Sisters Ruban Alisa and Yulia. Yulia and Alisa Ruban about couture and fashion as a business. What sport do you play?

Every week the editors ask one of their Muscovite acquaintances to take a photo on the street and tell him what brands he is wearing, where he bought them and where he prefers to buy clothes. This week, The Village photographed designer Yulia Ruban on Bolshaya Dmitrovka.

Yulia Ruban

Designer of the Ruban brand

He wears clothes of his own design, but buys shoes and accessories in trusted stores. Combines expensive items with basic knitwear from affordable brands.

On Julia: Ruban jacket, Ruban Style dress, Yves Saint Laurent bag, unknown brand boots, NTW glasses.

About things

About the stores

Since my sister and I started designing clothes, I hardly buy things. The exception is basic T-shirts and sweatpants from affordable brands. I especially love digging into the men's departments. Missoni is my old love. In Moscow, if we are talking about shoes or bags, I buy everything at TSUM. In addition, I really love Chanel shoes - this season my favorite sneakers are from there. Of course, I like to buy in Europe, but I don’t buy everything fanatically. Of the affordable brands, I prefer Marks & Spencer, Oysho, River Island and Uterqüe - sometimes you can find a real treasure there.

I don’t buy clothes on the Internet: for me shopping is also a tactile pleasure. I need to touch the thing, put it on, take it off, put it on again. Then it must be packaged beautifully, and I move on. As a result, you get tired, drink coffee or wine and put your purchases in the trunk. In general, I am not a customer of online stores.

Previously, my sister Alice and I could go to Milan and not sleep, not eat, but buy, search, until there was no money left for food at all. Now all this is in the past, I have become more relaxed about clothes and brands.

It's time to evaluate the achievements of Russian fashion over the past year and choose the best domestic designer. Alexander Terekhov, Ulyana Sergeenko, the Ruban sisters, the mysterious fashion duo Bohemique, Kira Plastinina and many other talented fashion designers made a huge step forward in 2013. But have our couturiers come close to the level of Marc Jacobs or Riccardo Tisci?

Alena Akhmadullina - brand Alena Akhmadullina

The designer from St. Petersburg easily conquered Moscow, and since 2005, Parisian fashion weeks. Alena created clothes for the Russian national team, came up with a design for cards from one of the top Russian banks and showed “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel” at Russian Fashion Week. In the spring-summer season, Akhmadullina proposed minimalist, voluminous models with bright floral patterns, images of military paraphernalia, as well as the main “hero” of the line - in fact, the golden cockerel itself.

Alena Akhmadullina

Collection Alena Akhmadullina

Anastasia Romantsova - brand A La Russe

Received the title "Designer of the Year" according to one of the Russian glossy magazines. Like Akhmadullina, Anastasia presented her collection in Paris in 2013: Russian style in the best traditions, harmony in proportions, colors and styles. The 2014 spring-summer collection pleased fans of the brand with variety: it includes silk dresses, cotton sundresses and practical sweatshirts for walks along the resort embankments, trouser suits and “pajamas” for going out.

Collection A La Russe

Alisa and Yulia Ruban - RUBAN brand

The latest fashion achievement of the Ruban sisters is a capsule collection of sweatshirts called Batman I Love You for the Warner Bros. film studio. Alisa and Yulia grew up in Kislovodsk and received diplomas in psychology. Next, the girls set off to storm the capital: the youngest Alisa got a job in a glossy magazine, and the eldest Yulia got a job with makeup artist Natalia Vlasova. As a result, of course, the sisters created the Ruban brand - Vera Brezhneva, Ravshana Kurkova and many other celebrities love the brand’s outfits. Alice and Julia's boutique will soon open in Milan.

Alisa and Yulia Ruban

Collection RUBAN

Dasha Gauser - Dasha Gauser brand

The history of the Dasha Gauser brand began in 2006, when Dasha Gauser pinned a piece of paper to the wall with the inscription: “Feat No. 1: quit my job.” Features of the designer's creations are emphasized femininity and sensuality. Dasha quickly became popular, predicting the fashion for dresses. Later, Gauser made the silhouettes more complex, with folds and layered drapes becoming the main elements. Two lines of clothing - evening and casual, as well as a range of accessories such as complex clutches and handbags with patch pockets - this is what Russian fashion designer Daria Gauser managed to achieve. This winter she suggests wearing delicate dresses with rough boots.

