Elena Mareeva, an expert in the field of personal style, a person who personally knows Alexander Vasiliev, Vyacheslav Zaitsev, and devoted 8 years to the Fashion Sentence program, we met on New Year's Eve, on the cozy veranda of the Have Nice Day cafe in Tsvetnoy. For several months, Elena has been successfully running her column on Marie Claire, talking about fashion, style, sharing tips and ideas. But today we are talking about her herself, about who a personal stylist is, what he does and whether this new profession for Russia has a future.
Marie Claire: How did you get into the profession? Is this taught somewhere with us?
Elena Mareeva:I probably have some special experience. I have always been a fashionista, primarily thanks to my mother, who managed to dress me beautifully, despite the lack of money and empty shelves in stores. But after school, I entered the philology department at Moscow State University and about working on television, and even in a program that combined my favorite work with my favorite hobby - I never dreamed of … My arrival on TV was a matter of chance. After graduating from Moscow State University, she went home to her parents, to rest, got to the casting of the leading VGTRK Kalmykia and passed it. As a result, more than 15 years of work behind him, of which eight - on the "Fashionable Sentence" program, including as a producer of the show. It was an experience that cannot be obtained in any university. Did you pay attentionthat in the Fashion Sentence program, heroines are transformed five days a week? There are a huge number of transformation projects in the world, but they come out once a week, because it is a very difficult, time-consuming job. So, consider that I had the opportunity to live at least 5 stylistic years of life every year. And in just the time of my work on the project, more than two thousand heroes have been transformed - both women and men. This is a tremendous practical experience. Plus, communication with such masters as Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Zaitsev, Alexander Vasiliev, Valentin Yudashkin, Denis Simachev … All this is also worth a lot. Yes, I have behind me a huge number of all kinds of specialized courses, seminars, lectures, but first of all I am a stylist-practitioner, not a theoretician. I had the opportunity to live at least 5 stylistic years of life every year. And in just the time of my work on the project, more than two thousand heroes have been transformed - both women and men. This is a tremendous practical experience. Plus, communication with such masters as Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Zaitsev, Alexander Vasiliev, Valentin Yudashkin, Denis Simachev … All this is also worth a lot. Yes, I have behind me a huge number of all kinds of specialized courses, seminars, lectures, but first of all I am a stylist-practitioner, not a theoretician. I had the opportunity to live at least 5 stylistic years of life every year. And in all during my work on the project, more than two thousand heroes have been transformed - both women and men. This is a tremendous practical experience. Plus, communication with such masters as Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Zaitsev, Alexander Vasiliev, Valentin Yudashkin, Denis Simachev … All this is also worth a lot. Yes, I have behind me a huge number of all kinds of specialized courses, seminars, lectures, but first of all I am a stylist-practitioner, not a theoretician. Denis Simachev … All this is also worth a lot. Yes, I have behind me a huge number of all kinds of specialized courses, seminars, lectures, but first of all I am a stylist-practitioner, not a theoretician. Denis Simachev … All this is also worth a lot. Yes, I have behind me a huge number of all kinds of specialized courses, seminars, lectures, but first of all I am a stylist-practitioner, not a theoretician.
What is the job of a personal stylist?
Nowadays, more often than not, a personal stylist simply acts as a personal shopper. He goes shopping, collects things, makes good looks from the point of view of fashion and aesthetics, and nobody cares that they exist separately from the client. Which, of course, is not correct. A stylist is one who chooses an image for a specific person, and the clothes he has chosen should work for that person. Because clothes work either for you or against you. There are no other options, alas. You need to go from a woman, not from trends and your own taste.
For example, one girl came to me a year ago with the task of growing her career, changing her place of work. And in a year we have solved this problem. At the moment she is moving to a new place, her income doubles. Although she previously held the position of a top manager. Of course, we were dressing up with her all this time. But they didn't just dress up: I develop an image based on sculpting a person's face, from what nature gave him, from his specific character traits, from his lifestyle. This is all very important.
