For SLAVA ZAITSEV, the cataclysmic changes in the political and economic structure of the former Soviet Union drastically changed the nature of his fashion business and enabled him to show his serious art work as well.
Once Mr. Zaitsev, who is 54 years old, was the only Soviet couturier permitted by the Government to put his name on his designs, and he dressed RAISA GORBACHEV. Now she is no longer a customer, but JANE FONDA is.
"The current situation is not making it easier for me as a fashion designer, because prior to the recent changes my fashion house was the largest in Russia and was entirely financed by the Government," he said the other day, speaking from Beverly Hills, Calif. "Now I am entirely responsible personally for all financial and other aspects of running a very large business. I am paying out of my personal income."
Mr. Zaitsev's remarks were translated from Russian by SERGE SOROKKO, president of the Bowles/Sorokko Galleries, which are exhibiting his paintings and drawings this month in both Beverly Hills and New York.
A lifelong painter, Mr. Zaitsev was never free to show his art before "because his work was outside the dogmas of socialist realism," Mr. Sorokko explained. "He was permitted to paint only for his own soul. When I visited his home in Moscow, I saw 20 years of pictorial work on his walls."
Mr. Zaitsev said that he was managing to sustain his fashion house in spite of the economic distress in his country. On Saturday, some of his fashion designs were modeled in New York.
"Yes, the market is limited to just a small group," he said, "primarily the new rich, the new entrepreneurs and the still well-paid cultural elite, actors, writers and the diplomatic corps. And now, a huge amount of the clothes are acquired by foreign tourists from all over the world. Just recently Jane Fonda and TED TURNER bought some clothes from me; so did HERB RITTS, the photographer."