How a simple salesperson became a fashion expert: the gorgeous Alla Verber

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

A month ago, on August 6, 2019, Alla Verber, the fashion director of the Moscow Central Department Store, passed away. Her departure was a serious loss for the fashion industry in Russia, because Alla Konstantinovna had an incredible flair and knew how to choose from thousands of models exactly those that would be in demand. She knew everything about fashion, and even a little more, knew how to find a way out of any situation, but she could not defeat the ailment that she had been struggling with for the past few years.

From wealth to freedom

She was born and raised in Leningrad, her father was the head of the denture department, and grandfather Abram Fleischer headed the children's goods department at the Leningrad Trade House. He was a significant figure among collectors of antiques. The family lived in a house on Glinka Street, and two daughters, Alla and Irina, had to attend the theater twice a week and once a classical music concert.

Already at that time, Alla Verber began to form her own style and taste. She categorically disliked the uncomfortable crimplen suits of a strange cut and heavy winter coats and coats. She wanted to wear light, comfortable and, most importantly, beautiful clothes.

Dad insisted on admitting his daughter to a medical school, but already in her student years, Alla Konstantinovna clearly realized: medicine is not hers. It was much more interesting for the girl to observe how people were dressed, to come up with new combinations from existing things. She admired the ability of her large and stately grandmother to choose outfits for going out, and enthusiastically went through her new clothes, presented by her father for some holiday.

Their house was indeed a full bowl, the family had access to scarce goods and products, but in the 1970s, his father decided to emigrate. My father was ready to exchange all available wealth for vague, as it seemed then, prospects of life abroad. He explained his desire very simply: freedom is more important than material values. He dreamed that his girls and he himself could freely move around the world, have the opportunity to grow professionally and develop spiritually, not limiting themselves only to what the Soviet reality offered.

From the USSR, the family was allowed to take out personal belongings and $ 176 for each family member. They flew away forever. No one then could even imagine that Alla would return to Russia many years later and become one of the most prominent figures in the fashion industry.

From salesperson to fashion expert

She started working as a simple seller in Rome and did not get tired of admiring, carefully hanging and laying out things from famous brands. All this seemed to the girl as a miracle. True, she soon returned to Canada, where she again diligently gained experience, observed, learned the art of negotiation, acquired the necessary connections and soon began to think about opening her own business.

She named her fashion store in Toronto "Katia of Italy" after her daughter. And every day I changed clothes and wigs on the mannequins displayed in the window. This became the highlight of the store and attracted customers. Even then it became clear that the store would soon become one of the most popular boutiques. Later, Alla Konstantinovna began to actively cooperate with the K-mart company.

And unexpectedly for herself, in the 1990s she ended up in Russia. In conditions of a shortage of raw materials and a lack of models, she had to launch production at textile factories, the capacities of which had been idle for a long time. At first, Alla Verber dreamed of how she would return to Toronto and forget about all these problems.

When Alla Verber was offered cooperation with the jewelry brand Mercury, she practically did not hesitate. And 16 years ago she became the head of TSUM, having managed literally in three years from a huge store, not much different from the usual clothing market, to make a prestigious shopping center, where today you can buy things from the most famous brands.

Over time, Alla Konstantinovna got an apartment on Tverskoy Boulevard, and the understanding that she was in her place and Moscow was her home settled in her soul. She was respected by her colleagues and competitors, listened to her opinion, consulted with her and relied on her taste.

Leader in life

Her amazing flair was legendary in the fashion world. Alla Verber could accurately determine which models will be in demand, and which ones can be taken only a few, only for connoisseurs. Having passed the way from a seller to a fashion director, Alla Konstantinovna understood the product so much that there was almost no product for the sale.

She is used to being a leader and making decisions on her own. The most amazing thing was that she could predict fashion trends in six months. And to buy by this time models that will meet the requirements of the most demanding and trendy buyers.

She seemed to be in complete control of all areas of her life: home, work, business. And then the diagnosis made by doctors in 2008 sounded like a bolt from the blue: the third stage of cancer of the blood. At first she was confused, and then she pulled herself together, deciding not to give the disease a single chance.

She went to chemotherapy like to a fashion show: with her hair, makeup and a beautiful outfit. At the same time, she did not allow herself to relax, maintaining the usual rhythm of life: contracts, shows, purchases. She got up early in the morning and came home by midnight at best. But even then, Alla Verber's working day was not over yet: taking advantage of the time difference, she was already negotiating with her American colleagues from home.

It seems that then she was able to win, but the disease receded only for a while. On September 5, 2019, Alla Verber's condition deteriorated sharply, and the next day she left this world. For the domestic fashion industry, her departure was a great loss.

She was a real professional and a real person. And she called her most important quality the ability to find a common language with a variety of people.

Music during the catwalk, openness to the wishes of clients, collaborations with artists, branches around the world and a black dress on the way out - all this brought to the fashion industry. Jeanne Paquin, whose name has now faded next to the big names of Paul Poiret and Garbrielle Chanel. Who was that woman who made fashion exactly the way we know it now?