What: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia
When: March 29–April 2
Where: Manezh Exhibition Center, Manezhnaya St 1, +7 495 232-14-75/77
Competing with the Moscow Fashion Week (now Volvo Fashion Week), which takes place a few days earlier, Russian Fashion Week is a more international affair, bringing foreign brands from Europe and South America to show next to collections from Russia’s top established and emerging designers. Russian fashion guru Slava Zaitsev always opens the week with many of his students following up. The fall/winter 2013/14 show will take place at Manezh exhibition centre in the very heart of Moscow just in front of the Kremlin and the Red Square.
Located in the heart of the city overlooking the Kremlin, the 110-year-old Hotel National offers a full experience of historical Russia: noble classical interiors, french-style futniture, four types of caviar on the menu in the restaurant. Perfect for those looking for class and luxury, and the easiest access to Manezh—the venue for the Russian Fashion Week.
Mokhovaya St, 15/1, stroenie 1
+7 495 258 7000
Rates: from 10,735 RUB (~ $344)
If it’s good enough for the Dutch Princess and the United State’s Veep, then you can imagine the fashion world power plays that go on here. Just look to the lobby—a vibrant space, with constantly ongoing events—and the rooftop O2 Bar which offers one of the best Kremlin view with a side of sushi and cocktails.
Tverskaya St, 3
+7 495 225 8888
Rates: from 21,500 RUB ($696)
Fancy a dinner in a ballroom where Lenin gave speeches and Michael Jackson played the piano? Then book a table when you a book a bed at Metropol, a five-star hotel overlooking the Bolshoi Theatre and adjacent to the Tretyakov Passage, one of the most historic and most expensive streets in Moscow. With a unique façade mosaic and striking architecture, the hotel is a piece of art inside and out.
2 Teatralny Proezd
+7 499 501 7100
Rates: from 11,900 RUB (~$385)
The Ritz-Carlton’s rooftop bar offers some the best view of the Red Square and the Kremlin day and night, as well as one of the most lavish breakfasts you have ever tried: Cristal champagne, Beluga caviar, foie gras, French cheeses, and beef steak to begin what is fittingly called the Tsar’s Breakfast. Other times in the day, O2 pleases with its signature Moscow Sangaree (honey, vodka, prunes, and cloves), Red Square cocktail (orange-flavored brandy, citron, Campari, cranberry), and a fine sushi plate.
Ritz-Carlton Moscow
Tverskaya St, 3
+7 495 225 8888
La Bottega Siciliana is a warm, welcoming place with open kitchen views and a wood-burning stove that turns out some of the best pastas and pizzas in town, which you can never go wrong with—especially towards the end of the week carbs can safely be added back to the menu. Go all out with their delicious traditional Sicilian desserts: cannolis, tiramisu, cassata, and homemade gelato.
Ohotny ryad 2
+7 495 660 0383
Страна которой нет (Strana kotoroy net)
A fresh place by the famous restaurant group Novikov in the Moskva Gallery offers four cross-continental Eurasian menus. Enjoy Russian herring on toast or a Georgian shashlyck while other people in your party are having Japanese edamame beans or an Uzbeck cheburek—and all at a single table.
Ohotny ryad 2
+7 495 737 5401
Fashion Week weekend is the perfect time to catch the sales of last season’s collections and stroll around the vast white and empty halls of this high-end three-story mall, which exhibits real paintings on easels here and there to stay true to its name. Bonus for caffeine fiends and fans of globalization: you can rest your feet at the city’s nicest Starbucks.
Ohotny ryad 2
+7 495 604 4491
Tretyakovsky Proezd (Tretyakov Drive)
One of the most expensive streets in the world: Bentley, Ferrari, Armani, Prada, (Yves) Saint Laurent, and many more top luxe brands all call Tretyakov home. Even on wintry March days the path between the stores is covered with red carpet.
Tretyakovsky Proezd
+7 495 771 7299
Moscow’s main high-end department store offers fashion events, master-classes—and even its own fashion show on March 28—in addition to killer, cultured shopping from every major label. Located just next to the Bolshoi Theatre, it is one of the few places carrying a limited edition Le Bolshoi scent by Guerlain.
Petrovka St, 2
+7 495 933 7300
Located just below the Manezh Exhibition Center, this underground shopping center carries more affordable brands and is an interesting labyrinth to walk with almost all exits leading to the Kremlin—a great escape if you’ve had it with all the haute couture upstairs. Check out its main dome-shaped window, which is level to the ground and decorated with a map of the world.
Manezh Square
+7 495 737 8449
Spread out inside the old chambers of the Kremlin, the museums offer a glance at Russia’s history from the early times, from the most sacred icons to clothes, jewelry, and weapons. The most recent exhibit displays imperial attributes of Ivan III, grandfather of Ivan the Terrible.
Kremlin
+7 495 695 3776
Across the river from the Red Square in a former chocolate factory building, the Red October complex currently shows a unique installation by the controversial Jonathan Meese, famous for his “dictatorship” in art. For more corporal pursuits, nearby on the island are some of Moscow’s best nightclubs and interesting cafes.
Bresnevsky pereulok, 2/1
+7 495 644 0143
The gem of Russia has prepared two new contemporary ballets premiering the night before Fashion Week begins: Appartment by a Swedish choreographer Mats Ek and The Rite of Spring by Ekaterinburg’s Tatyana Baganova. The Bolshoi also offers tours around the restored historical building during the daytime.
Theatre Square, 1
+7 495 455 5555
Bars, hotels, shopping, sights—BLOUIN ARTINO Russia's cheat sheet to the Muscovite runway