Alexander Vasiliev is a world-famous theater artist, interior designer, as well as an art critic and fashion historian.
Alexander Vasiliev was born on December 8, 1958 in Moscow into a famous theater family. His father, People's Artist of Russia, Alexander Vasiliev Sr. (1911 - 1990), corresponding member of the Academy of Arts, creator of sets and costumes for more than 300 productions on the domestic and foreign stage. Mother, Tatyana Vasilyeva - Gulevich (1924 - 2003), dramatic actress, professor, one of the first graduates of the Moscow Art Theater School.
Since childhood, Alexander Vasiliev was brought up in a theatrical environment. At the age of five, Alexander created his first costumes and sets for puppet theater, at the same time he took part in the filming of children's programs on Soviet television "Theater Bell" and "Alarm Clock". He staged his first fairy tale performance, “The Wizard of the Emerald City,” at the age of 12, demonstrating extraordinary abilities in theatrical design and costume creation.
Particular influence on young artist He set the example of his father, not only a classical decorator, but also the creator of stage costumes for Lyubov Orlova, Faina Ranevskaya, Igor Ilyinsky. At the age of 22, A. Vasiliev graduated from the Production Department of the Moscow Art Theater School. Then he worked as a costume designer at the Moscow Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. In 1982 he moved to Paris, where he immediately began working for the French theater Ronde Pointe at Champs Elysees, at the Bastille Opera Studio, Lucerner, Cartoucherie, Avignon Festival, Bale du Nord, Young Ballet of France and the Royal Opera of Versailles.
Alexander Vasiliev - creator of sets for operas, theatrical productions, films and ballets for many famous theaters and troupes For example, they collaborated with him National Theater in London, Scottish Ballet in Glasgow, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Oya Masako Ballet in Osaka and Asami Maki Ballet in Tokyo, Nevada Ballet, Santiago Opera and Ballet Theater and many others. More information about this facet of A. Vasiliev’s work can be found in the “Performances” section ".
Alexander Vasiliev lectures in 4 languages at many colleges and universities around the world as a visiting professor on the history of fashion and stage design. Alexander Vasiliev is the owner of one of the largest private collections of costumes from the Russian period. Alexander showed this collection in many countries of the world - in Australia, Chile, Turkey, Hong Kong, Belgium, Great Britain, France and other countries. Awarded for the promotion of Russian art with the S.P. medal. Diaghilev, the V. Nijinsky medal, the Order of Patron and the Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts. Twice winner of the Tobab Prize in Turkey.
Alexander Vasiliev is the author of the book “Beauty in Exile”, which went through six editions - in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005. - and translated into English language in New York in 2000. In 1998, Beauty in Exile was named best picture book of the year. He is the author of the book "Russian Fashion. 150 Years in Photographs", which contains more than 2000 photographs dedicated to the history of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet fashion, starting from the 50s of the 19th century and ending beginning of the XXI century. The book contains texts from fashion magazines different eras, fragments of interviews with fashion models, famous people, film actresses, fashion designers. How social, political and economic reasons influenced the nature of Russian clothing, how the silhouette and fabrics were modified, how the canons of beauty were formed, posture, facial expression and the sparkle in the eyes changed - these are the range of issues discussed in the book. According to the author, he intends to later publish this work in New York, “since they know nothing about Russian fashion not only in Russia, but also abroad.”
Alexander Vasiliev is co-author of the book "Lyudmila Lopato. The Magic Mirror of Memories." Zakharov, Moscow, 2003. Alexander Vasiliev worked for the Russian editions of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines as a special correspondent in Paris.
Since 2002, Alexander Vasiliev has been on the Kultura TV channel as the author and host of the program “Blow of the Century”. This series is based on the book "Beauty in Exile". In 2005, the Kultura TV channel will begin broadcasting a new 10-episode television series, “Blow of the Century - 22,” based on the book “Russian Fashion. 150 Years in Photographs.” Since 1994, Alexander Vasiliev has devoted a lot of time to master classes and lecture courses at Russian universities and colleges. Since 2000, under the leadership of Alexander Vasiliev, the fashion festival “Volga Region Seasons of Alexander Vasiliev” has been held in Samara.
In October 2003, the design studio “Interiors of Alexander Vasiliev” opened in Moscow. The goal of the new project is to present the rich Russian tradition in Parisian gloss. In Russia, Alexander Vasiliev gives lectures at the Faculty of Management and Fashion Theory at Moscow State University, in lecture halls in Samara, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Ufa, Perm, Barnaul, Murmansk and many other cities.
