"We are very proud that we have made the Russian brand in demand in the world"

To show the beauty of a woman's body, it is not necessary to expose it, designer Yulia Yanina is responding to the ban on "naked" dresses at the Cannes Film Festival, where she is currently representing a Russian fashion house with her daughter Daria. The history of YANINA Couture began in Saratov in 1993, and today the brand participates in the largest events in the world — it regularly presents collections during Paris Haute Couture Week, creates images for stars of the first magnitude. Yulia and Daria Yanina spoke about their collaboration with Jennifer Lopez and their friendship with Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria, their work on the Netflix project, the Oscar price and how Russian fashion designers are perceived abroad today in an exclusive interview with Izvestia on the Cote d'Azur.

"When you wear only a thong and a transparent dress, beauty is out of the question"

— This year, the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival unexpectedly introduced a dress code and banned "naked" dresses. How did you take this decision?

Yulia Yanina: — The recent trend is to wear only thongs and a transparent dress without a top. I am categorically against such revelations and I believe that there is no longer any question of beauty here. It's just a challenge and, in the end, vulgarity. To show the beauty of a woman's body, it is not necessary to expose it.

— How much do the stars trust the fashion designer? Have you ever had any moods in your practice?

Yulia Yanina: — When a relationship develops over the years, of course, they trust. In this case, I act not only as a designer, but also as a stylist. I feel the woman, the mood, the character, and I offer options. But if earlier, in my youth, I offered 10 bows, now I have two, maximum three, in case the weather or mood changes — anything happens. As for the whims, there have been different situations, of course. From the series: "Don't you have the same one, but with pearl buttons?"

We try to be considerate. We do not return to those stars with which there is some kind of tension. For us, this is the 14th Cannes Film Festival, and we have never had a task to dress in any way. My daughter Dasha makes a selection, because it is very important that the style and aesthetics of a fashion house suit the right heroine, and vice versa. And you have to have the courage and character to refuse beautifully if this union does not work out.

— Who are you collaborating with this year at the Cannes Film Festival?

Yulia Yanina: — We dressed supermodel Adriana Sklenarikova. She attended the premiere of Rebecca Zlotowski's French detective novel "Private Life" in our couture dress with imitation wings. After that, model Clara Berry shone in our image on the track. Other exits are planned, and we are preparing surprises. In addition, we annually participate in charity events within the framework of the film festival. We created a dress that was wonderfully sold at the Global Gift Foundation auction. Its honorary ambassador is Eva Longoria, with whom we have been friends for 12 years. Her events are always luxurious, but very intimate. There are 120 guests in total. She has the same principle — she invites friends, real colleagues, those she wants to see. Some of them came specially for one evening, and this, of course, is very valuable.

Daria Yanina: — The characters were serious — Kevin Spacey, who, in my opinion, has not yet officially appeared in Cannes, Adrian Brody, Lauren Sanchez (the fiancee of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos) became the guest of honor. — Ed.).

Yulia Yanina: — Ahead is the gala evening of the amfAR AIDS Research Foundation. There will also be an auction, where the lots will be presented by leading fashion houses. We became the only participant of the event from Russia.

— How many outfits did you bring to Cannes?

Yulia Yanina: — We do not predict how many stars we will wear. It's an unpredictable moment. First of all, we are not a large corporation, but a family business, and we do not have a budget. There are festivals where, as now, there are continuous contractual exits. For example, Emma Stone is a Louis Vuitton ambassador and only comes out in it. We always have organic alliances — the heroine must fall in love with the outfit, and, as they say, magic happens. In previous seasons, it was like this — every day one of the stars came out, and sometimes more than one. For us, this means that we hardly sleep, we receive concierges at night, and the first fitting is at ten.

Now we have changed our strategy due to Dashuli's situation — she is expecting her second child. We have chosen for ourselves, as representatives of the Fashion House, the main events, the most powerful.

"We dressed the main character of Anna Karenina for Netflix"

— Maybe you managed to watch something just as an audience?

Yulia Yanina: — We are fans of director Wes Anderson and attended the premiere of his new film "The Phoenician Scheme". To be honest, I was expecting the second "Grand Budapest Hotel" (laughs), but it turned out to be a bit confusing. What I really liked was the beautiful visualization, the gorgeous color scheme. Every frame is so well thought out that I enjoyed it!

— Have you thought about discussing cooperation with Anderson? After all, he always pays great attention to character costumes.

