Polina Kitsenko education. Polina Kitsenko. Official Instagram page. Lifestyle of Polina Kitsenko

It is known that before gaining great popularity and fame, Polina Kitsenko was actively involved in the fashion business. The essence of this enterprise was the sale of clothing, which was supplied from fairly well-known world brands. Polina managed to establish a channel through which such products were imported into Russia. As a result, the first fashion salon was created in 1994, which received the promising name “Podium”.

Kitsenko made a very large investment in this project so that the business began to generate huge profits. In the mid-nineties of the last century, Kitsenko’s business began to gain rapid momentum in order to soon turn into a real fashion empire.

On this moment Polina owns a huge business in the field of fashion and style, called “Podium Fashion Group”. Back in 1994, a grand opening of a fashion boutique took place, which was located in the capital of Russia. Since then, the marketing policy of the owner of a stylish business has been to provide the broad masses of people with fairly fashionable clothes, but at an affordable price. Everything that was previously available only to privileged segments of the population has now become widespread for the average citizen of Russia. Thus, we can say that the fashion business has become widespread among the masses.

Activities and years of activity

Polina Kitsenko works as a top manager in the fashion industry. It was after her business underwent serious formatting that the woman became widely known. The meaning of the reformatting was that Polina’s company decided to quickly grasp various trends that take place in modern world fashion and style. In addition, a lot of work was done to make all kinds of new products available to the average consumer.

It is known that Kitsenko leads an exclusively stellar lifestyle and very often meets with celebrities such as Ksenia Sobchak and Ulyana Sergeeva. Moreover, accompanied by her famous friends, she visited Lake Baikal. This event was joyfully received by fans of the star friends. True, this kind of trip, among other things, contributed to the emergence of a lot of gossip, without which star life cannot exist.

Kitsenko often takes part in various social events and activities. You can often meet her close friends at these events. In one of the interviews, Polina stated that she was very proud of her connections with Ksenia Sobchak, who, according to her, is a role model. Sobchak often speaks of Kitsenko as a person with a strong will and character.
Relationships and family

It is known that Polina Kitsenko is happy in her personal life and has long been married to Eduard Kitsenko, who is also very successful person. Edward owns an entire business empire, which he created with his own hands. The family has a desired child named Egor. Polina can't boast a large number interview, but it is still known that she pays great attention to her husband and child. Happy woman this marriage brings great pleasure in order to provide the energy necessary for a fulfilling life. It is also known that the woman has been involved in sports for a long time and is trying to promote sports culture to the masses.

