Beauty in Exile. The Artists, Models, and Nobility Who Fled the Russian Revolution and Influenced the World of Fashion

Alexandre Vassiliev.

Abrams. New York. 2000. First published in 1998 in Russian. Hardback; cream boards, dust jacket. 480 pages. 840 b&w illustrations. English. 315 x 250mm. 2.5kg. 9780810957015. Near fine, in near fine dust jacket; small crease to corner of front flap.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Civil War many intellectuals, artists, literati and nobility fled Russia for Western Europe. Beauty in Exile tells the story of how this well-bred crowd, finding they needed some kind of commercial enterprise to survive, turned to the twin domains of fashion and beauty. Using many archival photographs, sketches, fashion shots and advertisements the author traces the history and influence of the Russian émigrés and their culture on the fashion of the early twentieth century. Included are the fashion house of Irfe (founded by Prince Felix Yusupov), the Hitrovo House of Lingerie, Princess Mary Eristova and Gali Bejenova (favourite models of Chanel). Diaghilev's  Ballet Russes, Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova, Erté and many more figures from Russian high society.