Let's continue the vintage thread that started on Monday for at least another day by republishing a piece I did a while back for another publication about the boutique Victoria's Vintage in Moscow.
Collecting and acquiring vintage is a hobby that can at times turn into a very desirable job. At least that's what happened to Victoria Shamis.
After studying in London and falling in love with the local vintage stores and markets, Shamis decided to go back to her home country, Russia, and bring the trend to the local fashion fans.
Shamis first opened a boudoir-like atelier at the Metropol Hotel in central Moscow, then, at the end of last year, she launched her first proper boutique on Malaya Bronnaya Street.
Victoria's Vintage sells prominent fashion labels and designers including, Chanel, Dior, Schiaparelli, Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent and Mugler, but also perfectly preserved anonymous garments and accessories, including traditional costumes such as antique kimonos.
Despite Shamis claims educating customers is not always easy, her shop is supported by Russian socialites and fashion celebrities and she has a key business partner on her side as advisor, French king of vintage Didier Ludot.
Shamis's idea of introducing museum-level designs on the Russian market may prove well-timed: the market for vintage couture has started booming in Russia and, as more and more people understand the value of real high quality fashion, more consumers may be on the lookout for less trendy and more timeless designs that highlight not only the style and taste of the wearer, but also her knowledge of the history of fashion.
When did you start developing a passion for vintage?
Victoria Shamis: While studying fashion promotion at London's College of Fashion. We used to do a lot of different projects and one day we went to do one in Camden Town. This was a fascinating and surprising destination for me and on that special day we took for one of our photoshoots an old 1903 Louis Vuitton piece of luggage that still had all the stickers on it. I felt inspired and fascinated by the story of the person behind that trunk and started wondering who the trunk had belonged to. Little by little, I developed a passion for the entire process of looking for things, searching and literally digging among the stocks of stores and markets to find a really good piece. This became a sort of secret hobby and while preparing for my graduation I was dreaming about opening my own vintage boutique. Yet I knew perfectly well that in London there are a lot of vintage shops so there is a huge competition and you really must come up with something new. I also come from a business family, so I began investigating the market more in-depth and realised one option was opening in Moscow.
What did you do before going back to Moscow?
Victoria Shamis: I started working in London and interned for a while at Alexander McQueen. I had access to the house's archives, and used to go there to understand how the process of making but also of collecting fashion started. Even though McQueen was young everything he made seemed to be extremely interesting. I stayed for another year, and then I moved onto a completely different scene. I travelled for a while, and went to New York and France exploring the vintage markets. While I was there I met Didier Ludot. He is a great collector and has owned vintage shops in Paris' Palais-Royal for 40 years. Mr Ludot started advising me on things to collect and he became my business partner.
Where do you buy the garments and accessories you sell in your boutique?
Victoria Shamis: I travel a lot and go to different auctions and antique markets. I find the whole research process very interesting, but you also have to be very careful with the replicas. The pieces I aim for are at museum level. I stock for example pieces by fashion houses such as Madame Grès and Yves Saint Laurent among the others.
Is there a designer you discovered or rediscovered during your researches?
Victoria Shamis: Paul Poiret. He was really extraordinary, truly amazing. He is just one of the many designers I learnt to love. But the list is long and features also other ones such as Madame Grès and Jean Patou. The cut and the fit of their designs was absolutely beautiful. These houses seemed to have great secrets in their archives and discovering them through the designs I buy for the boutique is a privilege. Contemporary fashion often takes inspiration from previous designers, but the pieces stocked here are the real thing and I find this aspect very exciting.
What's the most challenging aspect of having a vintage shop in Moscow?
Victoria Shamis: Educating people to fashion. Russia never had a proper fashion culture or tradition. This means you have to educate people to quality, cut and style and you also have to make people understand that the pieces stocked in my boutique aren't second-hand clothes, but museum level collector's items.
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