For the fashionable Russian elite, the name Polina Kitsenko is far from an empty phrase. The owner of the Podium boutique chain has been a trendsetter for several years and is one of the most influential people in Russian fashion. Such “stylish things” as Ksenia Sobchak, Miroslava Duma, Daria Zhukova, Olga Slutsker and many others are proud to know her personally. At one time, it was Polina Kitsenko who taught all Moscow young ladies, and after them the whole country, to wear leggings in combination with mini-dresses.
The niche that the Podium brand occupies in the capital's clothing market can roughly be called “clothing for very rich people.” For the first time in Moscow, these luxury stores opened in 1994 and since then have become a real Mecca for the “cream of society.” The official website of the Podium Fashion Group company says that it marked the beginning of the development of the fashion industry in Russia. The assortment of boutiques includes almost all the leading fashion brands specializing in the production of clothing, shoes and accessories of the highest price category. Polina Kitsenko herself has said more than once that the people who dress in her salons are mainly those clients for whom buying outfits at the price of small cars is a common thing. Podium does not adhere to any particular style concept; it offers clothing collections both in the spirit of the mainstream and in the spirit of the avant-garde. Next to things from Alexander McQueen, Pucci, Baldessarini, Balensiaga there are new items from Celine, Chloe, Antonio Berardi, Emilio Gardem, Hugo Boss, Jean Dsquared2. Podium boutiques also offer expensive niche perfumes and cosmetics, jewelry and interior items. Profitable business Polina Kitsenko's boutiques are open in a number of regional centers of Russia, in particular in St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Samara and some others. The company is not inclined to advertise information about its turnover; Moreover, at the peak of the crisis, the owner of Podium did not lag behind the general fashion of expressing dissatisfaction with economic trends in the country and complained about the decline in interest from buyers in Balmain dresses worth 425 thousand rubles. But according to experts, the volume of investment in opening one Podium store can reach twenty million euros, and its net annual profit will be approximately twenty-five million rubles. But Madame Kitsenko’s success in business can be judged by how she spends her leisure time. Polina, her husband Edward and their children often visit the fashionable ski resort in Courchevel: going there for the New Year holidays has become a family tradition. In addition, the Kitsenko spouses opened one of their famous boutiques there. It presents jewelry from the brands Loree Rodkin, Garrard, Palmiero, costing from 15-20 thousand euros. Kitsenko’s Courchevel project called Podium Jewelery is aimed at wealthy tourists from Russia, countries of Muslim Asia and Latin America, primarily Argentina.
One of Polina Kitsenko’s most high-profile purchases was the purchase of an unusual lot at a charity auction organized by Natalia Vodianova. The “style icon” shelled out ninety thousand euros for a personal serenade performed by singer Bryan Adams, turning a deaf ear to Andrei Malakhov’s comments that “we have “Factory” singing for that kind of money.” A fan of ironic style. But, probably, like most women with the most at different levels income, Polina prefers to invest the lion's share of investments in her personal wardrobe, since her financial possibilities for this are almost unlimited. She often wears clothes from Azzedine Alaia, Phillip Lim, Givenchy, Chapurin Couture. The owner of Podium considers it her professional duty to be present at all world-class fashion events, including all famous Fashion Weeks and other iconic shows. You can see her everywhere in the front rows of spectators: Polina enthusiastically selects interesting models for herself and her stores. Polina Kitsenko's style is defined by fashion experts as a balanced mix of luxury and rising, but not yet particularly popular, brands. The images in which she appears in public often combine eclecticism and spontaneity, bordering on deliberate negligence.
They say this shows the ironic attitude of the metropolitan fashion trendsetter towards herself. “I am against mental torment on the topic “What shoes should I choose for this handbag?” My mind doesn’t work that way at all,” admits Polina.
She is used to turning her car into a mobile wardrobe. In the back seat or trunk, Polina Kitsenko always has a bag with several pairs of shoes, a couple of clutches or bags and several outfits. She experiences incomparable pleasure when she creates images from a limited number of things. For her, this is a kind of exciting game. Svetlana Usankova.www.luxury.net

Kitsenko: Angry, from work. Now she will talk to you and return to the office - and it is already eight in the evening, because her employees did not submit her assignments by the established deadline, which was Friday (today is Monday). Polina Kitsenko is a person who sits in the office 10 hours a day.

Kremer: Now is such a tense period, because there is a crisis?

Kitsenko: Of course, since the economic situation is not the most favorable either in the country or in the world, no one can relax, including us. I have never worked as much as I do now.

Kremer: What about delegating authority?

Kitsenko: Unfortunately, there is no one in particular to delegate my powers to, although we have a huge team. In general, there are very few personnel on the market who are capable of implementing tasks at an uncontrolled level. There are a lot of “creative” people who light up instantly and go out just as quickly. I have a lot of ideas myself, but I know from all my friends, business owners, that the percentage of ideas implemented reaches, God forbid, 30-40. And if you don’t remind, don’t take control, don’t direct, don’t set fire, don’t light the fuse, then you don’t have to hope that someone will bring you results. You see, working in big strokes is much easier than being the person who will scrupulously bring ideas to the final result. These so-called impressionists are a dime a dozen. And there are only a few hard workers and bees who work in the “devil is in the details” mode. Hard workers and bees, on whom all this execution...

“I would like to believe that I was never dressed stupidly”

Kremer: Let's rewind a little: your business began around 1994, when the Podium brand was registered. How did you come to this? What did you want to become when you were in high school?

Kitsenko: When I was ten years old, I wanted to be a geologist and look for precious stones. My parents had a book about interesting geology, with color photographs that fascinated me. This was partially realized, by the way. We opened the Podium Jewelery network.

Chudinova: And then?

