ICYMI #004 The Russians Are Back!

The rise, fall, exile and quiet return of fashion’s O.G. Tsarinas.

I was mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, catching up on the latest Fashion Week shows, double-tapping looks, rolling my eyes at the usual gimmicks, and taking mental notes for my recap, when I saw a familiar face. Elena Perminova. Front row.

I actually blinked, like my brain couldn’t process it. Elena Perminova? At Fashion Week? Wasn’t she, along with the rest of the Russian fashion elite, persona non grata after the invasion of Ukraine? Last I checked, the industry had collectively decided that Russian oligarch wives and their couture-clad soft power weren’t welcome anymore.

But there she was, posted up at the DIOR SHOW. Then again at Nina Ricci. And then at Balenciaga, where Demna once staged an entire show in solidarity with Ukrainian refugees. The same brand that made grand statements about war and exile now hosting Perminova, newly separated from her ex-husband, Alexander Lebedev, who remains sanctioned by Ukraine for his ties to Putin and investments in occupied Crimea.

Elena Perminova at Balenciaga. Credit: Instagram

So… is Russian wealth back in? Because it sure looks like the brands that once rushed to distance themselves have quietly moved on. Just like all those luxury houses that loudly announced they were pulling out of Russia, only to keep business running through third-party retailers—it seems like that little boycott had an expiration date.

So how did we get here?

Once upon a time, the Russian fashion pack ran the streets of Paris like they owned them. In a way, they did — or at least their billionaire husbands did. Ulyana Sergeenko, Miroslava Duma, Elena Perminova, Vika Gazinskaya,and a rotating cast of couture-clad women were the darlings of Fashion Week, swanning into shows in head-to-toe custom looks, posing for every street-style photographer with a shutter, and front-rowing their way into the fashion establishment’s good graces.

They weren’t just wealthy socialites; they were their own ecosystem, a glittering spectacle of conspicuous consumption and impossibly expensive taste. They were, as former Tatler Russia editor Anya Ziourova told The New York Times, “the modern Russian icons.”

And then, as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared.

It wasn’t just one thing that took them down. It was everything, everywhere, all at once. The fall of the ruble. The annexation of Crimea. The rise of new fashion influencers. A racism scandal that shattered their carefully curated images. And finally, the invasion of Ukraine, which turned the Russian fashion elite from desirable global tastemakers into social pariahs almost overnight.

Or did it? Let’s rewind and take a closer look at the Russian fashion pack, how they rose, how they shaped the industry, and why their supposed exile was never as permanent as it seemed.

Elena Perminova, Natalia Vodianova, Ulyana Sergeenko, Vika Gazinskaya and Miroslava Duma at Paris Fashion Week

Chapter 1: The Arrival

The early 2010s were the peak of fashion’s It-girl era, when style blogs and street-style photography could turn anyone with a good outfit into an overnight sensation. In swept the Russians, looking like they had walked straight out of a Tolstoy novel and into the front row. They were rich, they were glamorous, and they dressed like couture was their birthright.

Ulyana Sergeenko, a former model married to billionaire insurance tycoon Danil Khachaturov, became the face of the movement. Her signature style—long, romantic gowns, babushka scarves, and Soviet nostalgia with a couture price tag, made her a Fashion Week favorite. Her husband, a powerful figure in Russia’s business elite, was key to her rise, as his wealth and connections helped propel her into the global spotlight, where she parlayed that success into a couture brand.

Ulyana Sergeenko

Meanwhile, Miroslava Duma, the tiny, impeccably dressed former editor of Harper’s Bazaar Russia, was turning herself into a media mogul with her website Buro 24/7, leveraging her husband’s connections and her own business savvy to carve out her space in the fashion world.

Miroslava Duma

Elena Perminova, a model and the wife of billionaire banker Alexander Lebedev, brought an air of Cinderella-like mystique with her rags-to-riches backstory. Famously “rescued” by Lebedev after a teenage drug bust, Elena’s relationship with the oligarch became the stuff of fairy tales, her husband's vast fortune and political influence playing an essential role in elevating her profile and maintaining her position in the global fashion elite.

