Career in the Soviet Union During the Soviet era, clothing was dominated by Zaitsev and
Valentin Yudashkin, and he was compared to other world-renowned fashion designers such as
Christian Lacroix,
Christian Dior, and
Yves Saint Laurent, however, under the
communist regime, the only country outside of the
USSR where Zaitsev was able to work was
Czechoslovakia. Alexandre Vassiliev, a Russian-born, Paris-based fashion historian and designer, stated that "[i]f he had had a chance to show his collections abroad he would have been most possibly a world-famed brand." In March 1965, Zaitsev became the chief designer at the All-Union Fashion House (
Dom modeley) on
Kuznetsky Most. He authored two books in 1980,
Such Changeable Fashion () and
This Multifaceted World of Fashion (), which were republished in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia in 1983. Zaitsev met with
Thierry Mugler in 1985 in Moscow, and the French couturier photographed Zaitsev's fashions for an article in
Paris Match.
Raisa Gorbachyova wore Zaitsev creations when she made what
The New York Times described as a "
perestroika splash" in the 1980s. Zaitsev fashions were displayed at
Expo '85 in
Tsukuba, Japan, although it was not until 1986 that he was able to visit a
capitalist country when he displayed some of his works in the Soviet pavilion at
Expo 86 in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A member of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Zaitsev affirmed his belief in the Soviet Union and the future of communism, including the
communist ideals of a workers' paradise.
The New York Times reported that by the 1980s, he became disillusioned with the Party. Zaitsev told the newspaper that at mandatory party meetings he "began to defend the right to be free, as it says in the Communist charter. They constantly tried to distract me, not to let me get in. I'd be stuck in the elevator or I'd be sent off to some other event." This disillusionment led to Zaitsev quitting the party in the late 1980s. The contract was the first commercial consumer venture signed between the two countries. In October 1987 he showed his collection at the iconic
Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, which critics called overwrought, out-of-date and reminiscent of Western fashion from several seasons earlier. Undiscouraged, Zaitsev said that he planned to return with a "pared-down, sexier collection". He returned to New York City in 1988 where he designed costumes for the
musical revue Sophisticated Ladies, based on the music of
Duke Ellington. The following year in March, Maison de Couture named Zaitsev as "Man of the Year in the World of Fashion" In September 1989, Zaitsev showed his collections in
West Germany for the first time under the theme "Fashion and Music Revue '90", and in December 1989 he won first prize at "Five Top Fashion Designers in the World–90" in
Tokyo, Japan, where he was competing against
Donna Karan,
Claude Montana,
Hanae Mori and
Byblos.
Career in post-Soviet Russia Whilst during the Soviet era Zaitsev's work was funded by the Soviet government, which as a state employee he earned the maximum of 1,000 roubles per month, after the
collapse of the Soviet Union he became responsible for financing the business out of his private income, with
New Russians making up the bulk of his clientele. and in the same year Zaitsev launched a women's
perfume named
Maroussia, in conjunction with
French-based L'Oréal. The perfume which is classified as a "floral oriental" and is still in production, was launched in a few European countries in 1992 and was launched worldwide in 1993. In 1994, Zaitsev hosted the inaugural
Nadezhda Lamanova Prize competition for professional Russian designers at Dom Mody, and the competition has been held under his patronage since. In 1996 he launched a competition in Russia, using the slogan of "Goodbye
Barbie, welcome Maroussia", to find the "purest essence of" female adolescence, with the aim of decreasing the influence of the American doll in Russia. In Zaitsev's words, "Barbie is rigid, cold, cynical, pragmatic. Now look at the faces of our children ... they are not only beautiful, but sweet, charming and mysterious. In every face there's a secret, and so must the new Russian doll". Also in 1996, a follow-up to 1992s
Maroussia, a floriental fragrance named
Authentic Maroussia was launched but has since been discontinued. Zaitsev was the tailor to
Vladimir Zhirinovsky for his
1996 Russian presidential campaign. Zaitsev, who planned to vote for
Boris Yeltsin, stated on Zhirinovsky, "He wanted something distinctly Russian, so I thought back to the military-style jackets of the 20s, the 30slike Stalin, only in new colours". On 27 May 1996,
President of Russia Boris Yeltsin awarded Zaitsev the
State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and the arts. In 1996, Zaitsev was also made an honorary citizen of the city of his birth, Ivanovo. When President of Russia
Vladimir Putin was due to travel on a
state visit to the United Kingdom in June 2003, Zaitsev designed attire for First Lady of Russia
Lyudmila Putina to wear for the visit, which included an audience with
Queen Elizabeth II. Zaitsev told
Zhizn that it took some time to convince Putina to wear a hat, due to Russian women in general not wearing them. By February 2005, Zaitsev had opened four Slava Zaytsev Men's Wear stores in
Ryazan,
Ufa,
Orenburg, and
Samara.
The New York Times described Zaitsev in 2004 as one of the few Soviet icons who is still an icon in modern-day Russia, and
Time magazine reported in 2007 that the Zaitsev name has 93%
brand awareness in Russia. In 2007
Kommersant commissioned
VCIOM to run a poll on public perception as to the make-up of the Russian elite; Zaitsev, who is often referred to as the
Patriarch of Russian fashion, was rated at 74. at the exhibition The Russian Evening-2008 in Milan, Italy in September 2008 Zaitsev was not interested in achieving worldwide renown by showing his creations abroad, preferring to stay true to his Russian roots and encouraged other Russian designers not to be influenced by the West. After visiting
Ashgabat in June 2008 for the Turkmen Textile Exhibition, Zaitsev stated that he was fascinated by traditional
Turkmen clothing, and announced plans for a new collection which would incorporate traditional Turkmen elements. The casual wear collection is to be made exclusively from cotton from
Turkmenistan and would feature the traditional Turkmen
embroidery which captured his imagination. In September 2008, Zaitsev participated in The Russian Evening-2008 at the
Institute for International Political Studies in
Milan, which was attended by Svetlana Medvedeva and
Clio Maria Bittoni, the wife of
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Zaitsev had always been an admirer of the costumes sketches supplied by
Pablo Picasso and
Albert Benois, amongst others, for
Sergei Diaghilev's Paris troupe, and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Diaghilev's
Ballets Russes, Zaitsev's collection for the 2009 Russian Fashion Week paid homage to the Russian
ballet impresario. ==Death==