weeks and other iconic shows. You can see her everywhere in the front rows of spectators: Polina enthusiastically selects interesting models for herself and her stores. Fashion experts define Polina Kitsenko's style as a balanced mix of luxury and rising, but not yet particularly popular, brands. The images in which she appears in public often combine eclecticism and spontaneity, bordering on deliberate negligence.
They say this shows the ironic attitude of the metropolitan fashion trendsetter towards herself. “I am against mental torment on the topic “What shoes should I choose for this handbag?” My mind doesn’t work that way at all,” admits Polina.
She is used to turning her car into a mobile wardrobe. In the back seat or trunk, Polina Kitsenko always has a bag with several pairs of shoes, a couple of clutches or bags and several outfits. She experiences incomparable pleasure when she creates images from a limited number of things. For her, this is a kind of exciting game. Svetlana Usankova.www.luxury.net

If you still can’t bring yourself to go for a run, start working out your abs, eat right and enjoy life every day, then our selection is for you. We have selected celebrities who lead a healthy lifestyle and inspire others!

Sati Casanova, 34 years old

Photo instagram.com/satikazanova/

For singer Sati Casanova, the path to a healthy and conscious lifestyle began more than 10 years ago. Then, out of curiosity, she decided to take up yoga. A few months later, the interest grew into something more: the girl unexpectedly stopped eating meat, began reading spiritual literature, and later received a certificate as a teacher of Simply Meditation practice. But it’s quite difficult to sign up for a lesson with a celebrity. Due to his busy tour schedule, Sati does not have the opportunity to study with everyone. But she regularly maintains social networks: she shares interesting articles on Facebook, and writes her thoughts and discoveries on Instagram.

Lifestyle of Sati Casanova

Nutrition. The singer starts the morning with one or two glasses of water, and after 2-3 hours she has breakfast with porridge with dried fruits, nuts or herbs. Her favorite dish is green buckwheat with quinoa.

Sati also adheres to the Ayurvedic diet, having determined her dosha type.

“I pepper everything that comes my way! Witnesses of this action are always shocked, they say, how can you pepper porridge, jam, honey and other dishes? And I’ll tell you: IT’S POSSIBLE! It's very tasty and spicy. And in general, according to Ayurveda, a person is fully satisfied with food when all types of tastes are present in it: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy, astringent. And it is important to maintain a balance between tastes, since they give a certain state and mood to a person. For example, now I eat millet porridge, lightly salted, cross-cut, with slightly sour dried apricots and sweet dates. And the bitter taste comes from coffee with cardamom, brewed in a Turk.”

Yoga.“For ten years now, yoga has been a very important part of my life. Naturally, I’ve heard about yogis before, but it’s one thing to hear some magical stories about people sleeping on nails and walking on broken glass told on TV, and it’s quite another thing when you decide to try what yoga is. And then you fall in love with her forever.”

Sati practices atma kriya yoga, and more recently aerial yoga (or yoga in the air).

Victoria Bonya, 36 years old

Photo instagram.com/victoriabonya/

“I have long wanted to try a raw food diet. And so, today is the fifth day... It doesn’t sound like much, but it didn’t happen in one day... (By the way, there was more fear than difficulties.) At first I completely eliminated red meat, ate fish and chicken, and after two weeks I switched already on vegetarianism, and only then on a raw food diet. About a year has passed from the first thought about a raw food diet to today! My diet will be at least three to four months... By the way, many people think that raw food is very monotonous and boring, but that’s not true!”

After finishing the diet, Victoria admitted that she began to feel much better: her back pain went away, she began to sleep less and manage to do more things, and her skin also improved.

Sport. Victoria is sure that you need to fight laziness, work on yourself and force yourself to play sports.

“Do you think I really want to run in the morning? But no! How do I fight laziness? Only a kick in the ass helps!”

Victoria is also sure that headstand, or more precisely, shirshasana, helps her maintain her beauty and youth.

“Shirshasana is one of the central poses of hatha yoga. In ancient yogic texts, sirsasana is called “the king of all asanas.” This is the best of the inverted poses, it completely revitalizes both the mind and body. Shirshasana is one of the most strengthening of all asanas and varies in degree of difficulty (for example, a supported headstand is the simplest level, a headstand supported by forearms is a medium level of difficulty, etc.). Sirsasana awakens dormant abilities (potencies) of the mind and body. Inverted asanas are considered the most stimulating for mental activity, since physiologically they change the circulation of fluids in the body. Sirsasana increases the flow of nutrients to the head. A person’s mind begins to blossom, memory, vision, and speed of understanding improve. The rush of blood to the brain cells renews them, improves their functioning, sharpening the mind and clarifying thoughts. With daily practice of shirshasana, general rejuvenation of the body occurs. Blood supply to the vessels of the face and head improves; As a result, the skin and hair receive additional nutrition. To perform this asana, you must have a high degree of physical fitness, the ability to concentrate and control your body. At the initial stage of development, acrobatics are very helpful.”

