Alexandra on horseback in Kyrgyzstan. She pairs this with other traditional Russian symbols such as matryoshkas, or Russian dolls, which represent motherhood and. It felt great to be giving something back to Russia and also like I was shedding a skin and really embarking back on my old and true path through life.. Please, She married an Uzbek horseman and rode the length of the Silk Road; lived the oligarch lifestyle with Putins banker; and now leads intrepid group tours of the Stans, A Kyrgyz camp in Naryn region, Kyrgyzstan, Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoys former redoubt. Its the reason shes been selling off many of the fashion relics of her old life, first with a sale at her Chelsea home, and now with a newly launched website where her own cast-offs will be sold alongside those of other stylish women including stylist Martha Ward and creative director and store owner, Alex Eagle. I wanted to cleanse that whole phase of my life and get back to who I really was, she says of her decision to sell off her designer wares. Nicknamed Putins Banker, Pugachev owned a coal mine, shipyards, designer brands and one of Russias largest private banks before a catastrophic fall from favour placed him at number 3 on the Kremlin hit list. I've never felt such a connection to someone ever.'. Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel. Shes kept a few special pieces. Having momentarily enjoyed the luxuries of a billionaire lifestyle, shes now entirely without financial support from Sergei, retains no luxuries from their marriage, and has sold all of the designer clothes, bags and shoes shed once owned: but she says shes all the happier because of it. She sent a cheque for 5,500 from her last clear out. Enjoy browsing and do email us if you have any questions! Sergei Pugachev once owned two major shipyards, the world's biggest mine and large chunks of real estate in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Mezhprombank, which he co-founded in the 1990s. Countess Alexandra Tolstoy is the daughter of Count Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, the current head of the noble House of Tolstoy, distantly related to Leo Tolstoy, and the separated wife of Sergei Pugachev, a Russian oligarch who was once worth $15 billion and was amongst Putins inner circle. Id never felt like that ever before, I was normally quite confident about the way I dressed., Her first taste of the oligarch life soon followed.That evening, President Sarkozy was giving a friend of Sergeis the Legion d'Honneur, and there was a party at the Elysee Palace, and obviously I couldnt go in my jeans and Uggs. But my father encouraged me to read and, as a teenager, I read a lot of Leo Tolstoy Im a relative of the writer as well as Lermontov, Chekhov, Dostoevsky and Turgenev. State creditors in Moscow pursued him in the British courts, claiming he embezzled hundreds of millions. By 2015, he was dividing his time between France and the family home in London and claimed to be number 3 on Kremlin's hitlist. Theres nothing phoney about it I keep it authentic. The oligarch fled to France, where he remains, and was sentenced to two years in his absence by a High Court judge in 2016 for breaching court orders relating to hundreds of millions in allegedly stolen cash. Simon Brown 3/8 How Alexandra Tolstoy made a rental house her own | House & Garden House & Garden 176K subscribers Subscribe 12K Share 617K views 1 year ago Behind the neat red-brick faade of a classic. I wanted it to be really comfortable not to be stilted and too formal. Authorities froze his assets, put him on Interpol's wanted list and obtained a court order in Britain forcing him to hand over his passports. In 2018, I returned after eight years away. Anne-Jessica Faure, a lawyer for Mr Pugachev, said there has been no court decision establishing financial wrongdoing by him. The industry is completely different now. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. Alexandra Tolstaya Countess Alexandra ( Sasha) Lvovna Tolstaya ( Russian: ; 18 June 1884 - 26 September 1979), often anglicized to Tolstoy, was the youngest daughter and secretary of the noted Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. Some years into this life, she was visited by Tatiana Schaufuss, an old friend who had spent several years in prison and in exile in Siberia. I obviously didnt have a very big budget, but when I lived in Russia, there was this amazing flea market on the outskirts of Moscow and I used to go at the weekend and hunt for antiques. Tolstoy was educated at Downe House, [2] and then studied for a Master of Arts degree in Russian at the University of Edinburgh, during the course of which she spent a year in Russia. Wearing Alex Gore Browne knitwear Alexandra Tolstoy As well as her own pre-loved pieces, there are also bargains from some of her fashionable friends, including Cond Nast Traveller's fashion director Martha Ward and chic interiors store owner Alex Eagle. Where I would usually be wearing some sort of boho embroidered dress before, it just wasnt formal enough, you needed couture. . I never failed to fill one. My brother is called Dmitri and I wouldnt pronounce his name because I was so embarrassed. The industry is completely different now. