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Editorials > 2011 > Harper’s Bazaar Spain December
Issue: Harper’s Bazaar Spain December 2011
Title: Diez Dior
Photographer: Patrick Demarchelier
Harper’s Bazaar Spain December 2011
Ogonek Magazine
Natalia is featured on the November 14th issue of Ogonek Magazine. I’ve added the cover to the gallery and you can read the article below. Please note: The following article has been translated into English using google translation.
Over the past ten years I worked as a model, I was able to achieve success, wealth and fame, which I did not dare to dream. However, this does not make sense to me, if I can somehow help others.
More than anything, I hate injustice. It angers me to the core. So, after reading the book “Give me a chance” *, I experienced a strong shock.
Difficult and painful to think about how my country is for children with disabilities. Hard to imagine what would have happened with my sister, if my mother had given her in the care of the state.
I remember that up to seven years I have had a perfect childhood. I lived with my mother, stepfather, grandfather and grandmother to four-room apartment in Nizhny Novgorod. And of course I was terribly spoiled. My grandmother sewed me pretty dresses and stuff Crimean grapes.
Everything changed when I was seven years old and I was born the first sister Oksana. Doctors put her diagnosis – infantile cerebral palsy. Vanya from the orphanage N 10, which describes in his book “Give me a chance”, was born in the same year as Oksana, and perhaps why his story is particularly strong hold of me. Birth Oksana literally destroyed our family. In the nursing home my mother strongly advised to abandon the child and give the girl in the care of a state institution for children with disabilities. They said that she would never go and do – grow “vegetables.” Perhaps they sincerely believed that a sick child at the hands of my mother put an end to his life. “Your own life will end, if you take a girl. Do not even think about it.”
But I have a strong mother, and she rejected all the arguments of doctors. Oxana – her daughter, she said, and care for her she would be herself. This decision is adopted mother yourself, did not listen to any doctors, no relatives and friends. Her husband, my stepfather, said, or child, or me. And he left us.
My grandmother and grandfather worked at the automobile plant and even grown fruits and vegetables in the country near Nizhny Novgorod. Throughout his life, they have been working hard. At the same time my grandmother was a very sociable man, fond of fun for the holidays and collected a lot of guests. Presence in the house of a sick child would radically change her life. “We are no longer so young and deserved rest. Let us disperse.” So we with mom and sister were in a studio apartment is not in the best area of ??town. The apartment was so small that we were sleeping with Oksana in the hallway.
Harper’s Bazaar Women Of the Year Awards 2011
Condé Nast Traveller Russia Outtakes
Three new outtakes from Condé Nast Traveller Russia have been added to the gallery. Enjoy!
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Magazine Prints & Outtakes > Condé Nast Traveller Russia October 2011
Bolshoi gala: a night in true Russian style, minus Putin
Right from an opening extravaganza of workers in hard hats toiling away to the tune of a drill, on through to a penultimate act featuring a horse and donkey, the entertainment was a gala evening managing to combine the Bolshoi’s long history of grand performance with modern Russia’s supposed cultural vacuity.
Stretched over two hours, Friday night’s over-the-top medley of ballet and opera, with enough theatrics to rival any Eurovision gathering, gave Russia a show to remember to celebrate the opening of the Moscow theatre’s doors.
Not that Dmitry Medvedev, dwarfed on the Bolshoi’s enormous stage, was going to let the assembled supermodels, politicians and ballerinas be in any doubt of the significance. “Today is a very happy day for our country,” the president said, kicking off the evening with a speech extolling the theatre’s symbolism. “We have, of course, a very big country, but one with a small number of unifying symbols, so-called ‘national brands’. The Bolshoi is one of our greatest national brands.”
A brand name appeared a crass way to describe a magnificent world-class historic theatre that has given the world some of its best ballerinas, opera singers and choreographers. Broadcast round the world, the opening was intended as a cultural event to mark a six-year renovation costing half a billion pounds.
Medvedev and his wife, Svetlana, in silver lace top and deep blue skirt, took the main box, which has welcomed tsars and Soviet premiers since the theatre first opened in 1825. The president spent much of the evening whispering to Yelena Obraztsova, one of several Bolshoi legends invited to his box. When a standing ovation was needed, it was Medvedev’s wife who nudged him with the back of her hand.
Supermodel Natalia Vodianova and Italian actress Monica Bellucci were there, as were former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Naina Yeltsin, widow of the former president, and Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. In a nod to Kremlinology, ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin, fired last month by Medvedev, was relegated to the last row. Former president Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, was notably absent.
As the curtains parted on the famous stage for the first time in six years, the grand hall, outfitted in lush red fabric, ubiquitous gold and opulent chandeliers, filled with a pounding squeal of drilling and repairs. New acoustics, a goal of the renovation, ensured it was deafening. After several minutes, a choir of many dozens dressed as building workers launched into Mikhail Glinka’s Ivan Susanin, singing “Glory to the Russian people!”
An all-Russian programme followed, with arias from Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, and a Shostakovich’s tango from the Golden Age ballet was only outdone by an elegant adagio from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, featuring principal ballerina Svetlana Zakharova. French soprano Natalia Dessay and Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana were invited to perform.
Nearly all the pieces showcased the Bolshoi’s famous traditional style. Walking down a long red carpet after the end towards the dogs and riot police cordoning off the square in front of the Bolshoi, attendees seemed pleased.
“I liked it,” said Vitaly Mutko, the sport minister. “It’s culture. It’s the country.”
Natalia Visits Tula, Russia
On October 29, Natalia went on a visit to Tula, Russia where she revealed plans to open a new playpark for children with special needs. Photos from her visit have been added to the gallery. A video from the event can also be found here.
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Appearances & Events > 2011 > Visit to Tula, Russia
Russian supermodel takes orphan’s story close to heart
A British journalist and a Russian supermodel have teamed up to tell the true story of a Russian orphan’s journey from being abandoned in a mental hospital to finding loving parents in the US.
“The Boy from Baby House 10″ was written by Alan Philps, who was instrumental in helping young Vanya start a new life. Natalia Vodianova helped to get the book published and wrote a preface for it.
Dubbed “Russia’s Cinderella,” Vodianova is internationally known not only as a supermodel, but also as a keen children’s philanthropist. Her “Naked Heart” foundation built dozens of playgrounds for children in different cities around Russia.
Coming from a family with a disabled sibling, Vodianova took Vanya’s story very close to heart.
“I grew up in a singe-mother family with a disabled sister – she is now 22 years old,” Vodianova told RT. “Alan [Philps] read about my story and wrote me a note that touched me and made me read his book. It said, ‘Thank you and your mother for not abandoning your sister in a state institution, like it happened to Vanya.’”
Undertaking the challenge to publish and promote the book, Vodianova hoped that it could play an important role in changing people’s attitude toward the disabled.
“The situation with orphanages in Russia hasn’t improved much, unfortunately,” Vodianova told RT. “There are numerous issues connected with disability. For example, children with certain diagnoses cannot be adopted at all. People who will read Alan’s book will understand how this system works, how brutal it is, what challenges such children face in state institutions. This is an incredible story. We hope the book encourages families not to give up on their children.”
