On the Boulevard of tears: who is behind the scandalous Courchevel Rendezvous press tour

Russians are massively "canceling" the shoe brand Rendez-Vous ("Rendezvous") due to an inappropriate and untimely luxury carousel in Courchevel, where the brand celebrated the 16th anniversary of the local boutique and the 25th anniversary of the chain in the company of domestic celebrities. People were outraged that the multimillion-dollar celebration took place against the backdrop of a difficult geopolitical situation in the world. The rank-and-file employees of Rendezvous are not thrilled either, as their salaries are being cut while the company's elites are walking in one of the most expensive resorts in the world. Izvestia found out who is behind the scandalous press tour, what problems the brand hides behind glossy photo and video reports from luxury trips, and why the participants of the celebration did not learn anything from the experience of the "naked party".

The scandalous Rendez-Vous press Tour

On social networks there are private air transport, oysters, expensive alcohol, snow—white smiles of star friends, dancing on tables and serene joy. Behind the scenes, there are lawsuits over defective items and salary cuts for ordinary employees.

"Our director went to Courchevel with his mistress," said a sales consultant at one of the capital's Rendez-Vous boutiques. — He used to arrange holidays for us. We received good salaries. It also depends on the seller. Some girls even worked seven days a week and received even 200 thousand salary. It is ok. And now the salary is 80 thousand, and you won't get more. That's why we have a lot of abbreviations. They also don't respect the director. They say: "Go away, no one is holding you back. There are no irreplaceable people."

Blind isolation from reality has turned into a big scandal for a well-known brand today, a loss of trust from customers and threatens to completely destroy its reputation. In honor of the 16th anniversary of its boutique in Courchevel and the 25th anniversary of the chain, the company threw a flashy expensive party at the French ski resort, which angered the public.

"At such a difficult time for the country, you are hosting a feast in an unfriendly country, continuing to earn money in Russia, where ordinary people who have only seen Courchevel in pictures bring you money. You've lost touch with reality", "How patriotic it is to celebrate a brand holiday in Courchevel", "A feast during the plague", "In principle, I will not take anything more from them. Just like that," users write under posts on the brand's official page on the social network.

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Rendez-Vous brought star friends for his birthday, including influencer Oksana Samoilova, model Elena Perminova, journalist Madonna Moore, actress Elizaveta Bazykina, fashion historian Anatole Vovk, stylist and TV presenter Alexander Rogov and others. A few days ago, they were all willing to blog about how the real rich rest. Against the background of the haight of real Rendez-Vous customers, their enthusiasm has decreased.— Do you think I will comment on this? Anastasia Poletaeva, one of the participants of the trip, who is known for her telegram channel and the YouTube show of the same name, replied to Izvestia.

— I went to work. It was a working meeting with the brand," Alexander Rogov succinctly commented on his participation in an interview with Izvestia.

The working conditions of the chosen ones' company were obviously better than those of the sales consultants in the chain's stores. The guests arrived in Courchevel by helicopter from Geneva. The cost of a five-seat turntable in one direction is approximately from €3 thousand to €5 thousand. They lived, presumably, at the Le Strato Hotel. Now the price for a room for two is from €2.5 thousand to € 9 thousand. On top of these expenses are skiing and snowboarding, expensive champagne, delicious meals and snacks. As a surprise, there is a concert by Patricia Kaas. It turns out to be a multimillion—dollar pleasure, which the Russian military has special questions about.

— I want to appeal to our elite, who, while the boys are fighting, are vacationing in the resorts of France, in Courchevel, sponsoring our enemies, sponsoring the Armed Forces of Ukraine, sponsoring those who kill us. I want to ask them a question — aren't you guys awesome? The country has been fighting for the fourth year, but what do you allow yourself? — Andrey, a member of the SVO, who is currently in the DPR, reacted. — We are shedding blood here, we have been shedding it for several years and we do not want to shed it in vain.