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting. I felt like Bridget Jones, so awkward. Three North European decorated and painted lidded jars, mid-19th century. The mansion was purchased by her ex-partner and the father of her children, Sergei Pugachev, 57, who was once dubbed 'the Kremlins banker' and was close to Vladimir Putin but fell into disfavour and was labelled a traitor by the Russian president. This week, the contents of the latter are on sale at Christie's as she moves out into a new home (the progress of which we've been avidly following on Instagram). The Russians then accused him of profiting from vast sums of taxpayers' money given to Mezhprombank by the Russian central bank at the height of the 2008 economic crisis. I very much hope that these pieces will find a new home and be equally enjoyed.'. When I came back, I switched my university course from philosophy to Russian at Edinburgh. Id only been to France on holiday, I didnt speak Russian and all my friends were on gap years in Thailand and India. I went on to take groups every year between 2002 and 2009, and was leading a tour the week before my wedding. I telephone Alexandra on a sunny afternoon during lockdown, which she is spending at her parents house with the children; suffering from asthma, she thinks it safer to be with other adults, just in case. The first time I went to Russia was in 1992, just after the Soviet Union dissolved. After the Silk Road journey, he, a friend and I went to Mongolia with only packhorses. Sign up for the latest news, offers and styles, Use left/right arrows to navigate the slideshow or swipe left/right if using a mobile device, The Tolstoy Edit x SJ Axelby Interior Portraits, choosing a selection results in a full page refresh. Leo Tolstoy's life", 1953 and others). or Alexandra Tolstoy published many books (" I worked for the Soviets", 1934; " Father. "Decorative, colourful, comfortable, quirky, full of pattern and informal," is how Daniel describes the aesthetic. It was shocking how he had absolutely no clue about finances, about running a company; it was shocking basic accounting, he didnt even understand. When I was in Sergeis chteau, he wouldnt really let me do anything anyway. Estimate: 1,000-2,000. Indeed, she has attracted such a sartorial following that last year, when she decided to sell some of the pieces from her former life, the interest was sizeable, prompting the Countess to launch a new online pre-loved fashion business, Preloved by Alexandra Tolstoy. He enjoyed a close relatinship with Vladimir Putin, andin 2008 when Sergei's bank hit problems, the Russian state bailed it out with $1 billion loan. | Our privacy policy, Website design and operation by Nelson Fernandes Serrao. ", "The pair of white sofas with cushions. 894646. Within a year of meeting, they had a baby and another on the way, and were living a life of luxury in London, Moscow and Paris. Everything weve got I feel is in its own right very unusual and special.. She spent her gap year in Russia. I was fascinated to know whether, in a contrary sense, this had prepared her and the children for lockdown, as shed already become so accustomed to feeling great isolation, especially in their French chteau, which was sort of isolation anyway. Among Alexandra's favourite pieces are a pair of white upholstered sofas by Katherine Pooley, which are expected to fetch between4,000-6,000, and two pairs of 20th century Indian palace paintings which are expected to fetch1,000-2,000 a pair. Brora x Alexandra Tolstoy. Just that morning, shed been contacted by a friend who was a yacht broker, who was sad to see the couples old yacht on the charter market, but Alexandra felt no loss: I thought to myself its amazing I literally miss nothing about that lifestyle planes, boats, trains, automobiles, houses: nothing.. The Russian Orthodox cross is a staple of Ms Tolstoy's apparel. I led them, with Shamil, from Bukhara to Samarkand, and it was a success. One such piece is a Dolce & Gabbana star print dress (290, pictured up top), which she wore during a trip to Monaco in 2011, the same year she attended the wedding of Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock there. Alexandra Tolstoy Travel Biographies of Teymuraz K. Bagration :::: Tatiana Schaufuss. Each 18 x 14 in (47 x 35.5 cm), framed. Other pieces currently available on the site include an Oscar de la Renta scallop-edged dress (200), a tweed Celine mini dress (390) and Alaa wool dress (450). The house, which was formed from two artists' studios, was decorated with the help of Daniel Slowik and Emma Burns at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, and was a treasure trove of interesting objects and characterful design. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. It also serves as such a wonderful background any colour works against it., Christies Online Magazine delivers our best features, videos, and auction news to your inbox every week, Of the dedicated Christies online sale she says, I would love these pieces to go to people who really appreciate them and love them. Shop Alexandra TolstoysPreloved edit here, For more news, analysis and advice from The Telegraph's fashion desk,click hereto sign up to get our weekly newsletter, straight to your inbox every Friday. I slightly lost myself thinking [the Pugachev-era clothes] were beautiful and actually its extraordinary how your vision can get warped and distorted. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Student journalism does not come cheap. I remember having a fantasy about feeding the chickens and I would be wearing something really, really pretty.. He claims he is being targeted because of his knowledge of state secrets. Now, Alexandra has reclaimed her creative autonomy and a certain intellectual freedom which was repressed during her years spent with the billionaire: We all have different tastes, but if our taste isnt reflecting who we are or where we are in life, that lack of harmony can make you feel not very happy. Her Instagram page has allowed her to present her own image to the world, one which she finds to be truly representative, unlike that of the media which is seemingly always speculating. It was a therapeutic process. 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I gave 20% of what I made to a charity in St Petersburg for children with autism. It took me two years to really look at these things, and think this was really not you and I dont even like these things, she explains, switching in a breath from cheerfully recounting her incredible memories to her voice crackling with the stress and anxiety of rebuilding her life. Selling her designer clothes and handbags allowed her to start again, and to be herself. When I was with Sergei, I stopped reading so much of that 19th-century literature which Im so passionate about With the life I live now, emotionally and mentally I can romantically dream and escape whereas then, it was so stultifying., I wonder if, like her fashion sense, her interior design interests were affected during her time with Sergei, as one might imagine they would be, but she says that they werent: Weirdly, the interior decorating never changed I could afford more things, but [Sergei] didnt really give me the opportunity to do very much the taste never changed there at all. He voiced the crocodile in my childrens favourite Soviet cartoon, Cheburashka, so its like hes in our home. Maybe my father could live without church and without God, but we weaker people need something to support us. Shortly before her birth, Leo had almost stopped writing novels . Alexandra Tolstoy Alexandra Tolstoy is an Anglo-Russian mother, adventurer, author and TV presenter. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the Settings & Account section. Countess Alexandra Tolstoy. Featuring our stunning jumbo cord overshirt and trousers, silk blouses and folk print dress, this collection is your one stop shop to style her fairy tale inspired Fair Isle jumper and tank top. Alexandra Tolstoy, Sigrid Kirk and Isabella Macpherson attend the Molly Goddard presentation during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2016 at the BFC. The self-described "Anglo-Russian adventurer" has travelled by horse and camel (yes, you read that right) for nine months on the Silk Road across central Asia to China, hosted a BBC TV . I did really lose myself in that period and Ive started dressing in a way that just wasnt me. Search instead in. When I returned to Kyrgyzstan last summer, I felt I had rediscovered myself. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. The interior and collection speaks not only of her love of the traditional English country house, but also of her Russian family heritage, innate personal sense of style and a strong desire to create a special home for her children. He appointed her as executor of his will, a task she had to undertake in 1910. Until then, dressing up for Tolstoy had been more about style and craftsmanship than touring designer boutiques. The couple met in 2008 after Sergei hired Alexandra to help improve his English while they were both living in Russia, where Sergei was once-close friends with Putin. Since the breakdown of her relationship with Sergei Pugachev, who was accused of fraud by the Kremlin in 2015, she has rediscovered her sense of style, favouring pieces that celebrate homegrown traditions and fashions, as evidenced on her popular Instagram account, @alexandratolstoy, where she often documents her wardrobe choices. And when youre in an abusive relationship like that it makes you completely and utterly lose your confidence, you dont even realise its happening. In the film, she bursts into tears as she considers what shell do when that comes to pass. However, after allowing White Russians to meet in her Moscow home, she was arrested five times by the Bolsheviks and in 1920 was sent to prison for a year. I went on to take groups every year between 2002 and 2009, and was leading a tour the week before my wedding. Wardrobes full of couture, endless priceless jewels and never-ending shopping trips. I just get on and do things; I cant sit around doing nothing. Pugachev has cut off Alexandra and their children financially, she claims, and she is now auctioning her possessions with Christie's to mark the 'start of a new chapter'. 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