These are disconcerting times for purist supporters of French haute couture. Previously immutable rules are being trampled beneath jewelled trainer flatforms. There are now couturiers using silicone glue (Donatella Versace), couturiers operating from London (Ralph & Russo) and couturiers who, in a previous epoch would have been called customers.  This is the category into which Ulyana Sergeenko, who showed her seventh collection in Paris today, falls, or rather glides. She is not a stumbler.  A striking, ageless looking ash blonde, Sergeenko, the wife of billionaire insurance oligarch, Danil Khachaturov, first came to the fashion world’s attention, not as a designer but as an elite shopper. From around 2011, she graced the front row of the couture shows, diligently attending Dior, Valentino and Jean Paul Gaultier, inter alia, and just as diligently changing her outfits several times a day. With her old school glamour (big swooshy skirts, small, feminine waists, and limousine-only shoes) she became one of the first social media style stars and according to her telling, soon grew frustrated that pieces she had collaborated on with designers were later appearing in collections unattributed to her.  So she did what any sensible billionaire fashionista would do and launched her own label. And not in an unassuming, quiet way with private one-to-one appointments, but with a full catwalk assault.  While it’s impossible to gauge her commercial success (like all couture labels, this one is reticent when it comes to the nitty gritty of actual numbers), it undeniably has its followers, not least among them fellow Russian Natalia Vodianova who, being married to Antoine Arnault, son of Bernard, has her pick of LVMH’s sprawling stable of high end French designers.  Today, Sergeenko’s front row featured a mixture of senior press and international socialites - Vodianova plus Elena Perminova and burlesque artiste Dita Von Teese. She has dressed Beyonce and Lady Gaga and around 160 or so other clients  The make of these clothes – all produced in Moscow, where Sergeenko employs some 100 seamstresses – is impressive, often highlighting traditional Russian crafts. The fit is superior to some of those seen elsewhere this week. As for the aesthetics: these veer towards the traditional: wasp waists, sweetheart necklines, richly embellished fabrics. Her new spring/summer collection embraced its Russian heritage - flounced gypsy skirts, pixilated embroideries, filmy, puff-sleeved negligees that wouldn't look out of place in the BBC's current adaptation of War and Peace, Cossack inspired hand made lace tunics - and a richesse of bustiers.  This is classic man-bait but also, by most modern standards, intensely formal. It also happens to be how many of the super-rich from Moscow, Baku and Tashkent dress, publicly at least. What Sergeenko lacks in formal training, she makes up for with conviction.
How did Russian supershopper Ulyana Sergeenko break into the storied world of haute couture? Lisa Armstrong reports from Paris