Russia’s “Most Stylish”

Covering fashion for WWD, I've seen the best that Moscow has to offer. And by best I mean worst. Designers of the world: this place needs help.

I just came across this delicious nugget of news: last week, Russia's version of Hello! magazine handed out awards for “The Most Stylish in Russia.” Now relax your eyeballs and read on. We've got five awards to get through.

The award for most stylish went to Yulia Snigir, a very pretty actress but not one best known for wearing clothes:

The award in the “classic” category went to Sati Spivakova (probably because she does enjoy wearing clothes that actually cover up her body). Spivakova is a mainstay of what passes for the elite party scene here and is best known for being married to virtuoso violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov.

Moving on, we've got Russian “It Girl” Ksenia Sobchak winning the award in the “casual” category. Sobchak is ubiquitious, and has most recently graced Russian TV by hosting Top Model Po-Russki, Russia's answer to America's Next Top Model. She once dressed like this:

Next up is the award for “Bohemian Chic” and that went to Yana Rudkovskaya, a tabloid favorite and wife of figure skater Yevgeny Plyushenko. I once sat next to her at a dinner where the main topic of converation, I kid you not, was how one young woman at the table freaked out when she saw a sonogram of her soon-to-be born daughter. “But she's got such fat thighs, doctor! Is there anything we can do to fix it?” Here's Rudkovskaya. What do you think – Bohemian?

Most stylish man went to Ivan Urgant, a popular TV host and requisite emcee for whatever passes as a big Russian pop culture event.

And then we've got Hello!'s version of a lifetime achievement award. It went to Soviet-era film actress Yelena Bystritskaya. I don't like making fun of the elderly, so I won't include her picture here.

Russia's leading society columnist Bozhena Rynska wrote up the event. After complaining about the club and the poor food served at the awards show, she writes: “Cultivating style … is an almost hopeless thing, because there are practically no stylish women in Russia.”

“We have beautiful actresses,” she writes. “They are famous to a huge audience, but they don't have the time, or the possibilities, to work on style (and this is round-the-clock work).”

For the record, my award for most stylish would most definitely have gone to socialite Uliana Sergienko, who showed up to the awards wearing a kerchief and a see-through top.