even the dogs

Even the dogs (well the domestic ones) have their own outfits. This suit courtesy of U and O, to whom many thanks for a lovely dinner.

new hat...

Seem to be obsessively buying 'Russian' things including - finally - a proper fur hat. Err, with ears.

getting the boot(s)

As the Moscow News guide said, there is a street market alongside Donskaya Ulitsa, selling mainly food but also these valenki - traditional felt boots. Sorely tempted even though my luggage is already stuffed full. And what can I do with valenki in Islington, north London?

on observing

So, then I found myself out of the metro and in Red Square in the sun, just watching the people go by. And on the corner between GUM and St Basils I saw a steady flow of a particular type of man. Out they jumped one after another from their chauffeur-driven shiny black Audi or BMW or Mercedes - some watched over by a bodyguard - so as to take a brisk walk across the square and into the Kremlin. And rather like the English City gent, they were all dressed identically. Black-leather  flat caps, three-quarter length black leather jackets (with the fur on the inside and around the neck), suits of a shiny dark material. And black pointed shoes.

In fact, I don't know why I have never noticed the hordes of expensive black cars parked, waiting, on this corner. And it is not suspicious at all, just some guys going to work.

market time

Went to Cheap Sunday last weekend (which, confusingly, was on Saturday). Just like London, the many redundant factory buildings in Moscow are busy being converted into alternative arts venues and hosting miscellaneous 'pop-up' events - this one a fashion market. Cut-price designer labels, cheap mass-produced jeans and young designers making their own clothes and accessories mainly. I still can't get used to fashion here; too much of the very tight jeans (men and women), extreme high heels (women) and pointy-toed shoes (men), together with lots of fur, shiny fabrics and things that glitter.

I know I am being unfair - people are probably to close to a recent history of not having stuff to want to dress down in that insouciant way you see in many other European cities - but I just cannot get used to how starched, stiff and self-consciously posed most 'fashionable people' look. 

hat time again...

places to be seen in ....

Denis Semichev is a good example of the new Russian creative entrepreneur - an up-market, blingish, self-promoting fashion designer, shop/bar/club owner who has also developed his own furniture line and done projects with Ducati and Porsche.

His shop/bar is worth a visit (just off Petrokva Ulitsa), both because it gives you a flavour of his signature style and because it offers brilliant breakfasts.

No sympathy

Of course, the reason we (here) have no sympathy for British whining about snow and cold is that this country has all the 'kit' already in place.  Lots of dead animals to wear (there are even different words in Russian for a coat with the fur on the inside, and for one with the fur on the outside). Lots of snow-clearing devices, ones I have listed in an earlier post, but also a whole range of snow shovels and snow lawn-movers, which get pushed along the pavement. And whole bunches of people whose job it is to move snow around on roads and pavements, onto climb roofs and sweep the edges, to climb ladders and knock ice off drainpipes, and to put up miscellaneous barriers, warning of icy surfaces or dangerous icicles above. 

In fact, no snow left un-turned.

Moscow hats time- and what a choice!