Gisele Bündchen, 36 years old

Photo instagram.com/gisele/

Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen stopped going to social parties several years ago, and in 2015 she completely left the catwalk. However, interest in her person did not decrease. On the contrary, the celebrity gained even more fans. All lovers of yoga and enlightenment began to subscribe to her microblog page.

The fact is that Gisele practices hatha yoga and meditation, and also travels to India and communicates with spiritual teachers. As a result, her Instagram resembles a book of wise thoughts about life with beautiful photographs of nature, animals, food and asanas.

Lifestyle of Gisele Bündchen

Nutrition. The model has long excluded meat, flour and sweets from her diet. She eats 5-6 small meals a day, drinks a lot of water and smoothies.

“Food is good, but when you eat unhealthy foods, you are just cheating yourself.”

Vera Brezhneva, 34 years old

Photo instagram.com/vbdiary/

Singer Vera Brezhneva often repeats that her beautiful appearance is not only a gift from nature, but also a huge amount of work on herself. And more internal. She is sure that only a positive attitude towards life and love for all people helps to look fresh and young.

But no one has canceled proper nutrition and exercise! On her Instagram page, Vera talks about how to overcome hunger, what to eat to lose weight, how to pump up your abs and buttocks, and much, much more.

Lifestyle of Vera Brezhneva

Nutrition. The singer eats several times a day in small portions.

“You shouldn’t allow yourself to feel a strong feeling of hunger. You should always have a snack on hand. It is by feeling hungry often that the body begins the process of storing fat in case of the next hunger strike.”

She also does not eat sweets and bread (or only in the first half of the day) and does not drink during meals.

“The liquid dilutes the concentration of gastric juice, which then interferes with the proper absorption of food. Plus, the presence of liquid stretches the stomach exactly the same volume as you drink. You need to drink before meals, 15-20 minutes or 20-30 after! This applies to water, juices, fresh juices, and tea.”

And of course, no food at night!

“You can’t eat at night. There are people who say that I eat and nothing! First of all, this is an exception. If this is the case for you, great. For most, this is harmful and fraught. Ask any doctor, the stomach should rest at night and not digest food. Therefore, you need to eat several hours before bedtime so that he has time to digest the food. The heaviest food is digested in 4 to 6 hours. Therefore, we look at ourselves. I mostly eat light dinners, so I finish dinner 4 hours before bed. At night the body rests, and in the morning you are happy with a flat tummy. They say I can’t help but eat at night – it’s a habit. Any habit ceases to be one after 21 days. Try not to eat at night for 21 days – you won’t feel like it on the 22nd.”

“The most important thing is self-love. We don’t rape our body with nasty things. We love ourselves, feed tasty and healthy food, don’t overfeed, don’t kill. We must control our desires, not them control us!”

Sport.“Mom Vera works a lot and is very busy. But if she has an hour of time, she goes to exercise.”

“A few of the most important rules for keeping yourself in shape: a) exercise regularly! Only regularity gives the right result; b) exercise even when there is no time (option: three-minute plank); c) study at a time when it is convenient, when it is available, and do not put it off until later; d) engage in the sport that brings maximum pleasure. We need to find him. Exercise should not cause antagonism. Let it be fitness, gym, yoga, dancing, swimming, Pilates, cycling, whatever you like. Any sport is movement, and movement is life.”

The singer most often trains at home or on tour in a hotel. And she records her favorite sets of exercises on video and posts them on the microblog.

“We filmed another set for you, “Rezinochka”. You can buy it at any sporting goods store, inexpensively. Tie to the leg of a sofa/table/battery, etc. Each exercise 10-12 times. For each leg. If steps to the side, then 10-12 steps in each direction. I do this: one exercise on both legs, the second on both legs, the third on both sides. This is one approach. A minute break and the next approach, 3 approaches in total. Takes 15 minutes."

Gwyneth Paltrow, 44 years old

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow once said that she never worries about her age: “Why should I worry if every year I become wiser, and my body is in no way inferior to the figure of a 22-year-old striptease dancer.”

