Yves Saint Laurent’s Russian dacha
A samovar from Raisa Gorbacheva and carved doors from Smolensk. In 1983, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé bought an estate on the Normandy coast. A few years later, an unusual structure appeared among the centuries-old trees—a genuine Russian dacha, which the friends named “La Dacha.”
The idea came about after the fashion designer’s trip to the USSR. In 1986, Saint Laurent’s first solo exhibition in the Soviet Union opened in Moscow. Two hundred clothing designs were exhibited at the Central House of Artists.
After its run in the capital, the exhibition was shown at the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. During his trip, Yves visited Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo, and museums of Russian culture, and fell completely in love with Russia.
Saint Laurent took a book on Russian wooden architecture with him to France. It was this book that became the main source of inspiration for his future project.
Together with designer Jacques Grange, Saint Laurent spent hours examining photographs of northern izbas, terems, carved window frames, and porches for hours, trying not simply to reproduce a Russian house, but to create his own romantic vision of Russia.
The house was built of logs, adorned with carved cornices, a high gable roof with a wooden ridge, and a spacious veranda for tea parties.
Eight vivid Oriental stained-glass windows created a unique atmosphere, through which sunlight scattered across the wooden floor in colorful glints. Saint Laurent loved Morocco and referred to Russia as “his East.”
The front door became the house’s crowning glory. It is an authentic carved portal in the Russian style, created in the Talashkin art workshops near Smolensk.
This was a personal project of Princess Maria Tenisheva. She opened art workshops near Smolensk—for carving, embroidery, and pottery—to revive the “Russian style,” which was then considered lost.
Mikhail Vrubel, Nikolai Roerich, Sergei Malyutin, Konstantin Korovin, and other outstanding artists of their time worked in Talashkin, reviving the Russian style.
Artifacts from the Talashkin workshops were exhibited and sold in Paris. High society could not believe that such delicate, skillful carvings were created by Russian peasants.
Along with the door portal from Russia, carved wooden chairs were also brought to Yves Saint Laurent’s country house in Normandy, where they found a place in the dining area.
Russian rugs, antique samovars, a collection of matryoshka dolls, hunting trophies, sketches of Russian theater sets, and a huge bearskin were also brought here. A carved panel depicting Nicholas II was hung on the wall.
A shiny brass samovar—a personal gift from Raisa Gorbacheva—held a special place in the interior. Tea at Saint Laurent’s dacha was served in the Russian style—in glasses with silver coasters.
For the fashion designer himself, his Russian dacha became a favorite retreat. Here he read, painted, took a break from the world of high fashion, and spent long hours in the silence of the Normandy forest.
After Yves Saint Laurent’s death in 2008, the entire contents of the estate were sold at auction for €27 million. The Normandy estate itself was purchased by Russian businesswoman Irina Povarenkina.
And that’s the story of this remarkable place, where Russian Art Nouveau, the Normandy forest, haute couture, Moroccan stained-glass windows, and a samovar from Raisa Gorbacheva all came together.
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