But there are some universal win-win options, perhaps?
You know, many people, especially women, think that there are such neutral options when you can "turn over". Let me give you the most striking example: a woman gets up in the morning, she needs to feed her children, take one to kindergarten, another to school, take her husband to work, and run away on business. And she thinks: "Now I will put on a black blouse, jeans and turn over for today." And then he does the same tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and it develops into a way of life. And she doesn't notice how it becomes her image. At the same time, she herself believes that she has no image. But for others it is obvious. And if you start asking them, they answer: "She has the image of a driven housewife." It is a mistake to assume that unstable people have no image. Everyone has it.
Is the stylist in demand by Russian women?
We're on our way. And this is already a great progress, because we are by nature very baroque, Byzantine. We are people of extremes: walking like that. The same is with clothes: if you dress up, then everything is beautiful at once, it is impossible to refuse something. We don't have a lot of shine, a lot of volume on the head too. Of course, Moscow cannot be compared with the regions, very stylish people live here. In the regions, a different story. There, women are just changing, starting to listen to the advice of stylists, but are not yet ready to turn to their services. Even from the experience of working on "Fashionable Verdict": at the very beginning, the heroine must sign an agreement that she agrees to 3 sets of clothes, which the stylist will select for her. This means: "Don't tell the stylist how to dress you up, don't tell him what suits you and what doesn't." The program employs professionals in their field. She signs the contract, and then begins: "Wow, what did you pick me up, you don't understand me, you don't see me, you don't feel me." Etc. The stylist may not feel the woman, but it is extremely rare, most often the woman herself is not ready for a new look.
How do people find you and what tasks do they come with?
I do not advertise myself as a practicing stylist anywhere. People find me themselves, turn to me, and I rarely refuse anyone, because, as a rule, those people who need me come, they believe in me. The result is a beautiful result. Many people ask for help in wardrobe analysis, and rightly so. It happens that a woman comes for a new wardrobe, for example, for the winter, and I myself propose to first disassemble the one that is already there. The answer to me was: "No, what are you, I have nothing interesting there, I don't wear any of this, let's better buy something new." I insist on my own, I come, and we, tirelessly, for six hours do the analysis of her wardrobe. It is, in fact, a long time-consuming story, which is divided into at least three parts: a wardrobe for work, for everyday life (casual) and a dressy group without fail. We take pictures of each bow, because during the parsing, a woman changes clothes hundreds, or even a thousand times. And this despite the fact that when we met, she told me that she had nothing to wear.
Do you know what is the difference between the average wardrobe attitude and the stylistic one? The stylist comes and collects such kits that the woman herself has never assembled herself. She was used to taking these jacket and trousers and putting them together, and it never occurred to her that trousers could look good with a completely different blouse, with some kind of scarf, beads, and so on. And, after 6 hours, when a woman receives completely new sets of clothes based on her own wardrobe, there are really a lot of them, and they easily change depending on the accessories, and besides, they are all fixed in the photo, so as not to forget, it is a shock for her … I know that she needs time to digest it, and that in two days she will write to me: "Lena, you turned my mind over." And a week later,when she has repeatedly appeared in new images in society and sees in the eyes of people what has happened, she will already receive rave reviews. But immediately after such a difficult 6-hour work, it is not at all necessary to expect any acceptance from her. The funny thing is that after such a wardrobe analysis, you often no longer need to go to the store, because, it turns out, everything is in your own closet.
A shoemaker without boots, but a stylist? Is there an analogy?
You know, this is very often the case, because people who work a lot and actively in the profession, they get tired of clothes, equipment, shops. And when you work with full dedication with clients, on their wardrobe, image, then, of course, one gets the feeling that you yourself have already vilified it all, and have seen it five hundred times, both at shows, here and there, and it seems like you don't want to. But, of course, this is not very correct. A stylist can wear anything, he can only wear black, but at the same time it should be non-verbally read about him that he is a professional. Because a stylist is still from the field of art, and you need to be able to look cool, even if you are not wearing anything special.
