Tatyana Mikhalkova and other stars who started out as a model

– In the 70s, everyone dreamed of being cosmonauts, teachers, doctors, and little was known about the profession of fashion models. Now the names of models are known to the whole world, but then the Soviet Union lived behind the Iron Curtain, we had a single fashion magazine, the country dressed according to patterns, although factories were working, and fabrics were being produced, and clothes were being sewn. I got to the All-Union House of Models by accident. I walked along Kuznetsky Most, upset that I was not hired as an English teacher at MAI, they said that I was very young, I looked like a student, my skirt was too short – everything in my appearance did not suit them. On the way, I saw an advertisement for a set of models in the House of Models. The monthly artistic council was held there. Artistic director Turchanovskaya, leading artists and budding Slava Zaitsev were present. I don’t know how I decided to go, because I didn’t understand what to do. But Slava, seeing me, immediately said: “Oh, what legs, hair! Botticelli’s image of a young beauty. We take! ” Although such fashionable, tall girls came there. And I was not even tall – 170 cm, and my weight was only 47 kilograms. Although the ideal height for the model is 175–178, while Slava’s girls even under one meter and eighty took to the podium. But then the image of Twiggy, a fragile girl, became in demand on the catwalks, and I approached. Then they gave me the nickname “institute”, and Leva Anisimov, our only male model, teased “roar” because she weighed very little.

Later I realized that when I got into the All-Union House of Fashion Models, I pulled out a lucky ticket. It was an accident, but I got the chance, which I used. The fashion house was the only one that traveled abroad, representing the Soviet Union, outstanding artists with honors diplomas worked there, thanks to whose developments the whole country dressed and put on shoes, the best fashion models appeared on the podium. Actresses and ballerinas, party leaders and their wives, spouses of diplomats and even heads of foreign states dressed there.

I was issued a work book, the entry in it was “Model”. The work began strictly at 9 o’clock in the morning, a woman from the personnel department met us at the entrance, and we often left at 12 at night. We took part in fittings, in daily shows, in the evenings we went to the Hall of Columns, to the House of Cinema, to VDNKh, to the embassies. It was impossible to refuse. From the outside it seems that everything is a beautiful picture, easy work, but in fact it is overwhelming. By the evening, your legs were cramping from the fact that you are constantly on heels, besides, then there was no army of makeup artists and stylists, we ourselves made up, did our hairstyles.

The work of a fashion model was considered unskilled. Salary – 70-80 rubles per month, however, they paid extra separately for filming. We had our advantages. After showing the collection, we could buy things that were shown on the podium, or sew a thing according to patterns. I remember that I liked the midi skirt so much, as soon as I put it on, they always applauded me on the catwalk, and when I bought it, I got out in it, went down the subway, and no one even turned their head. This is probably the effect of a scene, image, make-up. Later, I was transferred to the experimental workshop for a more privileged position without daily screenings. Collections for foreign shows were developed there, and the possibility of trips abroad opened up.

Of course, everyone dreamed about it. To become an exit site, we needed an unblemished reputation. After all, we represented the country, we were its face. Even demonstrating clothes on the podium, they had to radiate happiness with all their appearance, smile. Now models are walking with gloomy faces. Before going abroad, we were summoned to the KGB and asked questions. On foreign trips, we were forbidden a lot – to communicate with foreigners, to walk on our own, even to drink one coffee in the hotel lobby. We had to sit together in the room. I remember the girls went to bed in the evening, made up in bed, in clothes, and after the inspector made an evening round, they ran to the disco. I did not go with them, I was waiting for news from Nikita (future husband, director Nikita Mikhalkov. – Approx. “Antenna”), who then served in the army, and letters abroad did not reach.

My personal life has developed in part thanks to the podium. Once we had a small screening in the White Hall of the House of Cinema, and at that time Rolan Bykov’s film “Telegram” was being shown in the neighboring hall, then Nikita saw me … The whole House of Models gathered me for the first date. Although the management did not welcome this relationship, our director Viktor Ivanovich Yaglovsky even said: “Tanya, why do you need this Marshak (as he for some reason called Nikita), you don’t need to appear with him in public.” We weren’t married yet, and a trip to America was planned.

