Tatyana Parfionova was born in Poltava in Ukraine in 1956. She moved to Leningrad with her family as she was 8 years old. In 1977 she graduated from Leningrad Arts College named after V. Serov. She learned the basics of creative skills from the famous painter and teacher Natalia Alekseeva. In 1988 Tatyana became the Art Director of  “Theatre of Fashion”. In 1995 she opened her own Fashion House on Nevsky Prospect. Today Tatyana Parfionova is the famous Russian designer. Every year her Fashion House creates two seasonal collections, and in 2011 it launched ‘Home collection’ line. 

STORY OF THE “TATYANA PARFIONOVA” FASHION HOUSE

The Fashion House “Tatyana Parfionova” was founded in February, 1995. The first collection created by Tatyana Parfionova for the House was called “Safron” and was shown at the international festival “In Vogue” in Vilnius in April, 1995. The collection was awarded the first prize of “Golden Button” which was given to Tatyana Parfionova by the Chairman of the Judges Paco Rabanne. In the autumn of 1996 Parfionova presented a collection “The Mountain of Marat” at the Russian Fashion Week; the collection was declared the best collection of the year. A dress from this collection later won the Grand Prix of “Golden Hanger” at the Moscow contest “The Dress of the Year”. The dress consisting of 74 elements was purchased by the department of the newest developments of the State Russian Museum.

The “Guards” was first demonstrated in the spring of 1997 with the participation of Benedetta Barzini, a super- model of the 1970s . Afterwards the collection was demonstrated in several German cities, including at the “Atlantic Kempinski” in Hamburg as a part of the “St. Petersburg Days” festival. The dress from this collection “A Chinese who walked through the yards” was awarded a prize as the best evening dress in the contest “The Dress of the Year-97”, the collection itself was presented at the opening of the EU Embassy in Moscow.

In 1998 the collection “Stepanida”, parts 1 and 2 (four seasons) was shown at the “Atlantic Kempinski” in Hamburg. In the autumn of 1998 Tatyana Parfionova with her “Demonstration” collection took part in the Moscow High Fashion Week on equal terms with major high fashion houses, such as Fendi, Trussardi, Rochas, Torrente, Claude Montana. After that the collection was demonstrated in Toronto. In 1999 the collection “Urban Details” was shown in the Russian Trade Office in Ottawa, and then - in Toronto.

The collection “Tourmaline” shown at the High Fashion Week in November 1999 was declared the best by the Expert Council, so the Council handed to Tatyana Parfionova the Grand Prix of “Golden mannequin”.

In September 1999 the Fashion House took part in the ‘Prêt-a-Porter’ Salon in Paris. After the show of the collection “Pannochka” with Benedetta Barzini in Moscow in 2006 the Fashion House began to cooperate with the “Jamilko” company.

The collection “Cepheya” was first presented at the New York High Fashion Week at the St.-Regis Hotel in the summer of 2007 and then in Smirnov mansion in Moscow. The collection included a club coat of  “International Golf Club” which was created by Tatyana Parfionova for the cosmonaut Oleg Tyurin and became the first designer piece of clothing launched into orbit. In April 2007 Charles Simoni, a colleague of Bill Gates and a space tourist, played golf on the ISS wearing this coat.

In 2009 Tatyana Parfionova created a twelve-sculpture installation especially for the exhibition “Painting, Style, Fashion” of the State Russian Museum. In the same year the Fashion House took part in interior design project “Petersburg Apartment-2” by the “Mezzanine” magazine and presented an art object called “Women's bedroom”. Many shows of the Fashion House were held in the Hermitage Theatre. Moreover, the Fashion House successfully developed a joint project with the State Hermitage. It was the first contract with the costume designer in the history of Russian museums which gave the designer the right to produce accessories with replicas of works from the Hermitage collections. The first public presentation of the project was held at the Hermitage in December, 2000. The collection consisted of clothing and accessories inspired by the works of Vasily Kandinsky. The next collection was created in the summer of 2001 for the e-store of the Hermitage. The collection included scarves and pareos with the use of  “quotations” of the paintings by Paul Gauguin, Jean-Honore Fragonard and Balthasar van der Ast, pillows with the copies of fragments of ancient Iranian embroidery.

Famous embroidered scarves by Parfionova already become a part of the wardrobe of Bernadette Chirac and Princess of Orange, Maxima. The happy owners of colorful silk wide scarves are the famous clients of the House Irina Piotrovskaya, Ilze Liepa, Evelina Khromtchenko, Alena Doletskaya, Alena Sviridova and Elena Veselaya.

In March, 2001 Tatyana Parfionova was invited to the meeting of the President of the Russian Federation with the most successful business women in Russia.

A chapter in the book “Women and Management” published by the International Institute “Woman and Business” was devoted to her.

In 2007 she designed a uniform for the “St. Petersburg International Economic Forum” together with the Ministry of Economic Development and by the personal order of German Gref. In the same year the Fashion House “Tatyana Parfionova” started to collaborate with the Latvian company “Almia” and developed a prêt-a-porter line of costumes “Duchessa D'Almia” for business women. Currently Fashion House cooperates with the Imperial Porcelain Factory creating sets of dishes based on sketches by Tatyana Parfionova. In 2011 the ‘Home collection’ line was launched, which includes pillows, blankets, home clothing, paintings and interior design items.

According to the “Expert” magazine, the brand “Tatiana Parfionova” was named among the five most famous St. Petersburg brands on par with Mariinsky Theatre and the Hermitage.