К слову, на мой взгляд, стилисты сегодня делятся на две категории. Одна – это девочки из хороших богатых семей, которые пришли в профессию, потому что им скучно дома сидеть, и которым хочется самим наряжаться, потому что они красивые, модельные. Они чаще всего выглядят одинаково. И это тоже не совсем правильно, когда все стилисты выглядят однотипно. Зачем же мы тогда обучаемся персональному стилю? Зачем изучаем лепку лица? Зачем про цветотип разговариваем, если в итоге выглядим одинаково? Да, они модные, в тренде, но с точки зрения стиля не очень интересные. И есть вторая категория – это такие стильные хулиганы, которые делают сейчас самый классный стрит-стайл. И мне кажется, что за ними будущее, потому что у них есть какой-то свежий взгляд на стиль, понимание того, как нужно выглядеть в разных жизненных ситуациях, бесшабашность, некоторая несерьезность, потому что, когда ты начинаешь очень серьезно относиться к собственному стилю, это становится скучно. В моде должно быть чувство юмора.
If we draw an analogy with psychotherapy, then psychotherapists have a taboo on working with their friends and family. Because it's the surest way to ruin a relationship without getting the job done. Close ones are the most touchy clientele. Does the stylist have such a problem? Do friends, relatives turn to you?
Yes, this is indeed the most touchy category of clients. In the work of a stylist, it is very important not to scold a person's appearance, not to generate new complexes, of which each of us already have a lot, but to say that this clothes is not the same, does not correspond to your beauty, the scale of your personality. To convey the idea that you have grown out of your clothes, as a person, and not to receive an offense in return. Friends are the hardest to do. But I was lucky - I am surrounded by very delicate people and practically do not use me. Only sometimes.
Do you go shopping with your friends?
Believe it or not: I don't really like shopping. I get so tired of them in my profession that I don't like shopping at all. I just choose a few brands that I like, purposefully go there and buy what I need in 5 minutes. Here I am an extremely rational person. Of course, there are spontaneous purchases, when I suddenly like something and I buy it, but this is definitely the thing that I will wear. I do not have purchases that just hang in the closet. Most often, I spontaneously fall for accessories, because they are the main secret of a beautiful wardrobe, different images. I have a lot of beautiful stylish designer jewelry, which is impossible not to admire.
Name the brands?
In recent years, my wardrobe consists entirely of Russian designers. I love Cyrille Gassiline very much, in terms of basic things, style and fit - his things always fit well. I really like the way Elena Shipilova works, her heroine is such a lady-girl. Of course, not everyone is suitable, but her clothes really look aristocratic. One of my favorite designers is Alexandra Vanyushina. I love her very much, because she is a designer who lives in reality, is well aware of the peculiarities of the female figure, she creates clothes that fit perfectly on Russian women. And from the point of view of fashion, in her boutique you will always find something that is super relevant at the moment. If velvet is fashionable now, in her boutique you will find not just velvet, but with silk thread, that is, very high quality. I love the Ruban sisters ─ an extremely aristocratic bourgeois brand that will suit many women. I really like Alexander Arutyunov from the point of view of fashion, creativity and art, I find him a talented artist who has not yet fully revealed himself. He has a great future. And of course, such masters as Terekhov, Chapurin. In general, now in Russia there are many people who create very good clothes.
We met in Tsvetnoy, in one of my favorite stores. My clients and I always come here and will certainly find something, regardless of who my client is - a banker, businessman, or personnel officer. If we talk about bijouterie, ornaments that create a modern "bow" against a fairly basic calm background, I recommend Magidi Gamma. You can come here and choose something for a different budget.