Later Nikita often introduced me as a teacher, not a fashion model. He didn’t like my profession. It seemed that when I came to the House of Models, I was changing biologically. The very atmosphere has such an effect on me. Didn’t want me to paint. He even made me wash off all my makeup when I came on my first date. I was surprised: “Your artists put on makeup in films.” But when I was engaged in translations, taught at Stroganovka, I had nothing against it. Well, what man would like that everyone turns to his beloved, looks at her? This time is different now – some are ready to pay for their wife to appear in a magazine or on a screening, help her make a career in film and television.

In the House of Models, girls rarely shared personal details, because they could be used against you when the question of who would go abroad was being decided. Some joined the party to be away. Sometimes I noticed that some models are constantly taken to foreign shows, but much later I learned that, it turns out, they had patrons. I had no idea about this, they did not initiate each other into such things.

On the catwalk in the 70s, fashion models reigned over 30. Because, first of all, they developed models for working women who could afford to buy such outfits. This is now a replicated image of a teenage girl. And we also had elderly fashion models, they worked in the House of Models for a long time, they even retired. Here is Valya Yashina, when I worked there, she showed the age-old clothes.

I met the prima Regina Zbarskaya when she once again left the hospital and was again taken to the Model House. Her fate was tragic, she had already suffered for her love (Regina shone on the podium in the 60s, after her husband’s betrayal she tried several times to commit suicide. – Approx. “Antenna”). Previously, there was a star of the catwalk, but when I returned, I saw that a different time had come, new images, younger girls. Regina realized that she could not enter the same river twice, and she did not want to be like everyone else. And again she went to the hospital. Later she worked for Zaitsev at his Fashion House.

In the team, I was friends mainly with Galya Makusheva, she comes from Barnaul, then left for America. Many scattered around the world when the Iron Curtain opened, and some had to leave the Union even earlier. Galya Milovskaya emigrated when the magazine published her scandalous photo, where she sits on a pavement with her back to the Mausoleum, legs apart. Mila Romanovskaya went to live in France with the artist Yuri Kuperman, Ellochka Sharova – to France, Augustina Shadova – to Germany.

I worked as a fashion model for five years, and carried both Anya and Tema (Anna and Artem Mikhalkov. – Approx. “Antenna”) on the podium. And then she left. And, on the one hand, I was happy, because I saw how the children were growing, on the other, some kind of stagnation had already begun, it became uninteresting. Yes, and I was tired of such work. It is now the model concludes an agreement with an agency, can work anywhere in the world, a different order of fees, and then there was no point in holding on to a job.

I am grateful that there was such a period in my life. We, fashion models, felt like pioneers: the first mini, shorts. I was lucky to work with outstanding artists, travel around the country, represent the country abroad, participate in unique shows such as for the first lady of the United States Pat Nixon and the wife of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Victoria Brezhneva. We lived in such a creative atmosphere that later I could not understand for a long time why, even when traveling abroad with Nikita, I could not acquire anything for myself. It seemed indecent to me to buy ready-made clothes. You need to be creative, first get inspired, choose a fabric, come up with a style, act as an artist. After all, we demonstrated haute couture things at the shows.

When ten years ago we filmed the program “You are a supermodel” (I was the chairman of the jury there), I never tired of wondering what an amazing gene pool we have: girls from Russia worked on the catwalks of Paris, Milan and New York. But even then the situation changed, the days of such models as Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford, who had been successful in their careers for decades, are over. Now we need new faces, at 25 you are already an old woman. Designers have different requirements, it is important for them that people come to look at clothes, and not at model stars.

Involvement in the world of fashion in my youth gave me a lot, and after years I decided to return to this industry, but in a different capacity. In 1997, she organized the Russian Silhouette Foundation, which helps young designers to make themselves known. Time has put everything in its place. Now Nikita does not think that I am engaged in a frivolous business, supports me. Slava Zaitsev helped me find new names in the fashion world, with whom we have been friends for half a century, he is my talisman in life. Sometimes up to 200 models go to the shows of “Russian Silhouette”. Thanks to the experience of previous work, I immediately see those girls who can have a great future …

After school, I worked as a librarian for some time, attended courses, was going to enter, but somehow I saw an advertisement for filming in a fashion magazine, which was published by a model house on Kuznetsky Most, and they took me there. I was 174 cm tall, weighed 51 kg and in my 20s I looked younger, they gave me 16. It was good for a magazine, but not for shows in the House of Models. I was advised to contact the GUM showroom. I got to the artistic council, and I was accepted. They didn’t teach anything on purpose, and only after a couple of weeks I stopped being very afraid to go to the podium.