Dasha Gauser

Dasha Gauser Collection

Behind this name lies a duet of two Russian designers. They do not reveal their names and avoid publicity. However, their clothes speak for themselves: dresses that refer to fetish have been loved by Russian it-girls for a couple of seasons of the brand’s existence. One of the main fans of the brand and its face is actress Anna Chipovskaya. However, she also often wears dresses in black and white monochrome, embroidered with ornate patterns.

Collection Bohemique

Kira Plastinina - brand Kira Plastinina LUBLU

This year she presented a capsule collection of evening dresses dedicated to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The silhouettes of the dresses are reminiscent of the best Christian Dior models of the late 1940s and early 1950s of the last century. The color scheme is made up of the colors of the Russian flag: white, blue and red. The finishing of the evening dresses is reminiscent of the signature pattern on the tracksuits of the Russian Olympic team. Ksenia Sobchak, Svetlana Bondarchuk, Nadya Mikhalkova and many other stars took part in the filming of the LUBLU lookbook. For the spring 2014 collection, Kira relied on abstract floral patterns to decorate sheath dresses, tunics and jumpsuits, which Plastinina suggests wearing with transparent silk trench coats and elegant nude and black pumps.

Collection LUBLU Kira Plastinina

Ulyana Sergeenko - Ulyana Sergeenko brand

Photographer and designer Ulyana Sergeenko has long captivated fashion critics around the world: her signature a la russe style in the form of scarves, folk patterns and long skirts is popular not only with Ksenia Sobchak and Svetlana Bondarchuk. This year, the singer appeared in outfits from Ulyana: in videos from Beyonce’s new album, the singer, for example, appears in a velvet bodysuit with lace and a cape from the Russian fashion designer.

Collection Ulyana Sergeenko

Alexander Terekhov - Alexander Terekhov brand

The favorite designer of Renata Litvinova, Svetlana Bondarchuk, Oksana Lavrentieva and Ksenia Sobchak, created a collection for Disney, choosing Miroslava Duma as a model. And director Litvinova even made the film “Girl with a Box” in his honor.

Collection Alexander Terekhov

the site invites you to choose the most worthy Russian designer of 2013. Vote!

This was the most homely interview we've ever had! Alisa Ruban invited us to her home, where we talked about how the fashion designer of the duo Ruban combines her incredibly busy everyday life and work as a mother, and also talks about the unusual choice of a name for a child.

1. Tell us about your unusual choice of name for your daughter.

Oddly enough, the choice of name is not an idea made many years ago, as happens with many, but rather a matter of chance. When I was six months pregnant, one day, while talking with an old friend, whose wife, by the way, was also pregnant with a girl at that time, we discussed names. My husband and I had several options for names, but none of them stuck and there was no feeling that this was it. And so my friend, in a conversation about women's names, told me a funny story about how he met his first love at school age. Several children, it seems, from the Baltic states, came to their school as an exchange student. His whole story consisted of how he described meeting one of the girls who came to them. “Hello, my name is Yura, what’s yours?” “And I’m Petya,” the friend says with a laugh. And the full name of this girl was Petra. When I heard this name, I realized that it was perfect for our daughter and there simply couldn’t be any other options. By the way, we also call Petra Petya at home.

1. You have a very sociable child. How are you developing Petra?

In fact, Petya is a child of moods. At times she is very sociable and cheerful, and at times she does not react at all to what is happening around her and simply does not want to communicate. Maybe this feature is inherent in all children aged two to three years, I don’t know, this is my first child. But we try to do everything to keep it open. She meets a lot of different people during the week, and this is sure to be very helpful in developing sociability. For example, 3 times a week she goes to educational classes in a group of the same kids, where they sing, dance, sculpt, draw, learn letters and numbers and just have fun with each other. In addition, 2-3 times a week Petra goes to the gym for physical exercises, where she can jump, tumble and run to her heart’s content under the supervision of a trainer. Also, an English teacher comes to her 2 times a week, and they spend 2 hours together. On Sundays, I take Petra to our newly opened store in Barvikha, where I change clothes for mannequins, and she just does whatever she wants. This is kind of our tradition, and when she leaves, she happily tells everyone that she is going to work.

Alice in a Ruban sweater and skirt, Petra in a Polo Ralph Lauren jumper, Kuxo leggings.

1. For the shoot, you yourself chose Petra’s outfits and some of these boys’ clothes, tell us about the unusual choice and style you preferred for this shoot.