A professional stylist can find in almost any brand the clothes that suit this particular person or any situation. But it is impossible not to mention Zara, H&M, Stradivarius. These are budget interesting brands, thanks to which the phenomenon itself arose - street fashion. Of course, I have favorite luxury brands, absolutely everyone has them. But there is no need to dress completely in luxury clothes, the modern style trend dictates a mix, when you can put on a bracelet for 600 rubles, trousers for a couple of thousand, and your shoes will cost 50-70 thousand, why not? It all depends on the possibilities. Now you can dress up perfectly for 100 thousand, and for 10 thousand, and even for 3 thousand, the main thing is that the clothes work for you.
Let's imagine what the work of a stylist will be like in 20 years?
I really want the stylist to not look like a robot in 20 years. There is such a tendency. And if you dream up, then, I think, everything can boil down to the fact that a person will come to a shopping center, enter a booth with a large display there, choose what he needs on the touch screen, and score all his parameters. After that his figure is scanned, and while he is drinking tea or coffee, the stylist-robot picks up his clothes and brings him to the fitting. I tried on, chose, paid and left.
Terribly boring future
Terrible, but there is a trend towards such automation. And many people would like to receive such a service even now. But let's remember that fashion, stylistics are still art, a living substance.
An analogy with the Instagram application Prisma, when everyone suddenly became artists, began to make some pictures from photos, and suddenly it turned out that if you don't know how to take beautiful photos, don't have the gift of artistic composition, then your photo won't make a beautiful picture, and no app will help
Yes, that's right. Energy is important in any art, it is important to feel the beauty of another person, how a person moves, how he behaves. The stylist has to capture all this. No matter how wonderful a fashionable image the stylist has put together, it still needs to be breathed into life. And only a creative person who loves his work very much can breathe it. The robot cannot do this. Everyone will be the same.
Do you follow the trends in the beauty sphere? In makeup, in particular?
No, I don't. In this sense, I am not a consumer at all. Although I can buy something new trendy in order to pamper myself. Lipstick, for example. Then she will lie with me (laughs). I am not a fan of large cosmetics collections.
What does your morning beauty routine consist of?
My beautician has already given up on me, because I still wash my face with soap.
You can't crush genetics with your finger … Someone can't even use expensive special means …
Yes Yes Yes. My care plan is very simple. I really love Sisley and Clarins cosmetics. Recently there was an Eisenberg eye mask - absolutely amazing, I highly recommend it to everyone. I love Collistar, especially my body care products. In terms of care, I only have a moisturizer or nourishing day and night cream, an eye cream, an eye mask, a face mask - now it's Collistar. Plus, from time to time I go to the beautician, I do procedures there, the same Botox - I have such a tight schedule that I taught myself to do something once, but so that at least six months, or better a year, I don't go anywhere.
Can you tell us about your perfume wardrobe?
Perfumery is what I am sick with. And if I liked a certain scent, I will buy it for any money. I love trying niche fragrances, but I quickly get tired of any perfume and never use the bottle to the end, spend somewhere in half and then give it to someone else. At the same time, I have three favorite scents that I constantly return to, and which I never get bored. This is Amouage Dia. It's so a little vintage, and I generally love vintage fragrances, as if from my grandmother's chest. I bought this fragrance for the first time in Cannes and completely fell in love. The other two are Chanel # 5 and Chanel # 22. I always come back to these three.
Now I have BottegPolianthes on me. What is surprising: I do not like tuberose, in general, floral aromas are not mine, they are lost on me, even the most expensive aroma turns into some kind of sweet water, and BottegPolianthes holds, it is supported by ylang-ylang, sandalwood, woody notes. And this is the rare occasion when a floral scent suits me. In general, I think that a fragrance for a woman is an important component of her style. It's better to buy fewer clothes, but spend on a scent that will set you in the mood every day.
Photographer: Irina Khmelinskaya
Thanks to Have Nice Day cafe in Tsvetnoy for the wonderful atmosphere and help in conducting the interview.
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