The showroom was located on the first line of the third floor, with windows facing the Kremlin and the Mausoleum. We had a sewing workshop and a workshop for designers, fabrics, footwear and fashion departments. The clothes were made from fabrics offered by GUM. We had our own fashion magazine, photographer, artists. 6-9 people worked as models. Clothes were sewn separately for each one, not all things of a different model you could put on yourself. On ordinary days there were two shows, on Saturday – three, on Thursday and Sunday we had a rest. Everything was somehow family-like, simple and without any competition. Newcomers were greeted kindly, given time to get used to, then accepted. Some women have worked there for 20 years.

The demonstration hall also served as a meeting place, Komsomol members gathered there, so the slogan “Forward, to the achievements of the party and government!” Hung above. And when our hour came, a “tongue” was put forward on wheels – a podium that stretched across the entire hall. The parquet was creaking, there were plush curtains, awning curtains, a huge crystal chandelier, which was then sold to some provincial theater … During my work, I acquired the skill of showing clothes. The audience loved me because I endured every thing with my own mood. The commentary of the announcer was superimposed on this, they were our colleagues, the models of the older generation. Their advice taught me a lot. Both for us and for the audience, 45-60 minutes of the show was a school of clothing culture.

The entry in the labor book was listed as “a demonstrator of clothing models, a worker of the V category.” The rate was 84–90 rubles plus the progressive rate, which depended on the function of the hall, the sale of tickets and the collection. The monthly premium could reach 40 rubles, but then the cost of living was 50 rubles. Cheese cost 3 rubles. 20 kopecks, Swiss – 3 rubles. 60 kopecks The ticket for the show is 50 kopecks.

A year after I came to GUM, I went with a new collection to Czechoslovakia and Poland. Over the years of work as a fashion model, she has visited abroad 11 times, including in Hungary and Bulgaria. GUM was friends with large department stores in these countries. We could buy clothes that were shown on the catwalk, but famous people had priority. We bought Tatyana Shmyga, an operetta singer, actors, wives of store directors. For a long time I wore these things, they fit me, then I gave them to my relatives. As relics, I no longer store anything, and I did not even tear off the white rags on my clothes, where it was written what kind of collection, year of release, what artist and what kind of craftswoman sewed.

The GUM showroom is my age, it was organized in 1953, I came there in 1974 and worked for five years with a break from shooting in the film Through Thorns to the Stars (writer Kir Bulychev and director Richard Viktorov saw Elena’s photo in a fashion magazine and realized who can play the alien Niya. – Approx. “Antenna”) and the birth of a child. She returned again and took to the podium until 1988. When my son Sasha was two years old, she starred in “Guest from the Future”, and then they wouldn’t let me go. The podium was closed a few years after the start of perestroika, because other requirements appeared, young people were needed, and 60-year-old models also worked in GUM at one time. 

Despite the great success of the film “Through Thorns to the Stars” (in the first year of its release it attracted 20,5 million viewers. – Approx. “Antenna”), I did not have a desire to enter VGIK: I clearly understood that only a feature sounded in the film my appearance. Such a takeoff for a real actor would serve as a great springboard in the profession, but since I did not apply for it, it could not help me. You need to burn with acting. Moreover, she did not have a good memory for this. As a model, I also showed each image in a certain mood, but silently. I had a good female profession, it would be unreasonable to take and give up everything.

Later I heard that “Through Thorns to the Stars” received a prize in Italy (at the 1982 International Science Fiction Film Festival in Trieste, Metelkina was recognized as the best actress. – Note “Antennas”). There was no one from our picture, which aroused great interest. And the prize was awarded to Donatas Banionis, who was there as an actor of Solaris, but no one knows where the award went.

In the 90s, I worked as an assistant for businessman Ivan Kivelidi (considered one of the richest people in Russia. – Approx. “Antenna”), after his murder I remained in his office, was both a secretary and a cleaner. Then another life began – she began to go to church, also helped to clean up, made friends with the parishioners. Then they took me as a teacher to children with developmental delays. We walked with them, made friends, drank tea, prepared lessons. Later she worked in a clothing store. I came there on the announcement that fashion models are required. She showed clothes, taught girls how to do it, made announcements, because the store director believed that my voice inspires confidence. Then I remembered my GUM, how our announcers worked, and gave out the classics of my youth. I also acquired the skill of working as a salesperson. To do this, you need to be able to feel the wishes of the buyer, know the assortment, ask what a woman has in her wardrobe, and help supplement it in order to make her more beautiful. Then I moved to a shoe store, closer to home. I still sometimes meet someone at the bus stop, I don’t remember them anymore, but people thank: “I still wear it, thanks for helping.”