Yulia Yanina: — Every such serious creative leader has in advance in his head an idea of what it should look like and who will do it. For example, we fully dressed the main character of "Anna Karenina" with Svetlana Khodchenkova for Netflix. But things didn't work out there.…

— The project was put on the shelf.

Yulia Yanina: — Yes, but I hope that his hour will come, because it was incredible! YANINA Couture outfits are featured in all the main scenes. I think that when the project comes out, it will be very worthy!

"For Eva Longoria, it doesn't matter at all that we speak Russian"

— Are negotiations currently underway with the Paris Haute Couture Week about your return to the official schedule?

Yulia Yanina: — This is, of course, a very sad moment for us. We joined the Haute Couture Syndicate on the recommendation of Ralph Toledano, who was its president at the time. They became his protégés, let's say. And then, in the light of events in the world, we received an official letter that now we can do shows, but outside the official calendar. Nevertheless, we have maintained very good relations with the Syndicate. Since 2011, the Fashion house has been presenting couture collections twice a year as part of the Paris Haute Couture Week. We have an agency in the French capital.

Daria Yanina: — We continue on our way.

Yulia Yanina: — It is a huge responsibility and pride that we have made the Russian brand in demand in the world, made it fashionable. That's great! But sometimes we feel like soldiers alone at Paris Haute Couture Week. It is very difficult for a family business without support.

— And, of course, I would like to ask about the Oscar. They say that getting on the red carpet of the ceremony is the dream of any fashion house, but it is very difficult. Why?

Daria Yanina: — There is not a single dress at the Oscars that is there because you just liked it. Everything is only through money, through contracts. Moreover, many brands behave quite aggressively. At the last moment, they offer money to a stylist who will convince the talent to make a choice in favor of another brand. Unfortunately, this practice is not uncommon. For example, we already had a confirmed star dress, which we made specially, but it was outbid by others the day before the event.

Yulia Yanina: — By the way, we were so happy about Yura Borisov's nomination. We immediately wrote to his wife, because we had previously dressed her for Kinotavr. They even came to the fitting together then — a wonderful couple, such good guys. But this time we didn't get an answer (smiles). Although we sincerely wanted to create an image, patriotically, with all our love.

— What was your longest-term contractual relationship?

Daria Yanina: — We never make contracts. Our philosophy is friendship and love. This was the case with absolutely all the celebrities who wore YANINA Couture, including the biggest names, including Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga. We have been communicating with some of the stars for many years and making individual images for them. We would not like to turn all this into a dry scheme — paid, dressed.

Yulia Yanina: — Yes, money in the morning, chairs in the evening (laughs).

Daria Yanina: — And it's useless to fight with huge corporations like Kering, because what we see on the tracks — Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent — is all a lot of money.

— What is the approximate order of prices for a celebrity to appear in the image of a particular brand?

Yulia Yanina: — You have no idea!

Is it hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions?

Yulia Yanina: — Contracts are worth millions. And here's the red carpet…

Daria Yanina: — From tens to hundreds of thousands of euros. I read a story about Cannes that about half a million jewelry brands can offer a star of the first magnitude for the appearance of a certain piece of jewelry on the red carpet. The price order is very serious.

— Continuing the conversation about the philosophy based on friendship and love: are there any star clients who stopped cooperating after 2022 because you speak Russian?

Yulia Yanina: — Yes, of course. But there weren't many of them, fortunately. In 2022, we had situations where a celebrity said: "I'm ready to go out on the red carpet, but you have to make a statement." We position ourselves in a different way. We are for peace, love and beauty — this is how we unite nationalities and see our mission in this.

For Eva Longoria, for example, it doesn't matter at all that we speak Russian. She just treats us with great love, and when she sees us, she exclaims, "Oh, Janina!" She doesn't come to the festival, but the team took a suitcase of things to her for fitting in New York. The beautiful Jenny from Blackpink, although she is a Chanel ambassador, chose our dress to shoot the teaser of her first solo album.

During a difficult period, we presented the Phoenix collection in Paris, which symbolizes the rebirth of the heroine from the ashes no matter what. Wings were embroidered in each image. We gave the woman a sense of protection, that she could take off. It doesn't matter if she's Russian, Italian, French or Ukrainian. When the image of the Golden Phoenix appeared on the podium at the end of the show, all the audience cried regardless of nationality.

— Beauty will save the world, right?

Yulia Yanina: — Absolutely right! (He smiles)