Russian Teen Prodigy Kira Plastinina to close all U.S. Store

[shirleebee]

The final nail in the coffin for fast fashion.
Good riddance.

[Street_a_Licious]

Originally Posted by loladonna

^that and her clothes were really tacky. Is her line really popular in Europe? I couldn't figure out who she was aiming at to buy her stuff in the U.S.

i don't know if you've read the article or not but it clearly stated that the shops are in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. the latter 2 hardly are places of "high fashion".

so, no, her line is not popular, or even remotely known in Europe.

why they thought that "oh, it sells here in Easter Europe/Middle East, it'll sell like hotcakes in the US!" is beyond me.

and their treatment of the staff is absolutely appalling.

Originally Posted by shirleebee

The final nail in the coffin for fast fashion.
Good riddance.

fast crappy fashion maybe. i consider Zara and H&M to be fast fashion too and seriously, what they produce has a lot more substance than this wannabe fashionline.

[loladonna]

Originally Posted by Street_a_Licious

i don't know if you've read the article or not but it clearly stated that the shops are in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. the latter 2 hardly are places of "high fashion".

so, no, her line is not popular, or even remotely known in Europe.

why they thought that "oh, it sells here in Easter Europe/Middle East, it'll sell like hotcakes in the US!" is beyond me.

I guess I assumed she--or her people- would have tested the water in Western Europe before making the leap accross the ocean. Nothing about her move to the U.S. makes sense.

[GasolineRainbow]

Originally Posted by shirleebee

The final nail in the coffin for fast fashion.
Good riddance.

The brand is an anomaly even for fast fashion. The business strategy and clothes themselves were so bad, it's like something out of a satirical movie or novel. It reminds me of that "Sex and the City" episode where this wealthy woman discovers a gluegun and annoints herself as a handbag designer.

Hopefully it's a nail in the coffin for delusional parents who spoil their kids rotten...but it's probably not. Kira's a young girl who has never received constructive criticism, and probably never heard the word "no". Her father is to blame for this mess.

[Zposen]

Thanks for posting these two articles... it puts everything in perspective for me. The first time I heard about this girl was on E News when she had a big party for one of her LA store openings. There were tons of celebs present and Chris Brown performed. I was shocked to learn that she was just 16 and considered a prodigy in the fashion industry. When I saw her clothes... I was appalled... just tacky and cheap looking. She paid Audrina Patridge a good deal of money to be her brand ambassador but she was never pictured in any of her clothes sauf at the premiere of her LA store.

Anyways, good luck to her...

[blackrose]

My eyes hurt from viewing the collection http://www.kiraplastinina.ua/jingle_bells.html Cheesy and tacky clothes. I don't get why the media attaches the word prodigy to her name.

[loladonna]

I probably shouldn't have used the word "prodigy" in the title. That was the best word I could come up with to match the media hype.

Apparently her dad paid Nicole Richie $150,000 recently to fly to Russia and promote Kira's line.

[Zposen]

^Not suprising ...

Did you read anywhere how much she paid Audrina to be her brand ambassador in the US? From my understanding she was supposed to wear the clothes out and about as well as on the show... Audrina did neither.

[stateofbliss]

^ I don't think Audrina commands that much for endorsements, etc. I highly doubt she got paid 1/3 of what Nicole Richie did.

I first heard about this girl when she had her first fashion show and paid Paris Hilton $1 mil (supposedly) to attend. I get that her father is a billionaire, but he shouldn't be throwing away $$$ like that.

I can't imagine anyone over the age of 12 would purchase clothes from her line. I walked by her Soho store when I was in NYC and it was empty.

[loladonna]

Originally Posted by Zposen

^Not suprising ...

Did you read anywhere how much she paid Audrina to be her brand ambassador in the US? From my understanding she was supposed to wear the clothes out and about as well as on the show... Audrina did neither.

When your clothes are too tacky for Audrina from the Hills you know they're bad.

[saucer-like]

Originally Posted by stateofbliss

I get that her father is a billionaire, but he shouldn't be throwing away $$$ like that.

My thoughts exactly. Even for a billionaire, $80 million seems like a rather excessive amount to sink into your child's whims. Especially ones that do not have an expected "return" -- in this case, literally a monetary profit.

[Trista]

Why am I not surprised...I saw her MTV special and honestly it was nothing special. I wouldn't pay those prices to wear most of that stuff.

[lepip]

i think its sad when anybody's dream is over. especially so publicly.
i guess that's what happens when paris hilton endorses your brand

[loladonna]

Originally Posted by Trista

Why am I not surprised...I saw her MTV special and honestly it was nothing special. I wouldn't pay those prices to wear most of that stuff.

I wonder if her dad paid for the MTV special? I remember thinking it was wierd and random for MTV to do a special when no one in American knew who she was.

[112fan]

Originally Posted by loladonna

When your clothes are too tacky for Audrina from the Hills you know they're bad.

soo true...but i also agree that its pretty ridiculous for her dad to have invested so much money into this...from the premature openings of over a dozen US stores, to paying for celebs to attend her shows and store opening, to getting audrina of all people to endorse the line...i mean its one think to believe in and support your daughter and its another to make irrational and stupid business decisions