"The risk of becoming entrenched in the image of a brand living in a parallel reality"

This is not the first time that the brand has brought friends to Courchevel. In 2017, the store's birthday was also celebrated there. We accommodated guests at the Mercure hotel, took them to the restaurant Sabane du bucheron ("Logger's Hut"), and treated them to French champagne Ruinar. But now a lot has changed, and the negative reaction of the public could have been predicted with almost one hundred percent probability, experts in the field of PR say.

— The audience was outraged not by the press tour itself, but by the demonstrative luxury without regard to the context. When a mass—market brand shows private jets and Courchevel, it automatically causes irritation," Milena Dorokhina, creator of the FreeDoom Agency PR agency, explained in an interview with Izvestia. — For Rendez-Vous, this is the risk of losing touch with the mass customer and gaining a foothold in the image of a brand living in a parallel reality. Sales may not drop instantly, but loyalty is eroded in such stories. The stars will not be directly affected, but each such case makes them less convincing as "national" ambassadors.

Such ostentatious luxury also seems strange in the light of Nastya Ivleeva's still-to-be-forgotten sad experience of the "naked party," which had serious consequences for all involved and which, apparently, taught some nothing.

— Because the conclusions were drawn incorrectly: they decided that the problem was outrageous, not a demonstration of privilege. Society is annoyed not by the format of events, but by the feeling of unpunished luxury and lack of empathy. Until this is realized, scandals will be repeated," Dorokhina believes.

According to her, the brand has a chance to rehabilitate itself if it admits mistakes and returns the focus to the product and the customer, otherwise the negative image acquired now will become a stable label.

In the meantime, however, the company is in silence mode and does not react to the rapidly spreading fire around it. As a result, more and more problems come up behind the beautiful glossy pictures from the trip.

Firstly, there are questions about the past of Alina Mieva, brand director of Rendez-Vous, who met the guests of the press tour. According to Izvestia, she is from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. According to the source, Mieva was previously seen in webcam modeling. Explicit photos and videos of a girl who looks like her are on one of the sites. About 5,000 people have subscribed to Alina Mieva on social networks. The feed contains photos from social events and trips to other countries.

In addition, in November 2025, REN TV reported on numerous complaints from the brand's customers about the quality of the goods. Then it turned out that over the past few years Rendez-Vous had 127 trials in Moscow courts alone. Most of them are consumer protection lawsuits.

One of the recent cases: on December 1, 2025, according to SPARK, the company was warned by the Rospotrebnadzor office in Moscow after a customer complained about the quality of shoes he bought at Kashirskaya Plaza shopping center.

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Also, according to SPARK, Rendezvous LLC was repeatedly warned by Rostrud. So, among the latest — dated November 20, 2025. Then the Central Interregional Territorial State Labor Inspectorate received an appeal from an employee of the company about a violation of his rights regarding working hours and rest time, non-payment of wages in full (application of fines).

Who is behind Rendez-Vous

The first Rendez-Vous store was opened in 2000 in the Moscow GUM. According to the company's own data, the range includes more than 100 brands, including Tendance, Calzetti, Maison David, Versace Jeans Couture, MM6 Maison Margiela, Michael Kors and others. By the end of May 2025, the chain included 104 stores across the country, Forbes reported.

The brand also has stores in the French resort of Courchevel and Limassol, Cyprus. In the spring of 2025, the retailer launched a franchise to expand its regional expansion. By the end of 2024 (the latest available data), the company's revenue amounted to 36.9 billion rubles, which is 17% more than a year earlier, according to its RAS financial statements. Net profit for the same period decreased by 1.7 times, to 762.9 million rubles. Since May 2022, Mariam Bakhchinyan has owned 100% of the company's shares, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Before that, the retailer was controlled by her brother, Simon Bakhchinyan.

In the absence of official statements, Izvestia contacted the company for comment, but the PR service had not responded by the time the material was published. Social media users, meanwhile, recommend that the brand hurry up to put on "apologetic turtlenecks."

Julia Parker, Anastasia Chitinskaya, Denis Kuznetsov, Irina Tsyruleva