Gwyneth's ideal body is the result of an active lifestyle and proper nutrition. By the way, she received knowledge about all this from the best trainers and nutritionists in Hollywood. So you can trust her!

Lifestyle of Gwyneth Paltrow

Nutrition. Actria eats meat, bread, and chocolate. But in moderation.

“If I constantly limited myself in foods, I would go crazy. If I really want to eat a hamburger, I will do it. But then I’ll definitely go to the gym.”

However, once a month Gwyneth detoxes her body. These days she eats light soups, drinks smoothies and water.

Sport. The celebrity works out several times a week with the famous Hollywood fitness trainer Tracy Anderson (by the way, her videos can be found online). The Tracy Method involves alternating aerobic and strength training in one session. She pays special attention to working out the abs and gluteal muscles,

In addition to fitness, Gwyneth skis and snowboards, runs, swims and loves tennis.

Photo instagram.com/gwynethpaltrow/

Cindy Crawford, 50 years old

Photo instagram.com/cindycrawford/

90s supermodel Cindy Crawford seems to have remained the same since the beginning of her career. At 50 years old, the celebrity’s figure is still as perfect as it was at 20. For this, she can thank sports training, which she does not miss to this day.

We can only follow Cindy’s life on the microblog, be inspired by her photographs and carefully read interviews with recommendations on proper nutrition and sports.

Lifestyle of Cindy Crawford

Nutrition. The model follows a Mediterranean diet, which includes fresh vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy products, and fish. Between breakfast, lunch and dinner, she snacks on nuts and dried fruits and tries to never feel hungry.

“I snack between breakfast and lunch and have an afternoon snack at 4pm, so I never gobble up food like a hungry wolf. I believe that if you are fasting, your body will try to retain all the bad fats from the food you eat and store them away in reserve.”

Sport. In a time before social media, Crawford released fitness training books: Cindy Crawford: The Secret to a Perfect Body in 1992, Cindy Crawford: How to Get Perfect in 1993, and Cindy Crawford in 2000. : New dimension".

Surprisingly, these fitness programs are still popular today. And no wonder. Each of them presents an optimal set of physical exercises for all muscle groups.

“As a rule, I try to do workouts twice a week - 30 minutes of walking on an incline treadmill, and then using dumbbells to work individual muscle groups: legs, buttocks, abs, chest, biceps and shoulders. The most important thing is regularity.”

Polina's microblog is a collection of tips for everyone who, like her, leads a healthy lifestyle or is planning to do so.

Lifestyle of Polina Kitsenko

Nutrition. Polina starts every morning with a glass of warm water with lemon, and only then does breakfast. Most often it consists of smoothies, porridge, and green tea.

“My breakfast: 1. Smoothie (banana, a cup of water, a cup of frozen strawberries, a stalk of celery, a sprig of parsley, a spoonful of flaxseeds (live omega-3-6). 2. A little buckwheat with a spoonful of manuka honey (in winter I try to eat it a teaspoon spoon in the morning, it has an antibacterial and antiviral effect) 3. Green tea with fresh mint and lemon.”

At the same time, Kitsenko does not go on diets and does not advise anyone. Instead, she suggests eating a balanced diet.

“People often ask me what I eat for lunch. Here's an example of a perfect lunch. Buckwheat noodles with shrimp and vegetables. First of all, I am categorically against diets. Protein diets are a terrible evil. There are lawsuits against Dukan in France. A protein imbalance in the body is poisoning; it is like poison and leads to chronic intoxication. Goodbye, healthy kidneys and liver. All nutrients should be in moderation! I'm for balance! Long, coarse carbohydrates are simply necessary to promote lipid metabolism and to feel good hormonally and comprehensively. To put it in simple terms, for example, you haven’t been eating enough for a long time, you’ve already lost weight, but not enough, but your weight has stopped dead in its tracks – and you’re not taking a step. You are tired of sadly chewing a dull breast with a lonely lettuce leaf, and steamed fish makes you feel sorry for it and sad for yourself. The weight stopped like an uncoupled carriage. What to do?! I'm sure there are many of you. You have driven your body into a zone where, out of fear, it has switched on the reserve survival mode and will no longer give you a drop of fat - you will see. To lose weight faster, you should immediately start eating long carbohydrates (unprocessed only: brown rice, gray pasta, buckwheat, quinoa) for lunch. You will immediately lose weight and remember me with a kind word!”