Elena Perminova

At first, the industry welcomed them with open arms. They were new money, but they knew how to spend it in the right places. Chanel loved them. Valentino designed collections inspired by them. Dolce & Gabbana personally invited them to couture shows. And when the fashion press ran out of ways to describe their opulence, they just started calling them “the Russian fashion mafia.”

But the thing about money is that it buys access, not authenticity. And while the Russian fashion girls looked the part, they weren’t exactly self-made. Most of them were married to oligarchs or had family ties to the Russian elite. Their wealth came from oil, insurance, banking, and, in some cases, government contracts. And as long as they were spending that money on couture—and not questioning where it came from, nobody in fashion seemed to mind.

Chapter 2: The Cracks Begin to Show

Then came 2014. Russia annexed Crimea. The West imposed sanctions. The ruble lost 40% of its value practically overnight. Suddenly, buying 35 Chanel couture looks per season didn’t seem quite so effortless.

"It’s really expensive for us to buy something new," Elena Perminova admitted to The New York Times in 2015, as she stood outside an Armani Privé show in Paris. "When I buy something, I’m thinking." Imagine that—having to think before spending six figures on a dress.

Elena Perminova at Armani Prive

At the same time, the fashion world was changing. The era of street-style celebrities was waning, replaced by a new wave of influencers with actual digital followings, not just expensive wardrobes. Chinese stars and Middle Eastern princesses were taking over the front row. And as political tensions between Russia and the West grew, the sight of Russian billionaires’ wives playing dress-up in couture started to feel…a little off.

But even as Russian fashion insiders clung to their influence, the tide was already turning. Their lavish style, once aspirational, was starting to feel out of step with fashion’s new direction. Then, in 2018, Ulyana Sergeenko and Miroslava Duma made sure their fall from grace was complete when they torpedoed their own reputations in spectacular fashion.

Chapter 3: The Racism Scandal

Miroslava Duma & Ulyana Sergeenko

It all started when Sergeenko sent Duma a note that read, “To my [N-word] in Paris,” which Duma then posted on Instagram as if it were the cutest little inside joke. The internet did not agree. Within hours, both women were being dragged through the digital mud.

the note

Duma tried to apologize. Sergeenko tried to explain. It didn’t work. People dug up old interviews where Duma had made homophobic and transphobic comments, and brands started cutting ties. Within days, she was removed from the boardof Buro 24/7, the media empire she had built. Sergeenko’s label, which had already been struggling, never quite recovered.

What made the scandal so damning wasn’t just the racism itself, but the way it exposed the Russian fashion girls’ blind spots. They had built their images on old-school wealth and privilege, assuming they were untouchable.But fashion had moved on. The industry that once welcomed them had become more politically conscious, more diverse, more scrutinizing. They weren’t just out of step—they were obsolete.

After the scandal, the Russian fashion pack largely faded from the scene, some by choice, others by necessity. Their influence had already been in decline. But if there was any hope of quietly re-emerging, February 2022made sure that wasn’t an option.

Chapter 4: The Final Fall

Elena Perminova, Miroslava Duma, Ulyana Sergeenko

By 2022, the Russian fashion girls were already a fading memory, but the final nail in the coffin came with the invasion of Ukraine.

Overnight, Russian wealth became toxic. Oligarchs’ assets were frozen. Russian elites were blacklisted. Even the most apolitical figures in fashion couldn’t avoid the backlash. Miroslava Duma, once the face of a new, cosmopolitan Russia,quietly removed “Russia” from her Instagram bio. Duma, who had carefully crafted an image of herself as a savvy businesswoman with deep ties to Russia’s oligarchic elite, suddenly found those connections becoming a major liability. Her association with high-profile Kremlin-linked figures was no longer a mark of distinction but a source of intense scrutiny. This shift was exacerbated by the Mueller Report, which exposed the Kremlin’s influence and its networks abroad. The report revealed that figures like Duma’s close associates had deep ties to the Russian government, casting an uncomfortable shadow over her personal brand and forcing her to distance herself from her Russian roots.