Kitsenko: I studied at an English special school. Where did everyone go from Moscow special schools in those years? Institute foreign languages named after Maurice Thorez or MGIMO. At first, I was also going to enter the MGIMO faculty international information to a newly emerging specialty with the mysterious name Public Relations (it is symbolic that everything in life is returning to normal: today one of my main responsibilities is PR, although I did not receive a specialized education but what I do today at work , cannot be studied in any of the institutes in the world), I worked seriously in this direction. And then at the last moment my dad offered me International University, which was just discovered by Gavriil Popov and Mikhail Gorbachev. I quickly got there Faculty of Law, for free training, and thought that I wanted to stay there.

Chudinova: How could you answer this rather simple question: where do you get your taste for things?

Kitsenko: I probably didn’t and couldn’t have had a taste for things initially. He has evolved. When you don't have any opportunities in life, how do you know whether you have a taste for things or not? After all, I lived in an ordinary, simple Soviet family. Dad was an official, held a serious post in the prosecutor's office, but we lived from paycheck to paycheck. I didn't have a bike. I didn’t have imported pencil cases or bubble gum, and my first Barbie was given to me as a symbol for my 18th birthday. I wasn't a major girl.

Kremer: Do you remember yourself at that time when you still dressed stupidly?

Kitsenko: I want to believe that I was never dressed very stupidly. After all, I studied at a special school, and at some point I was sent on a student exchange to America. It changed me a lot. I remember that I immediately started dressing: Lee jeans, Reebok sneakers. In 1991 it was chic.

Chudinova: But at the same time, you have become a person who is involved in the development of the fashion industry and dresses majors. Where does this sense of audience come from?

Kitsenko: It didn't fall from the sky. At first I just got married. My husband had a company called Podium, he had one store, and he absolutely did not want us to work together. But I wanted to work in fashion so much that I made every effort to educate myself in this area, and not from the point of view of a consumer who endlessly measures and wears, wears and tries. In addition, I had an unlimited specific resource, even just my own store. I began to take a very active interest in what was happening in the industry, subscribed to all the magazines, and became interested in our retail. I have always believed that wherever you sow, it grows.

It was the end of the 1990s, and all luxury had skyrocketed, not only here but around the world. There was Dior, there was Galliano, there was also Gianfranco Ferré, Gaultier cheered up and made his own pret-a-porter line, Stella McCartney had just arrived at Chloe, and then she was just a girl with a huge surname. The period of revival of the great houses, already eaten away by moths, began. This was the period when Louis Vuitton hired Marc Jacobs, and before that Louis Vuitton was a mothball-covered brand that no one wanted. These brands began to be picked up, purchased and reincarnated by the LVMH concern. Tom Ford had just joined Gucci, and none of us knew what Gucci was before.

Chudinova: I was surprised when you said that you were not a major. I thought that you always focused on your circle and dressed it. You are more likely to move from luxury to mass market than vice versa.

Kitsenko: What we do at Podium Market is not exactly a mass market. This is a relatively new niche, and it did not form here. We have picked up the Western trend. Understand that there is a crisis in many industries all over the world, and this is not a coincidence. Over the past 20 years, luxury has developed rapidly, every year new collections were imposed on us, a complete change of wardrobe, red, not red, red again, black is no longer in fashion. Brands, logomania. All houses began to produce no longer even four collections a year, because it was necessary to keep production evenly loaded throughout the year. We, consumers, were forced to constantly buy. At some point it had to end. There has been overconsumption on a global level: none of us need that much stuff. No one has the strength to move mirrors and lipsticks from bag to bag anymore. On the other hand, there were the magnificent concerns Zara, Top Shop, etc. - cool things that have improved greatly in Lately, but still until the first or second wash. Everything had to come to some kind of balance.

That's why intermediate brands appeared, what we call affordable luxury. They release several collections a year and even every month, like fast fashion, but they are distinguished by high quality and reasonable prices. In terms of quality, they are almost as good as luxury. Rich people are no longer ready to buy themselves another T-shirt for 300 euros: they can go to American Vintage and buy a chic T-shirt for one and a half thousand rubles.

That's why we made Podium Market. This did not happen in Russia.