And one more useful tip from Polina: “If you want a flat stomach with cubes, it is important to remember that the rule, as I call it, 80/20, works here. 80% of the effort in achieving beautiful abs comes from proper nutrition, and only 20% from exercise. In a word, even if you stand in the plank for at least 10 minutes every day and do 500 repetitions for your abs, it will not show up. It will only appear if you don’t radically change your eating habits.”

Sport.“In order to play sports, you only need a desire... All you need is a street (blush and the effect of a hunchbacked horse after), a three-layer set of clothes, a bench (chair). “No excuses about not having a coach or a season ticket to an expensive club are accepted anymore.”

Polina Kitsenko is one of the owners of the chain of fashionable and popular boutiques “Podium”. She often appears at all kinds of social parties. She registered her own brand together with her partners back in 1994. The girl is among those who stood at the very origins, so to speak, built the foundation, of the Russian fashion industry.

In her boutiques, Kitsenko Polina provided customers exclusively with world-famous stylish brands: Hugo Boss, Celine, Pucci, Chloe, Antoni Berardi, etc. The girl entered the fashion business in the mid-90s, bringing fashion to Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara and many other large cities of the Russian Federation.

Today, boutiques are popular throughout the country. Here you can find high-quality original products with a worldwide reputation at the lowest possible prices. The girl has her own Instagram page. Kitsenko, whose Instagram is followed by almost 190 thousand followers, is registered under the username – polinakitsenko.

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• Polina Kitsenko (on Instagram - @polinakitsenko) is a Russian businesswoman, owner of the Podium boutique chain. At first, she purchased only clothing from luxury brands, for example, Chloe, Antonio Berardi and others like that, but then the products began to include items designed for the average consumer.

  
  The girl was born in the Vladimir region, the city of Alexandrov. The parents moved constantly, and when the girl was 11 years old, they came to Moscow. There was little money, the family lived an ordinary Soviet life. She received a higher education in law, like her father, then got a job at GUTA Bank, as a specialist in Visa cards.

  In the 90s, the girl organized her own chain of boutiques, married businessman Eduard, gave birth to a son, Yegor, and took up sports seriously. Now she participates in triathlon: this is three sports one after another - a 2 km swim, a 90 km bike and a 21 km run. Polina's life is built according to a schedule: she gets up at 8 am, the time from 9 to 12 is devoted to training, and even bad weather is not a hindrance.

  A distinctive feature of the businesswoman’s character is perfectionism, which her husband also has. This was reflected in the construction of the house: Edward wanted to build a house in the Art Deco style, and so he looked for interesting details in books, went with sketches to the craftsmen, and they made furniture and decor to order.
  She has a lot of energy, which she shares not only personally. One way to motivate yourself is to look at photos on Polina Kitsenko’s Instagram.

  Instagram

  Why motivate? On Instagram, Polina Kitsenko promotes healthy eating and sports by her example and that of her friends, for example, Vera Brezhneva. Polina Kitsenko posts recipes with photographs of dishes, pictures from sports competitions (for example, “Running Hearts”) or from travel on the official Instagram website. It can be seen in the courtyard of the beautiful Gothic cathedral or on the city streets. But there is little narcissism in her. If there are photos of her on Instagram, then, as a rule, they are from afar and by chance, in between times.

  Kitsenko: Angry, from work. Now she will talk to you and return to the office - and it is already eight in the evening, because her employees did not submit her assignments by the established deadline, which was Friday (today is Monday). Polina Kitsenko is a person who sits in the office 10 hours a day.

  Kremer: Now is such a tense period, because there is a crisis?

  Kitsenko: Of course, since the economic situation is not the most favorable either in the country or in the world, no one can relax, including us. I have never worked as much as I do now.

  Kremer: What about delegating authority?

  Kitsenko: Unfortunately, there is no one in particular to delegate my powers to, although we have a huge team. In general, there are very few personnel on the market who are capable of implementing tasks at an uncontrolled level. There are a lot of “creative” people who light up instantly and go out just as quickly. I have a lot of ideas myself, but I know from all my friends, business owners, that the percentage of ideas implemented reaches, God forbid, 30-40. And if you don’t remind, don’t take control, don’t direct, don’t set fire, don’t light the fuse, then you don’t have to hope that someone will bring you results. You see, working in big strokes is much easier than being the person who will scrupulously bring ideas to the final result. These so-called impressionists are a dime a dozen. And there are only a few hard workers and bees who work in the “devil is in the details” mode. Hard workers and bees, on whom all this execution...

