Moscow news
Moscow Fashion visionary
Until July 24 at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, 12, Ul. Volkhonka, Kropotkinskaya
Open Tue.-Sun. 10am-7pm, closed Mon.; ticket office closes at 6pm.
t was a day in February 1947 when a budding young designer presented his first collection on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. The innovative collection titled “Corolle” (a circlet of flower petals) prompted Harper’s Bazaar’s editorin- chief Carmel Snow to exclaim, “It’s such a new look!” – and thereafter, Christian Dior became known as the creator of the New Look.
Post WWII, fashion took a turn to the feminine – practical outfits restricted by fabric rationing gave way to longer and fuller skirts which flared out from the waist, emphasizing a woman’s curves. Dior created ethereally elegant silhouettes, turning women into flowers. Since WWI, women were supposed to have flat boyish figures, but Dior promoted a fuller look with a large bust and small waist. In denial of fabric rationing, Dior unabashedly used yards and yards of expensive fabrics for one dress. The rich and famous instantly lined up to order dresses from him. Dior was made.Read moreControversial mosque in MOSCOW will not be built
The hotly contested mosque construction at Tekstilshchiki will not go ahead and a kindergarten will go in its place.
Growing numbers of migrant workers from the predominately Muslim former Soviet states in Central Asia are placing increasing strain on Moscow’s mosques and religious leaders fear that devout young men arriving for work and used to hearing religious authority will be left in a challenging environment without spiritual guidance.
Locals have nonetheless dug their heels in over building a place for Muslims to worship on the wasteland, where residents have called for a park.
Political capital
“Earlier on, architects prepared a potential draft for discussion at public hearings over the issue of building a mosque. The decision was afterwards taken to not build a Mosque,” Vladimir Zotov, south east district prefect, told Interfax, as cited by NewsMSK.
A kindergarten will go in its place, the local council has decided.
“Some politicians tried to extract some political capital from this,” Zotov added. “Personally, I think it is sad that these public figures tried to manipulate citizens’ religious feelings.”Read moreMOSCOW Night at the museum
Moscow museums are celebrating Museum day and are opening their doors to the visitors mostly free of charge on May, 14 between 6pm and midnight.
The official museum day is May, 18, but Moscow authorities decided to switch the local version to the weekend in the hope of attracting more people through the doors.
Half a million people are expected to try a taste of Moscow culture by night.
Getting around
Forty specialised buses will connect different museums participating in the event, said head of Moscow’s culture department Sergei Khudyakov.
One of the routes will connect museums within the Garden Ring, the second – museums in the west and south west of Moscow, and the third will run between palaces on the edge of the city, RIA Novosti reported.
The buses will run with 10-20 minute intervals.Read more