It is very important that fashion has now made all possible leaps around its axis. Please note: new trends are no longer emerging. The cowboy style is always fashionable in the summer, the rock 'n' roll girlfriend style is always fashionable in the fall. Stripes are always fashionable in the summer. It's always fashionable to be a lumberjack's girlfriend. Chanel has a timeless collection of ballet shoes that are no longer discounted, two or three colors are simply added in the next season. This means that nothing changes.

Kremer: It turns out that you have borrowed the Western trend, which means there is some lag. Have you observed in your own business how the Russian consumer has changed? How have demands and consumption culture changed?

Kitsenko: Now there is no longer any lag. Our people have a unique ability to instantly absorb all the best that is around. There was some kind of mismatch in the 1990s, but remember how quickly it disappeared. There was a moment when dashing women stormed the plane on high heels, in jeans with rhinestones. The first thing that betrayed and still sometimes betrays our compatriots is not even a lack of taste, there is no arguing about tastes, but, first of all, it is inappropriateness. For me in fashion, in general, the most important question is not what to wear, but where am I going and why am I going there. Only after this you need to ask yourself the third question: what will I wear there? Our compatriots in the 1990s did not understand at all where they were going and why, but they clearly knew where they wanted to be.

"We don't sell souvenirs"

Chudinova: Once we were talking with, and she said: “You see, in Russia there is no fashion as an industry at all.”

Kitsenko: This is probably an old interview with Alena. Now the market situation has changed.

Chudinova: My question, actually, is about how the fashion industry in Russia is structured today.

Kitsenko: Apparently, at the moment when you spoke with Alena, there were still other times. Podium on Novinsky was the first store in Russia that began selling Russian designers on a par with expensive Western brands.

Kitsenko: Yes, and in 2000 it hung literally between Gautier and Alberta Ferretti. We were innovative in supporting the domestic manufacturer in this way.

Kremer: How many Russian designers do you have now?

Kitsenko: I won’t be able to calculate it, but about 30% of our portfolio, which means dozens. Just a few years ago I would not have believed that this was possible. You know, in Russia we didn’t have fashion as such. We had these strange fashion weeks all the time, and of course there were questions about them. They invited some really strange people who showed us strange images. And in parallel, companies, brands and designers have developed that are not shown anywhere, but make beautiful clothes. They sew it here, in Russian factories, in Moscow, the Moscow region, in distant retreats, in distant regions. Of course, these are not the same volumes yet, but judging by our store, these are leaps and bounds. These companies have active production, which even during the season allows us to place additional orders for the model we like. This is something we couldn’t even dream of before. In these Russian brands and things that we have hanging there, there is no lubok, there is no this chlamydomonas.

Kremer: Do they have Russian recognizability?

Kitsenko: It depends on the style in which the designer works. There are Ukrainian or Russian designers who like to develop the history of national costume with a modern twist. Some people do it perfectly. For a couple of years now (summer is that time of year), everyone from Ralph Lauren to Isabel Marant has been making embroidered shirts. Why can't our designers do this, given that it's our DNA? I am generally against dividing designers along national lines. Of course, in the late 1990s it was fashionable to group: these are Japanese designers, these are Belgian designers, these are Americans, these are French...

Kremer: The Italians are still recognizable.

Kitsenko: That’s exactly what it is “still” and with difficulty. Which of them retained the authenticity? Even Gucci and Pucci no longer sell their prints; they stopped selling a long time ago. We need to evolve somehow. Today the world is cosmopolitanized like never before. We have all the designers at Podium Market hanging interspersed. We don’t have such a contemptuous and derogatory division: but this is the top floor, the penultimate nook, the “Russian block.” We do not divide our designers based on nationality.

Kremer: Is the demand for patriotism that has arisen in our country recently reflected in your assortment?

Kitsenko: We do not sell souvenirs.

Kremer: But in society there is a desire to dress in everything Russian?

Kitsenko: It is there. It’s just that “Russian” used to mean cheap prints, bad taste and poor quality. Today, “Russian” in the middle segment with which we work at Podium Market is high quality, inexpensive, and relevant. Within the framework of the trends that exist in fashion today. How is this inferior to Western colleagues? Nothing.