  “I would like to believe that I was never dressed stupidly”

  Kremer: Let's rewind a little: your business began around 1994, when the Podium brand was registered. How did you come to this? What did you want to become when you were in high school?

  Kitsenko: When I was ten years old, I wanted to be a geologist and look for precious stones. My parents had a book about interesting geology, with color photographs that fascinated me. This was partially realized, by the way. We opened the Podium Jewelery network.

  Chudinova: And then?

  Kitsenko: I studied at an English special school. Where did everyone go from Moscow special schools in those years? Institute of Foreign Languages ​​named after Maurice Thorez or MGIMO. At first, I was also going to enter MGIMO at the Faculty of International Information for a newly emerging specialty with the mysterious name Public Relations (it is symbolic that everything in life is returning to normal: today one of my main responsibilities is PR, although I have a specialized education I didn’t get it, but what I do today at work cannot be learned in any of the institutes in the world), I worked seriously in this direction. And then at the last moment my dad offered me the International University, which had just been opened by Gavriil Popov and Mikhail Gorbachev. I quickly entered the law faculty there, for free education, and thought that I wanted to stay there.

  
  

  Chudinova: How could you answer this rather simple question: where do you get your taste for things?

  Kitsenko: I probably didn’t and couldn’t have had a taste for things initially. He has evolved. When you don't have any opportunities in life, how do you know whether you have a taste for things or not? After all, I lived in an ordinary, simple Soviet family. Dad was an official, held a serious post in the prosecutor's office, but we lived from paycheck to paycheck. I didn't have a bike. I didn’t have imported pencil cases or bubble gum, and my first Barbie was given to me as a symbol for my 18th birthday. I wasn't a major girl.

  Kremer: Do you remember yourself at that time when you still dressed stupidly?

  Kitsenko: I want to believe that I was never dressed very stupidly. After all, I studied at a special school, and at some point I was sent on a student exchange to America. It changed me a lot. I remember that I immediately started dressing: Lee jeans, Reebok sneakers. In 1991 it was chic.

  Chudinova: But at the same time, you have become a person who is involved in the development of the fashion industry and dresses majors. Where does this sense of audience come from?

  Kitsenko: It didn't fall from the sky. At first I just got married. My husband had a company called Podium, he had one store, and he absolutely did not want us to work together. But I wanted to work in fashion so much that I made every effort to educate myself in this area, and not from the point of view of a consumer who endlessly measures and wears, wears and tries. In addition, I had an unlimited specific resource, even just my own store. I began to take a very active interest in what was happening in the industry, subscribed to all the magazines, and became interested in our retail. I have always believed that wherever you sow, it grows.

  It was the end of the 1990s, and all luxury had skyrocketed, not only here but around the world. There was Dior, there was Galliano, there was also Gianfranco Ferré, Gaultier cheered up and made his own pret-a-porter line, Stella McCartney had just arrived at Chloe, and then she was just a girl with a huge surname. The period of revival of the great houses, already eaten away by moths, began. This was the period when Louis Vuitton hired Marc Jacobs, and before that Louis Vuitton was a mothball-covered brand that no one wanted. These brands began to be picked up, purchased and reincarnated by the LVMH concern. Tom Ford had just joined Gucci, and none of us knew what Gucci was before.

  Chudinova: I was surprised when you said that you were not a major. I thought that you always focused on your circle and dressed it. You are more likely to move from luxury to mass market than vice versa.

  
  

  Kitsenko: What we do at Podium Market is not exactly a mass market. This is a relatively new niche, and it did not form here. We have picked up the Western trend. Understand that there is a crisis in many industries all over the world, and this is not a coincidence. Over the past 20 years, luxury has developed rapidly, every year new collections were imposed on us, a complete change of wardrobe, red, not red, red again, black is no longer in fashion. Brands, logomania. All houses began to produce no longer even four collections a year, because it was necessary to keep production evenly loaded throughout the year. We, consumers, were forced to constantly buy. At some point it had to end. There has been overconsumption on a global level: none of us need that much stuff. No one has the strength to move mirrors and lipsticks from bag to bag anymore. On the other hand, there were the magnificent concerns Zara, Top Shop, etc. - cool things that have improved a lot lately, but still still require the first or second wash. Everything had to come to some kind of balance.