I myself often rummage through my husband’s wardrobe. I love shirts, oversized t-shirts and oversized jackets. I often buy clothes for Petya in the boys’ departments. This is more likely due to the very limited selection of cool things for girls. Huge cake dresses, pink clothes, bows, rhinestones and everything like that definitely don’t fit into Petra’s wardrobe. This is not at all because I really wanted a boy - by the way, quite the opposite, I dreamed of a girl - but because I want to see my daughter dressed fashionably and coolly. For example, can you find jackets for girls anywhere? Or cardigans without bows? And boys always have a large selection of such things. You can always dress your child in a T-shirt, cashmere sweatpants, an unbuttoned plaid shirt and a trench coat on top - and all this with sneakers or rough boots. At the same time, let her long hair down. Candid girly outfits make me sad, forgive me. But this is my personal opinion, I, of course, do not impose it on mothers who are delighted with pink tutu dresses and stripes with a huge flower on the still hairless heads of six-month-old girls, this is definitely a matter of individual taste.

1. What is the most honest thing for you in your relationship with your child?

The most important thing for me is not to get what I need from Petra at any cost. At any age, even when the child does not quite understand what is happening and there is no connection between the action and the result, you need to remember what he feels intuitively. I don’t dwell on this topic, I don’t think every minute about how to behave, what to say, where all this will lead, etc., but I adhere to the rule of explaining everything, agreeing on compromises and, most importantly, doing what I said , even if Petra forgot about it herself. This will build trust in the parents' words. But I won’t hide that there are situations that all parents of children Petya’s age know about. Sometimes she just cries, refuses not only to negotiate, but even to listen to what they tell her. This is where a harsh parental word begins to work, which is not subject to appeal. This is difficult and unpleasant, but without showing toughness there is no education.

On Alice: 3.1 Philip Lim trench coat, Brunello Cucinelli feather shoes, on Petra: Burberry trench coat, Bonnie Baby hat, Kuxo leggings, Cherie boots.

1. If you were to describe yourself as a mom, what would it be?

I'm a thorough mom. I have everything under control. Working without being at home all days, often including Saturdays, I know thoroughly what Petra is doing, how the day goes, what she ate and drank, how she is in her mood, etc. The nannies keep a diary where absolutely everything is described. I really am one of those moms who is constantly looking for the best in everything. But this trait has real disadvantages. First of all, rigid views on almost all issues concerning the child. Plus the inability to switch off and, as a result, my virtually constant state of alert to solve any issue. This is quite exhausting, and I try and learn to approach some issues more simply and easily. Advice from a child psychologist is very helpful. We have our own permanent doctor, who comes about once every six months and gives advice based on the child’s age.

On Alice: 3.1 Philip Lim trench coat, Brunello Cucinelli feather shoes, on Petra: Burberry trench coat, Bonnie Baby hat, Kuxo leggings, Cherie boots.

1. Do you have any family traditions?

The most important thing is Sunday lunch with the family. My parents and Yulia come to us, we prepare dinner and all sit down at the family table together. Petra usually sits at the head. Recently, it has become a tradition to go “to work” to our new store after a family dinner.

1. Does your family, mother and sister, take part in raising Petra, do they help you work with her?

Parents help a lot. They take Petra to all her classes, mom takes an active part in nutrition, makes sure that the right, necessary products are available and food is prepared. The most important thing is that they live very close to us, and I am always calm. This is a very important feeling of stability and trust in your loved ones, on whom you can rely at any moment. And my sister brings tons of toys, from an electric car to small dolls, soon even in our fairly large playroom we will run out of space.

1. What do you think a fashionable mom is? Does it have more to do with clothes and appearance or the way she raises her child?

Probably it's all together. In this matter, the main thing is not to chase after something, but to build everything with your own hands. It seems to me that only in this case everything will be organic. And if, for example, you carry a child with you everywhere, because it is simply fashionable, but causes real inconvenience for the mother, then this benefits no one - neither the child nor her. I don’t consciously take Petra with me anywhere until she is less than three years old. I don’t see the point in knocking her out of her usual schedule, forcing her to sleep in fits and starts in a car seat, fighting motion sickness in the car, or standing together in traffic jams. And to be honest, I don’t care that it’s fashionable and a lot of people do it.

Alice is wearing: Christophe Lemaire jacket, Topshop leggings, Jimmy Choo shoes. On Petra: Simonetta hat, Kuxo turtleneck, Armani jacket, Dolce&Gabbana trousers and boots.

1. What are your plans for the near future? Maybe you are considering some clubs or activities for your daughter?

So far everything is going as it is now. We'll see when we get closer to three years. We really want to introduce more English, plus there are plans for a ballet school. But we’ll do all this closer to spring.

