“There was always a feeling that Russia slipped past the Art Deco era. This exhibition shows that it did not do so entirely. We have some excellent collections, and through the lens of those one can discover the motifs of this interesting style in this country’s culture as well, and in architecture, and the cinema. One more indication of the usefulness of museum study,” Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, commented.

Anna Meleshina, Managing Director of the Magnit retail chain, said: “Our mission within the framework of partnership with the Hermitage is to bring the world of high art closer to mass culture and to make it more accessible, so as to change the world for the better. That approach is reflected by the new exhibition that has opened in the Hermitage with the support of Magnit Kosmetik – the largest chain of drugstores in Russia offering a host of beauty and self-care products. After all, fashion, to which the exhibition is devoted, is a sphere where art meets with the everyday, and its very existence is impossible without those two elements.”

The main block of exhibits, numbering over 400 items, consists of beaded dresses and shoes from that time. The clothing on view includes articles produced by celebrated Western European fashion designers such as Paul Poiret, Jeanne Lanvin, Mariano Fortuny, Edward Molyneux and Lucien Lelong. The collection of footwear features the creations of prominent shoe designers: Pietro Yantorny, André Perugia, Israel Miller, Salvatore Ferragamo, Hellstern & Sons, Netch et Frater, Francois Pinet, Saks Fifth Avenue and many others. Visitors are also invited to explore the collection of celluloid heels – a distinctive type of Art Deco shoe accessory, the manufacture of which was elevated to the level of art in France.

Also on display are gems from the Hermitage’s collection of paintings and drawings from that period: works by Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Erté and other artists. The display is augmented by 1920s film posters from the Hermitage’s stock of artistic prints.

The exhibition has been prepared by the State Hermitage, with the participation of Nazim Mustafayev (Saint Petersburg), the Technical Museum of Vadim Zadorozhny (Moscow region) and other private collections.

The exhibition’s curator is Nina Tarasova, head of the Applied Art Sector in the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture.

The exhibition’s designers are Yury Suchkov and Emil Kapelush.

The project co-ordinator is Svetlana Datsenko, advisor to the General Director of the State Hermitage

An illustrated publication (in Russian) has been prepared to accompany the exhibition (State Hermitage Publishing House, 2025). The texts are by Nina Tarasova and Nazim Mustafayev.

The exhibition can be visited by all holders of entrance tickets to the Main Museum Complex until 7 September 2025.