Soviet fashion model Galina Milovskaya: biography and photos

The "model" did not exist in the Soviet era, so the girls who walked the podium were called "clothes demonstrators" or "mannequins." But in reality in the Soviet Union the models were of the highest level. The Soviet fashion model Galina Milovskaya was just from this caste, but her life at home was not formed. But she successfully realized herself in the West.

The beginning of the way

Galina Milovskaya was born in the capital of the USSR - Moscow, in a poor family. Her and her sisters were raised by one mother, her father died when Gale was 13 years old. The girl dreamed of becoming an actress, especially the external data she was quite worthy: tall, slender blonde, with delicate features and huge eyes, she embodied the modern ideal of feminine beauty. Galina successfully passed the exams and entered the theatrical school of. B. Shchukin. It was interesting to study, only the money was always not enough, the scholarship was only 30 rubles. A girlfriend at the college told Galina that at the All-Union Institute of Light Industry Assortment, you can earn money as a clothing demonstrator. Milovskaya came there and was greeted with cheers. With growth of 170 cm and weight of 42 kg, it was ideally suited to modern model standards, and her appearance type made her look like the trendy western model of Twiggy. Galina was recruited to the fashion prospects department, and she began to master a new profession. Then there were no courses for mannequins, and the girls themselves learned to walk on the catwalk, developed a model gait. Galya quickly learned the wisdom and became a popular fashion model.

Historical Context

In those days, when Galina Milovskaya decided to become a model, in the USSR this profession, to put it mildly, was not at all prestigious. At the time of Brezhnev's stagnation, the public paid much attention to the morals of Soviet citizens. Exposure of the body (open knees, decollete, even completely innocent) was regarded as an insult to the public taste. The woman should have embodied the features of a female worker, an exemplary mother and a respectable wife, no femininity, let alone sexuality and speech could not be. The Soviet Soviet morality believed that women's attractiveness and its demonstration humiliated the dignity of Soviet citizens. Also, the society closely watched the patriotic sentiments of the population. Any disrespectful attitude to the symbols of the Soviet regime was severely punished. For a political joke it was possible to go to jail, and for the unworthy handling of portraits of leaders - to lose work. Against the background of such implanted patriotism, every admiration for Western culture and way of life was perceived as an insult to the Soviet system. The West was an enemy, and it could only be scolded, it was impossible to praise it and encourage the planting of Western values in Soviet society. For communication with foreigners, they were no longer imprisoned, as under Stalin, but they took a person to a note and looked closely at his behavior. The suffocating situation led to the fact that many freedom-loving citizens and simply broad-minded people left the country under any pretext. Emigration was perceived by many representatives of the creative intelligentsia as liberation.

Career Model

On this historical background, Galina Milovskaya (model) chooses a lifestyle that is not quite right, in terms of power and morality. In the new profession, it was completely fulfilled. She worked a lot, showing the clothes of the Moscow model house. Gradually, she became famous in her circles, she was called "Russian Twiggy." In 1967, among the few carefully selected demonstrators, she participated in the only International Fashion Festival in the USSR. This event attracted a lot of foreign journalists and photographers, they also came in search of new faces. One of the finds was Galya Milovskaya, her image was remembered by the leading photographer of the magazine "Vog".

History of the famous photo

Two years after the Fashion Festival, photographer Andre de Ronet comes to Moscow to hold a photo session for the magazine "Vog" and saw only Milovsky as his model. The magazine did a lot of preparatory work and received unprecedented permits on the shooting in the Armory Chamber of the Kremlin and on Red Square. Galina Milovskaya said that the shooting in the treasury took place under the supervision of 17 submachine gunners. She was given the baton of Catherine the Great and the greatest diamond "Shah". Under this survey, "Vogue" singled out 8 pages of the magazine. Milovskaya did not get a penny for the work, the whole fee was sent to the state treasury. The most famous was the photograph, on which Galina is sitting, spreading her legs, against the backdrop of the Kremlin and the mausoleum.

Conflict with the authorities

This shot infuriated officials. Galina was summoned "on the carpet" by the minister of light industry who literally screamed at her in obscene language, accusing her of insulting the most sacred - Lenin. "You would still be naked in Red Square walked," he shouted. Thus, Galina Milovskaya, whose biography depended 100% on officials, lost work in foreign journals. Despite the attempts of her boss to write off everything for her "foolishness," she was banned from acting abroad. But this is not the end of the trouble. Her managers from the school somehow strangely appeared on the show of swimsuits, in which Galya took part. They said that she had fallen so morally that she could not claim the title of a Soviet actress - she was expelled from the school.

History with body art

The last nail in the coffin of the career was a scandalous event for the USSR with experiments in body art. Galina Milovskaya, model, became a model for the artist Anatoly Brusilovsky. He organized an event for his friend, a photographer from Cayo Mario Garrubba from the Italian magazine Espresso, a vivid photo shoot. At home, he gathered several friends, invited Galya as a model and made a beautiful painting on her naked body in the form of flowers, butterflies and birds. The photographer took the whole process and published it in his journal. The scandal of the action with a naked body was reinforced by the fact that under the artist's photo was printed the poem "Terkin in the Other World" by V. Tvardovsky, banned in the USSR. All this infuriated the Soviet authorities and Milovsky blocked all the oxygen. She was categorically refused to work, despite the fact that from the West she received very favorable offers. So, the owner of a very large modeling agency Eileen Ford did a lot to sign a contract with Milovsky, she even made sure that a letter from President Nixon was sent to the USSR. But the Soviet government did not allow Galina to work.

Emigration

Model Galina Milovskaya was forced to start thinking about leaving the country. Her emigration was not political, she repeatedly stressed that in her actions there was never any anti-Sovietism, that she simply participated in interesting art events and in no way struggled with the system. Arrangement of departure helped A. Brusilovsky, he was able to challenge her to Israel. April 14, 1974, she flies to Rome, where she was already waiting for Eileen Ford. She arranged Galina's participation in the contest of the highest paid models of the world. Galina was pursued by photographers, they were surprised that she never smiled. She was seriously worried about leaving, thinking about the fate of relatives.

Career in the West

Galina Milovskaya was able to integrate into the Western model business. She settled in London, was shot for many European magazines, often visited Paris. She did not become a top model, but she could earn a decent living. At this time, she met many people, learned a new way of life, but always remained a Russian girl. Regardless of her desire, her career still acquired a political connotation, she was even called "Solzhenitsyn in a skirt".

Marriage

At one of the meetings in Paris, Galina meets the banker Jean-Paul Dessertin. Within 15 minutes he proposed to her, and she accepted it. The next day the couple signed at the mayor's office and for over 30 years they have been together. Galina Milovskaya, whose birth date (1949) is a secret carefully guarded by her, considers her new birthday as the moment of her departure from the USSR, when she was able to change her whole life in an instant. The couple had a daughter, who today is one of the leading specialist ethnologists in Guinea.

New life

Having married, Galina refused the career of the model, she finally decided to get an education. She entered the Sorbonne at the Faculty of Film Directing. She took part in this profession, having shot several documentaries, including "The Moment When Memories Come" about the residents of the nursing home and "These Mad Russians" about Russian avant-garde artists forced to leave their homeland in the 70s of the 20th century. And today she shoots reports and small stories about Russian art in the West.

Even in the years of Soviet power, thanks to her husband's connections, Milovska managed to visit the Motherland three times as part of official delegations. After perestroika, she can meet regularly with relatives and visit Russia. She even represented her film at the Leningrad festival. Galina Milovskaya is now a successful, self-sufficient woman with a happy destiny.