But the contradictions didn’t end there. Duma’s family had deep connections to Ukraine, with her parents emigrating from Ukraine to Siberia, and Duma even posting photos on Instagram in the early days of the war, showing peaceful resistance to the invasion, including a powerful image of a man holding a sign that read, “I am ashamed of being Russian.” However, these posts were quickly removed from her account, and her last public statement, a somber black image acknowledging a family death, felt like an attempt to distance herself from the public backlash. Her father, Vasily Duma, had been a senator in the Russian Federation and head of the Ukrainian diaspora, adding another layer of complexity to her position as a figure torn between her heritage and her ties to the Russian elite.

Elena Perminova, the former model and socialite married to Alexander Lebedev, a man on Canada’s sanctions list for his ties to the Russian oligarchy, also found herself navigating the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Prior to the invasion, Perminova had used her glamour and influence to position herself as a prominent fashion figure, often gracing the front rows of haute couture shows. However, with her husband's sanctions and the mounting pressure on Russia-affiliated individuals, she began posting vague messages about peace before ultimately retreating into silence.This was seen as an attempt to deflect attention from her connections to the Russian elite and avoid further controversy, though it did little to erase the damage already done to her image.

Ulyana Sergeenko, whose fashion collections had long leaned into a romanticized, nostalgic vision of Russia’s imperial past, found her brand caught in a similar bind. As her style was rooted in Russian nationalism, and her ties to Russia’s political and business elite were well-documented, she became an increasingly awkward presence in an industry that was growing more sensitive to the optics of aligning with figures associated with the Kremlin. Her political connections, particularly with oligarchs and individuals with close ties to Putin’s regime, were suddenly a glaring issue in a fashion world that had grown more politically conscious.

And this time, there was no comeback in sight. There was no charming their way back into the industry. The Russian fashion girls had spent years using couture as a form of soft power, making their country look glamorous and aspirational. But when that same country became a pariah, they were collateral damage.

For a while, it seemed like that was the end of the Russian fashion pack, too toxic to touch, too linked to a regime the industry had distanced itself from. But fashion has a short memory. Three years later, the exile looks less like a lifetime ban and more like a temporary cooling-off period.

Chapter 5: The Return of the Tsarinas

Elena Perminova front row at Nina Ricci, March 2025

So, was the Russian fashion pack really gone, or were they just waiting for the right moment to slip back in? Fashion is all about comebacks, and exile was always temporary. Elena Perminova’s return isn’t some grand entrance—more like a quiet reappearance. No fanfare. No dramatic declarations. Just a front-row seat, like nothing ever changed.

But some things have changed. Marital status being one of them. Elena’s no longer the wife of an oligarch. She’s divorced now. No more billionaire husband to prop up her soft power status. She’s back on her own, which gives her re-entry a new flavor.

She’s also a major influencer with a massive Instagram following. With millions of followers, her reach is global, transcending the borders that once seemed to define her. While she may no longer have the backing of her billionaire ex-husband, her social media presence has become its own form of power.

And let’s not forget Ulyana Sergeenko. She’s back too, designing again after a quiet hiatus. The couture queen with a penchant for Soviet nostalgia hasn’t just returned to the runway; she’s returning to the spotlight with a new vision. She’s more toned down, more focused, and working on her professional brand rather than her personal spectacle. Interestingly, Ulyana is now divorced as well, another key piece of the puzzle that changes how we view her place in the industry. Like Elena, she’s no longer tied to her billionaire husband. She’s a single woman, independent and forging her own path.Maybe it’s a rebranding, or maybe it’s just time for her to reignite her own fashion dream. Whatever it is, it’s clear: the Russian fashion pack hasn’t completely disappeared; they’ve simply evolved.

What also helps is that these women have stopped making their Russianness their brand. In a world where geopolitics have turned their national identity into a liability, they’ve wisely leaned into their personal style, their professional successes, and their digital presence, rather than being defined by their nationality. That shift has allowed them to survive the industry’s cold shoulder and find a way back in. In a way, their ability to sidestep the weight of their national identity and focus instead on what they bring to the table—fashion, influence, and a carefully crafted image—has become their greatest asset in this new chapter.