In February 2004, the exhibition “Russian Interior in Photographs” was held, at which Alexander Vasiliev presented 55 rare photographs, never previously published or exhibited, dedicated to the theme of Russian interior design of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. This prolific author plans to create a book about Russian interior design.
Fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev - How family happiness depends on clothes
Alexander Vasiliev knows everything about fashion and even more. He is a fashion presenter television program, author of nearly three dozen books on fashion and lectures on how to dress.
As a child, Alexander vacationed in Lithuania every summer with his mother’s relatives. His mother's family spoke Polish, so he knew this language from an early age. Their way of life was very strict. They ate only at certain times and according to all the rules, with a fork and knife, and the table was served by servants. The child was not allowed any liberties in the family. However, all this was useful to Alexander in later life when he lived in Paris. In France, manners, routine and strictness in everything are valued.
Alexander Vasiliev’s mother belonged to a Polish noble family, and some of her relatives lived in Belopanskaya Poland, as it was then called, and now this is the territory of Lithuania. It was there that Alexander rested in the summer.
His mother served as an actress in children's theater and was involved in performances almost every evening. Dad was the chief designer of the Mossovet Theater and created costumes for such stars as Lyubov Orlova, Faina Ranevskaya and Rostislav Plyatt. While his parents worked, a nanny looked after Alexander.
Already at the age of 8, he began acting on Central Television. Alexander was the main presenter of the children's program "Theater of Bells", and then together with Nadezhda Rumyantseva he hosted "Alarm Clock".
He studied poorly, but this is to a greater extent was associated with envy due to his popularity in such early years. In the 9th grade, for these reasons, Vasilyev was transferred to a school for working youth, where he was allowed not to wear a uniform and to smoke right in the classroom. It was in this institution that all the golden youth of that era studied.
Then Alexander entered the Moscow Art Theater School to become a production designer. It was there that he found his calling. Unique costumes for many famous performances were kept in the costume department of the Studio School. A love for the history of costume is what Alexander acquired there. The result of it all was very beautiful thesis Vasilyeva “Vivat, queen, vivat!”
Oddly enough, he was also driven to leave for the West by love, but for a girl from a parallel class at a school for working youth. She left for France, and Alexander could not let her go. To do this, he entered into a fictitious marriage with a French woman, Anna, who was meanwhile studying at Moscow State University, and immediately went after his beloved. But there he was disappointed; she had already found someone else. However, the choice was made and Alexander became a defector.
Despite everything, he is still grateful to that girl and even supports her good relationship, because otherwise Alexander Vasiliev would not have become what he is now.
1959
- I’m in the arms of my dad, the artist Alexander Pavlovich Vasiliev. The photo was taken on Frunzenskaya Embankment in Moscow in the courtyard of house No. 40, where we lived at that time.
1961
- This is me and my mother. The photo was taken in Vilnius (Lithuania), where my mother’s parents lived, and I came there for the summer. Grandmother lived in an old house, where in the attic there were chests with all sorts of utensils and household items. I enjoyed rummaging through them. The trophies obtained from the attic became the first exhibits in my collection of antiques and clothing.
1985
- After the Moscow Art Theater School, I married a Frenchwoman, Anne Bodimon, and moved to France. Here I am in the attic we rented. Three years later we divorced, but we are still friends. I lived in Paris for almost 25 years, now I come there to my apartment. He received it from the then mayor of the city, Jacques Chirac. It was like this. I worked as a decorator in an antiques store in the Louvre. Chirac came to the store’s 15th anniversary and celebrated my work. Later I wrote to him about how cramped I was in storing antiques. And they gave me an apartment overlooking the Seine.
1991
- This photograph was published on the cover of a weekly magazine in Hong Kong. At that time I was teaching fashion history at the Academy of Arts there. And I was invited to participate in a photo shoot. As you can see, it turned out well. I still have a very good relationship with the Hong Kong Academy of Arts. I became a professor there, and a month ago I received the title of honorary corresponding member. I was handed a purple robe and a beret.
1994
- With Countess Carmen Apraksina (she is a descendant of an ancient noble family. - Approx. “Antennas”), my good friend, in the Pavlovsk Palace near St. Petersburg. The wedding of her daughter, Countess Mira Apraksina, and architect Nikolai Druzin took place there. We met Mira in Brussels. I talked a lot in Europe with Russian emigrants, and from their stories I reconstructed the history of our fashion in emigration.