1. What is Petra's favorite thing to do with you?

She loves to give out roles and recreate fairy tales in person. For example, I am most often a mother goat, and she is one of seven kids. We often build houses from large multi-colored cubes. She also likes to eat from my plate and try on my shoes. I don’t even know what will happen next...

Alice is wearing: Christophe Lemaire jacket, Topshop leggings, Jimmy Choo shoes. On Petra: Simonetta hat, Kuxo turtleneck, Armani jacket, Dolce&Gabbana trousers and boots.

Alice, you are simultaneously carrying a child and ideas for your new collections. What changed with pregnancy? Can you tell from the new collection that it was made by a designer who will soon become a mother?

With pregnancy, I have become much more feminine, I want to sew and buy only dresses, beautiful underwear, high heels... in a word, almost everything that is now difficult and sometimes even impossible to wear.

Future motherhood clearly influenced the new collection. The things we have prepared for the new show are very feminine. Pencil skirts, dresses, peplums... For example, I never really liked the color pink, but now I look at it differently. Maybe this is really due to the fact that soon there will be one more girl in our family.

You continue to work actively and even periodically participate in the social life of your friends, where do you draw strength from?

When I still had a very small belly, I actually had time to look somewhere, and the weather allowed me to go to an event with bare legs, for example. Closer to winter and the last months it became more difficult. Now my sister Yulia is doing the double duty. But in the middle of the term I had enough strength for both events and work, I felt great.

What are your favorite brands and most comfortable clothes right now?

Now I wear boyfriend jeans a size larger and unbutton the top button. Very comfortable in cashmere trousers or sweatpants with soft elastic bands. I even bought several sets of home clothes at TSUM. All this goes perfectly with soft knit tops and T-shirts, cashmere sweaters or wide shirts. I loved Marni before pregnancy, but during pregnancy I fell in love even more. In my wardrobe there are items from completely different brands: from cotton pajamas from Thailand Jim Tomson and Cos shirts to, of course, RUBAN coats and cashmere in all kinds. Well, my shoes now are Chanel, New Balance and IRO sneakers.

How do you solve the problem of evening dresses during pregnancy?

If I still need to dress up, then the ideal options for me are: a black knitted tube dress with socks and sandals and large jewelry or, conversely, voluminous silk dresses with a strap over the belly.

Are you thinking of starting your own line for pregnant women or for children?

I really want to sew children's clothes, but a little later, for one-year-old girls, when they can already be dressed up in large sheepskin coats with hats like gnomes, and in wide silk dresses with cardigans... So I still have time.

Do you have any favorite children's brands?

To be honest, I don’t have any favorite children’s brands yet, I haven’t explored this market yet, but I clearly have everything ahead of me.

Have you already imagined how you will dress up your daughter?

I don't really like overtly childish outfits, especially for girls - bows, ruffles, etc... I already know that I will buy a lot of different plaid shirts, including oversized boys' shirts to wear as dresses, coats with sneakers and smaller copies items from our collections.

How do you take care of your face and body? Can you recommend any products?

I didn't do anything special during pregnancy. For face and body I use La Mer and Clarins. Clarins has an excellent cream for bust elasticity and a balm for tired legs - this is very important in recent months. Of the special products, I have been using Mustella brand creams separately for the skin of the chest and abdomen for almost the entire period. They help prevent the appearance of stretch marks and help restore skin tone after childbirth.

Have you bought everything you need for your baby in advance?

Where were you monitored during pregnancy?

I observed my pregnancy at the Diplomat clinic (Maly Kozikhinsky lane, 7). I can recommend my doctor Javakhia Liya Ionovna to any girl, both those planning a child and those already pregnant.

Have you already chosen a maternity hospital?

I will give birth in Florence at the new Careggi clinic with Dr. Massimo Mariani.

Do you already have your “alarm” bag ready for going to the maternity hospital?

The bag has not yet been packed, I plan to pack it after the last doctor’s consultation before the birth.

Who will help you with the child?

For a month after giving birth, I hired a pediatrician who would be present at my birth and then help at home. And, of course, my mother will help me, who certainly will not miss such an event.

Will you start working right away or take a short break?

I am still working and plan to continue working immediately after giving birth. I can solve many issues remotely, for example, preparing for the next show, receiving and sending fabric samples after color proofs, etc. My decision to come to Italy for this period, in addition to my love for this country, was partly influenced by work.