Different things happened to me. I myself did not get involved in any stories. But, if this happened to me, it can be called a school of life. Bringing a marriage adventurer to the house and settling him in his parents’ Moscow apartment, she scolded herself for this (on the set of the film “Through Thorns to the Stars” Elena met her future husband, later he tried to sue her for housing. – Approx. “Antenna”). Now you can simply register a person, but then, having registered, he had the right to living space. An absolutely criminal, criminal element. We fought with him for four years. This deprived me of special trust in the male sex and suspended the formation of a family, although I saw good examples before my eyes: my sister had been married for 40 years, my parents had been together all their lives. It seemed to me: either good, or not at all. I am friends with men, I am not shy of them, but in order to let them close, I am not. In a couple, first of all, there should be trust and respect, they did not send me such a situation.

Now I serve at the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Pokrovsky-Streshnevo. It is located in the forest, near the ponds, next to the estate of Princess Shakhovskoy. We have our own life there: a zoo, slides, children’s parties. Now my communication with customers takes place in the store at the church on the themes: church books, gifts for the wedding, for the day of the angel, icons, candles, notes, which I call letters of love. When a customer asks me: “Where can I get the papers?” I answer: “Forms. For your love letters. ” She smiles and prays with a smile.

My son used to repair cars, but now he also runs a bakery and a grocery store with me at the church. He is 37 years old, has not yet married, wants to find a girlfriend, but over the years he has become demanding. Somehow with the priests, we are good with him, they are understandable people.

Five years ago I was the same weight as in my youth, and now I have recovered, I weigh 58 kg (Elena is 66 years old. – Approx. “Antenna”). I do not adhere to diets, but, as I fast, my weight is normalized. Fasting limits the thoughtless use of food and pleasure. And the appetite goes out, and the emotions subside.

– As a teenager, at the age of 11, I stretched out very much, was ashamed of my height and therefore stooped. This was the reason why my mother sent me to study for a fashion model, although, to be honest, I wanted to practice dancing. I never liked the profession of a model, I never dreamed of becoming one, but it became necessary to correct my posture and gait, because I was not just stooped, but almost hunchbacked. At school, they taught me to keep my back, to move correctly – not like a pretzel, but like a young beautiful girl. When you are used to being bent, and then they put a book on your head, which always falls, they put a ruler on your back well, so that you understand that you cannot walk like that … We had ethics classes, shooting in a photo studio, we studied styles, I would said that in the aggregate, this is all quite a developing and interesting event for the girl. And in his student years, modeling became a part-time job. I did not plunge into this profession so as to achieve something significant in it. For my swimming, this is initially too small a basin. I starred in commercials, walked the catwalk, participated in beauty contests, because it’s fun and I liked winning gifts: a hairdryer, a kettle, chocolates. When I came from Krasnodar to Moscow, I continued to participate in similar events, but not to show everyone what a beauty I am, or to become a model at the international level. I just quickly realized that this entire segment of modeling, show business and cinema is closely related to each other. I needed to enter this society. And on the podium, I was bored and therefore hooligans, smiled, threw off my shoes and threw them into the hall, sang songs, and therefore all the funny titles like “Miss Charm”, “Miss Charm” were for me.

Did I feel heightened male attention? It is somehow small for my person in life. Not because I’m not pretty, just never was of interest to the opposite sex as easy prey, it was written on my face that I was not that fruit. Therefore, neither at that time nor later did I experience any discomfort. Many people think that actresses go up the career ladder through bed. But do you know who thinks so? Not men, but women who did not achieve what they dreamed about, and you made their desires a reality. That’s all. Such envious persons believe that we just walk around the stage, say the text, do nothing special, we are the same with them, but they are honest and therefore work in the office, and our success is only through the bed. Men don’t think so. In principle, they are afraid of successful women. If you are like that, you have intelligence and it is visible on your face, they immediately have fear. What is there to pester? They will think a hundred times what to say before approaching, so as not to feel humiliated and not to be rejected.

My modeling experience helped me during my teenage years. And then it was not useful in any way. Firstly, what I studied then is no longer relevant now, and secondly, for further movement forward, the program becomes more complicated. Wit, hard work, curiosity, and a commitment to improving your body and abilities are already required. You need to be a plowman first.