1997
- Together with the great couturier Pierre Cardin after the performance of Maya Plisetskaya in Paris. We are both friends with our wonderful ballerina and often went to her performances. Pierre Cardin made many outfits for Plisetskaya, which Maya Mikhailovna donated to my collection.
1998
- Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Zaitsev at my home in Paris. We have known each other for more than forty years. It was Zaitsev who brought me to “ Fashionable verdict" Despite all the talk about our rivalry, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich and I are good friends. He often visits me in Paris, we have lunch together. I am terribly happy that the whole country can admire him in “Fashionable Verdict” and see his intellect. He runs the program in a very kind way.
2001
- My mother, actress and teacher Tatyana Ilyinichna Vasilyeva, nee Gulevich. She is a graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School and played in the Central Children's Theater for 25 years. My mother always supported my passion for antiques. I remember I studied at an English school in the center of Moscow and old mansions were being demolished there. And when moving, many residents got rid of old things: dishes, dresses, umbrellas, hats... And I found them and restored them together with my mother.
2002
- Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya came to me in Lithuania with a French television group that was working on a film-autobiography of Plisetskaya. Part of the filming took place in my house near Vilnius.
2003
- Valentin Yudashkin and I are united by a love of ancient costume. And he, like me, wants to create a fashion museum in Russia, he loves antiques. This is us in my studio “Interiors of Alexander Vasiliev”.
2009
- On one of the first recordings of “Fashionable Sentence”. I felt some excitement. Although on TV since 1967. Hosted the children's program “Bell Theatre”, “Alarm Clock” with Nadezhda Rumyantseva. “Fashionable Verdict” gave me the opportunity to share knowledge on the history of fashion with the viewer. I am also convinced that the country is judged and That's why how women dress in it. Vyacheslav Zaitsev and I instill taste in people.
The biography and personal life of fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev certainly worries all his fans. Deserves no less attention creative life Vasilyeva - so much about women's suit No one knows how long this person has been. His wealth of knowledge is in demand in educational institutions, where he gives lectures, and on TV, where he hosts a popular program and advises the creators of many fashion programs.
Fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev is familiar today even to those who are far from fashion. He speaks delicately and correctly about the shortcomings of the wardrobes of famous people, gracefully and intelligibly talks about the fashion of past centuries, skillfully and enthusiastically conducts classes at the Fashion Academy.
Fashion, as you know, is a versatile, capricious and changeable lady. The history of fashion is the history of world art and everyday life; through the history of fashion one can trace how ideas about female beauty and ideals have changed. Obviously, this is why fashion, this fickle lady, likes the attention of men so much.
Parents and personal life of fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev
One of those who devoted himself to the art of fashion is Alexander Vasiliev, one of the most famous people in Russia today. Alexander came to his passion in his youth, because there was an atmosphere of creativity around him since childhood.
The parents of fashion historian Alexander Vasilyev are people of art. Father created theater scenery and suits, had the title folk artist USSR, and my mother was a dramatic actress. Already as a child, Alexander tried to sew costumes for dolls and built sets for his own puppet theater.
“To give birth to a baby, you need two loving halves. I left Russia for France for the girl I loved. To be close to her, I even had to marry a French woman - for the sake of a visa. But my beloved never became my wife. I really wanted children, but God didn’t give it to me,” says Alexander Vasiliev. He ended up living in Paris for 20 years.
Career of Alexander Vasiliev and video from the archives of a fashion historian
Alexander Vasiliev’s passion for theater led him to the Moscow Art Theater School, where he graduated from the production department in 1980.
His career began at the theater on Malaya Bronnaya, where he worked for two years. Then Alexander leaves for Paris, where he collaborates with the most famous French theaters, including the Bastille Opera Studio and the Royal Opera of Versailles.
The reputation of an excellent decorator and connoisseur of fashion trends has become a good recommendation for Alexander in the art world.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century creative biography fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev continues in Russia.
Since 2002, he began working on the “Culture” TV channel, where he hosts the program “Blow of the Century,” of which he is the author.
And since 2003, Alexander began his new project; his design studio is opening this year, whose designers combine the rich traditions of Russian spirituality with Parisian sophistication.
