Team DM is back in action at HQ. We spent the morning cleaning out the office (much needed) for a photo shoot tomorrow (more on that later), and are all ready to settle back in. What is to come of our Russian trip is yet to be seen. I don't think I ever explained exactly why were there in the first place. The short of it is, a new large showroom space catering to Russia and former Soviet nations is opening in Crocus City, just outside of Moscow. The plan to cater to a large gap in their market -- the contemporary market that falls between luxury brands and let's say - H&M. They are looking for brands from all over the world that they feel offer something unique. Anyway - now that we have a better feel for what we would be getting into its time to mull over contracts.In the Meantime I have some Russian observations to make. For starters there are a lot of Mullets in Moscow. I was say legitimately over half the population of males have them. I was so sorry I didn't take any pics, but I google imaged "Russian Mullet" and got the image above with "typical Russian Mullet" under it. Truer words have never been spoken. Women too like highly styled hair. I realized towards the end of the week that long thick hair - even messy layers like we favor here - are very uncommon in Russia. Everything looks much more deliberate. The streets of Moscow are immaculate, even though it is tough to find a trashcan. Wish we could say the same about NYC. While it was pretty warm while we were there we saw NO fur trapper hats like EVERYONE joked we should sport. The one we saw was in Tsum - the very high end dept store. And it was Pucci! Not even a Russian label.
Also-we felt very safe! Much to the contrary of all warnings. It was interesting how few people spoke English though, and how many assumed we spoke Russian. Believe it or not I think the picture above is my favorite from the trip, despite all the beautiful architecture we saw. Due to our ignorance of the Russian language we had some good laughs trying to figure things out. Most took us a few extra tries. Whether it was three different trips up a museum staircase in attempt to get in, each time being yelled at for not understanding Russian rules (a word to the wise-you must always check bags and coats at Russian establishments, and NO bananas in exhibits), or having this stray pitter-a patter at Shannon's heels for blocks on end after weaving through alleys and yards to find the street, we were clearly in a new environment.Lastly, we should share that after arriving in Moscow every American we met that lived there nearly fell over when we told them we flew Aeroflot - fondly nicknamed we soon learned- "aeroflop." We're thinking everyone is sort of a snob for this - yes the planes seemed a bit old, yes we were the only Americans on them, and YES someone got in trouble for SMOKING on our flight home, but hey - we landed on perfect time, in one piece, going to and from... Who can complain?!