  That's why intermediate brands appeared, what we call affordable luxury. They release several collections a year and even every month, like fast fashion, but they are distinguished by high quality and reasonable prices. In terms of quality, they are almost as good as luxury. Rich people are no longer ready to buy themselves another T-shirt for 300 euros: they can go to American Vintage and buy a chic T-shirt for one and a half thousand rubles.

  That's why we made Podium Market. This did not happen in Russia.

  It is very important that fashion has now made all possible leaps around its axis. Please note: new trends are no longer emerging. The cowboy style is always fashionable in the summer, the rock 'n' roll girlfriend style is always fashionable in the fall. Stripes are always fashionable in the summer. It's always fashionable to be a lumberjack's girlfriend. Chanel has a timeless collection of ballet shoes that are no longer discounted, two or three colors are simply added in the next season. This means that nothing changes.

  Kremer: It turns out that you have borrowed the Western trend, which means there is some lag. Have you observed in your own business how the Russian consumer has changed? How have demands and consumption culture changed?

  Kitsenko: Now there is no longer any lag. Our people have a unique ability to instantly absorb all the best that is around. There was some kind of mismatch in the 1990s, but remember how quickly it disappeared. There was a moment when dashing women stormed the plane in high heels and jeans with rhinestones. The first thing that betrayed and still sometimes betrays our compatriots is not even a lack of taste, there is no arguing about tastes, but, first of all, it is inappropriateness. For me in fashion, in general, the most important question is not what to wear, but where am I going and why am I going there. Only after this you need to ask yourself the third question: what will I wear there? Our compatriots in the 1990s did not understand at all where they were going and why, but they clearly knew where they wanted to be.

  
  

  "We don't sell souvenirs"

  Chudinova: Once we were talking with, and she said: “You see, in Russia there is no fashion as an industry at all.”

  Kitsenko: This is probably an old interview with Alena. Now the market situation has changed.

  Chudinova: My question, actually, is about how the fashion industry in Russia is structured today.

  Kitsenko: Apparently, at the moment when you spoke with Alena, there were still other times. Podium on Novinsky was the first store in Russia that began selling Russian designers on a par with expensive Western brands.

  Kitsenko: Yes, and in 2000 it hung literally between Gautier and Alberta Ferretti. We were innovative in supporting the domestic manufacturer in this way.

  Kremer: How many Russian designers do you have now?

  Kitsenko: I won’t be able to calculate it, but about 30% of our portfolio, which means dozens. Just a few years ago I would not have believed that this was possible. You know, in Russia we didn’t have fashion as such. We had these strange fashion weeks all the time, and of course there were questions about them. They invited some really strange people who showed us strange images. And in parallel, companies, brands and designers have developed that are not shown anywhere, but make beautiful clothes. They sew it here, in Russian factories, in Moscow, the Moscow region, in distant retreats, in distant regions. Of course, these are not the same volumes yet, but judging by our store, these are leaps and bounds. These companies have active production, which even during the season allows us to place additional orders for the model we like. This is something we couldn’t even dream of before. In these Russian brands and things that we have hanging there, there is no lubok, there is no this chlamydomonas.

  Kremer: Do they have Russian recognizability?

  Kitsenko: It depends on the style in which the designer works. There are Ukrainian or Russian designers who like to develop the history of national costume with a modern twist. Some people do it perfectly. For a couple of years now (summer is that time of year), everyone from Ralph Lauren to Isabel Marant has been making embroidered shirts. Why can't our designers do this, given that it's our DNA? I am generally against dividing designers along national lines. Of course, in the late 1990s it was fashionable to group: these are Japanese designers, these are Belgian designers, these are Americans, these are French...

  Kremer: The Italians are still recognizable.

  Kitsenko: That’s exactly what it is “still” and with difficulty. Which of them retained the authenticity? Even Gucci and Pucci no longer sell their prints; they stopped selling a long time ago. We need to evolve somehow. Today the world is cosmopolitanized like never before. We have all the designers at Podium Market hanging interspersed. We don’t have such a contemptuous and derogatory division: but this is the top floor, the penultimate nook, the “Russian block.” We do not divide our designers based on nationality.

  Kremer: Is the demand for patriotism that has arisen in our country recently reflected in your assortment?

  Kitsenko: We do not sell souvenirs.

  Kremer: But in society there is a desire to dress in everything Russian?

  Kitsenko: It is there. It’s just that “Russian” used to mean cheap prints, bad taste and poor quality. Today, “Russian” in the middle segment with which we work at Podium Market is high quality, inexpensive, and relevant. Within the framework of the trends that exist in fashion today. How is this inferior to Western colleagues? Nothing.