Now Alexander is leading active life: he gives lectures in various halls, works at the Moscow State University, conducts trips with students of his own school to the cultural capitals of Europe - Rome and London, Paris and Vienna, Madrid and Vilnius.
In 2009, Alexander Vasiliev became the head of the Fashion Academy, which was organized at the Ostankino Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting. Alexander Vasiliev is the host of the “Fashionable Sentence” program on Channel One.
Watch the video of fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev from his personal archive:
Today, the name of Alexander Vasiliev is known far beyond the world of fashion, since he is rightfully considered a fairly public person. He gives lectures at universities, hosts a program on Channel One, and gives speeches to viewers with stories about the most current wardrobe items.
All this allows us to consider Vasiliev a fashion historian with a capital F. In addition, he is a quite successful decorator and art critic, writer and collector, which is far from full list the virtues that this versatile personality possesses. As they say, a talented person is talented in everything! Despite all his openness, he strictly keeps the secrets of his personal life, without revealing any secrets or details. Of course, such mystery only fuels the curiosity of the fair sex, who show increased interest in this ambiguous personality.
Alexander Vasiliev - show business star
Let us immediately note that, as in the life of any famous person, who managed to make his way in life with his work and talent, he experienced both periods of rapid ups and downs. Moreover, some journalists even made a dubious assumption about the historian’s unconventional orientation. No one provided evidence of such rumors, and he himself justifies polygamy for men.
So, after all, who is she – the wife of Alexander Vasiliev, a fashion historian? Let's start with the fact that he has two marriages behind him. His first wife was a Frenchwoman, with whom he lived for three years and still maintains an excellent relationship. Although there were rumors that the marriage was fictitious and only thanks to it the artist was able to move abroad at one time. But let this remain on the conscience of the spiteful critics.
Vasilyev's wife
It was in France that the fashion designer’s remarkable career began, and his name began to be heard more and more often in the fashion world. The most famous ladies listened to him secular society. The clothing models he created created a real sensation on fashion catwalks. After some time, Alexander Vasilyev’s next wife was an Icelander, but this marriage was not destined to last long. By the way, it’s worth saying that with all those who have become ex-spouses keeps in touch. All of them were and remain successful and happy women. Both remarried and each has three children.
56-year-old Alexander Vasilyev, a fashion historian, host of the “Fashionable Sentence” program and collector, became the hero of the “Alone with Everyone” program. Vasiliev spoke about his personal life, family and bachelor life.
Alexander Vasiliev admitted in the “Alone with Everyone” program that he spends most of his time on airplanes. The fashion historian gives master classes throughout the country and abroad. But, of course, he spends a lot of time on “Fashionable Verdict”.
According to Vasiliev, the show “Fashionable Sentence,” where he has been working as a judge and main presenter for 6 years, is filmed three days a week with breaks at night. Some participants fall under “analysis” already late at night, and the presenter still says “Good morning.”
About friends and the ability to understand people:
I'm not alone at all, I have large number friends. But no one has more than two or three friends. We must choose. And not all people know how to choose. Many people load themselves with such ballast of people who only want to drink your energy.
After all, there are a lot of people-leeches, people - bats who want to ride at your expense, to use you as a tram to get to the next stop in life. Life has taught me, and now I understand it quite well.
About family and bachelorhood:
I have a wonderful family. I am very pleased to be surrounded by my sister, goddaughters, and wonderful nephew. That's enough for me. After all, there are also bachelors. And a lot of people lived a single life, but at the same time they were incredibly happy.
And there are people who have three wives, five children - they are wildly unhappy, because they did not like any of these wives and did not find any common language. I never blamed. After all, we propose, but the Lord disposes. We always dream of something else, but everything is destined for us.
Despair is not my way of life. In general, I think that there is no need to despair. I try to always be cheerful when surrounded by people. I drink tea alone. I never drink alcohol and I am very proud of it. And I believe that mine healthy image life allows me to look like this at my age.
About the dog named Kitty:
The cat loves tangerines, grapes, and raisins. Pugs are a Chinese dog. These are palace dogs, they were raised for the emperor's pillows. Pugs have no function - they need to lie nicely on a pillow.
He goes to lectures with me. And he especially likes The Mystery of Coco Chanel. Sleeps best. And he also loves "Secrets of the House of Christian Dior." But he runs when I read Sex and Fashion. What happens to him! He sniffs all the women in the hall and secretly steals candy and tangerines from their purses.