Polina Kitsenko is a Russian businesswoman who owns a chain of fashion boutiques and a popular healthy lifestyle activist. The woman started her business back in early 1994 and today ranks among the key figures in the Russian fashion business.

Childhood and youth

Polina skillfully hides her age, so her exact date of birth cannot be found on the Internet. According to some reports, Kitsenko was born on April 14, 1975, but Polina did not give official confirmation of this information.

Businesswoman and socialite Polina Kitsenko

The family lived prosperously - the girl’s father worked in the prosecutor’s office. Polina comes from Aleksandrov, a city in the Vladimir region, but when the girl turned 11 years old, her parents moved to Moscow. In the capital, Polina graduated from school and, on the advice of her father, studied to become a lawyer, although as a child she wanted to become a geologist.

The girl studied well and graduated with honors. While a student, she entered a student exchange program and got the chance to study in the USA. America impressed Polina - the country was strikingly different from Russia during perestroika.

The future businesswoman was especially impressed by the local fashion - at home, the only way to dress brightly and unconventionally was to sew yourself. The girl brought with her from the States branded jeans and sneakers that were then rare for Russia.

Returning to Russia, Polina worked for 2.5 years in payment card departments in commercial banks. Fitness became the girl’s hobby during her studies, and thanks to sports, Polya met her future husband, Eduard Kitsenko. The couple met in the gym of a sports club that they both attended.

Business

Edward turned out to be a businessman; even then the man owned the Podium company. Inspired by her husband’s example, Polina in 1994 opened the first clothing store in her biography, which she named similarly – “Podium”. At first the business demanded large quantity effort and gave almost no return.

The girl literally had to do everything “from scratch” - follow fashion trends, look for ways to import things into the country. It often turned out that she had to go shopping for goods on her own.

However, the work brought results, the business gradually took off. This gave Kitsenko the opportunity to expand and make the boutique a chain store. The next step was the opening of Podium Market - a store designed for a wide range of customers, and not for celebrities. This was the main goal of Polina’s work in the fashion industry - to make fashionable clothes accessible to the common man.

In an interview, Kitsenko admitted that she is a tough and demanding boss, but not a tyrant. She demands a lot from her subordinates, but at the same time she is tolerant and is able to give a person a second chance, especially if he admits a mistake. But the businesswoman does not tolerate excuses.

Personal life

Polina has been a happy wife and mother for many years. The woman never stops saying that Edward has always been a reliable support for her in everything - from everyday life to business.

The family has two children - the eldest son Yegor and the youngest daughter Antonina. Polina does not advertise that part of her personal life that concerns her family.

Kitsenko is a famous socialite. Among the entrepreneur's friends are Ksenia Sobchak and Ulyana Sergeeva. Polina participates in charity work and attends related events. The husband rarely accompanies the woman on such outings - Eduard is not attracted to public life.

According to the businesswoman, home is the most important thing in life, a place to which you constantly want to return. Moreover, the style and decoration of the house was not thought out by Polina herself, but by her husband. Edward is not a professional designer, but, according to his wife, he has good taste. This is also confirmed by the fact that the initiator of Polina’s famous hairstyle was her husband, who advised the woman to cut her hair a little shorter.

An important part of Polina’s life is health and everything connected with it. Kitsenko has a model height of 181 cm, and the woman’s weight does not exceed 60 kg. After the birth of two children, they help to maintain this shape proper nutrition and constant physical activity.

Polina Kitsenko now

A healthy lifestyle for Polina is the basis of her worldview. The woman continues to run a fashion business, but outside of this area her life is connected with sports and healthy eating. Kitsenko blogs at "Instagram", she has more than 500 thousand subscribers, most of the photos are somehow related to physical development.

Polina's main passion is running. The woman participates in marathons in different cities and countries, and in 2015, together with Natalia Vodianova, she organized her own. Polina organizes the “Running Hearts” charity race every year. The funds raised go to the Naked Heart Foundation, which helps children with special needs. Now the marathon has merged with a similar event of Sberbank and is held in 54 cities.

In 2018, Kitsenko launched new projects - her own sports studio and a tourist fitness program, in which you can visit various countries in parallel with training. Polina herself humorously calls such tourism sports local history.