Teen Russian Designer Kira Plastinina Closes Stores
The recession has a dealt a blow to 16-year-old Russian designer Kira Plastinina's U.S. plans. Most of her twelve stores in the U.S. will be closing. Bloombergreports that Kira's father Sergei Plastinin spent $80 million setting up the stores in the U.S. earlier this year. Kira's stores will remain open in Russia where her sales are strong.
"The number of shoppers in the U.S. fell significantly," said Sergei Plastinin, Kira's father, the food entrepreneur who co-founded OAO Wimm-Bill-Dann. "It also became much harder to find money for investment because of the financial crisis. We had enormous plans: New York, then India and China in 2009."
Kira Plastinina told New York magazine in May that her dad offered to turn her notebook dress-sketching hobby into actual clothes sold by her own retail chain when she was 14. The high-school student appears in the brand's advertising and has been photographed with U.S. heiress Paris Hilton. The company will focus on its 70 stores in Russia as U.S. retailers mark down inventory to cope with the recession.
"We have to live through the crisis and see what happens next before making any decisions," Kira's 40-year-old father said in an interview today in Moscow. A spokeswoman for the chain said the teenager's father speaks to business reporters, while Kira only gives interviews to the fashion press.
New York Magazine has an in-depth article about young Kira Plastinina and her fashion ambitions. You can view her Fall/Winter collection here. (via In Cut)
The recession has a dealt a blow to 16-year-old Russian designer Kira Plastinina's U.S. plans. Most of her twelve stores in the U.S. will be closing. Bloomberg 
