The name of Elena Sotnikova has been associated with the French gloss Elle for 21 years. She stood at the origins of the Russian edition and created its history, which will soon become a legend.
Biography
Lena was born in Moscow in 1967 in the most ordinary family. Her mother worked as a pediatrician, her father worked as an engineer. Very strict parents always controlled their daughter and demanded more from Lena. Therefore, she graduated from school with a gold medal. She recalls that she studied very well and diligently and never skipped classes.
After school, she entered the Institute as a translator foreign languages which has been successfully completed. After university, she worked as a teacher in a secondary school for a couple of months, but quickly realized that it was her, and left there.
Even during her studies, she managed to marry a fellow student. It was he who became the guide to the world of gloss.
Her entry into the magazine began with an accident. Her husband worked for the Reuters news agency. And during his illness, she came to temporarily replace him as an interpreter. The leadership immediately liked her, and Lena was invited to the position of a journalist on economic issues. She dealt with non-ferrous metals and other trends in the global economy. It had nothing to do with gloss.
Career start at Elle
Until 1995, Russia had a need for a new product that would show people how to dress, where to go and how to live. And the French magazine in search of the editor-in-chief bypassed all Russian publications. According to Elena, she was ready to leave Reuters and, citing illness, went to Paris for an interview.
Despite the fact that Elena had absolutely no experience in glossy and she did not know much about fashion, her strictness and decent experience in journalism impressed her employers.
At first, I had to study and work in this area from scratch. Also look for new faces - photographers, stylists and makeup artists. This glamorous machine began its work under the direction of Elena and very soon gained recognition in Russia.
Elena understood that the magazine should be close primarily to the Russian reader, so the use of materials from the French Elle was not always appropriate.
After 10 years of work as the editor-in-chief, the circulation of the magazine has grown significantly, it has become a brand that dictates the style of successful and strong Russians.
Marie Claire
In 1995, Elena fell into her comfort zone. She recalls that she relaxed and lost the ability to creatively rethink. Her French leadership decided to fire her permanently. But Viktor Shkulev stood up for Elena in time and understood that her potential would still be useful to the company.
And she was instructed to revive Marie Claire, a magazine that in those years was going through hard times. better times. And for four years, Elena not only breathed into him new life but has also changed. She lost weight, stopped drinking a lot of champagne at dinner. Elena recalls this period of her life as leaving her comfort zone.
Return to Elle
Seeing the success of Marie Claire, the company's management realized that Elena urgently needed to be returned back. In 2009, a new stage in her life began. Firstly, the crisis required urgent changes from the course of the magazine, and the team that came after Sotnikova could not cope with the new situation.
Sotnikova has changed a lot. They started doing all the covers without involving their French colleagues. Both the quality and quantity of domestic material began to exceed the total share on the glossy pages.
Elena is a participant in many fashion projects in Russia, her personality is the authority of a stylish and fashionable life.
In 2016, Elena gave birth to a child and left the magazine. Gone with brilliance on the rise of luster. Although her departure was forced, Sotnikova herself made a reservation that she wanted to devote herself to the family and raising a child.
Family and personal life
Sotnikova does not talk too much about her life, but her relatives work in the same publishing house. The daughter from her first marriage, Maria, writes a column about style.
There were two more official husbands between her first and last husbands. But nothing is known about them.
In 2011, Alexey Dorozhkin, who is the editor-in-chief of Elle Decoration, became Elena's fourth husband. Her chosen one is 10 years younger. But despite this, the couple has a complete mutual understanding. In 2015, Elena gave birth to a son, whose birth was a real gift for Alexei.
Elena loves to read, plays the piano beautifully and looks very good despite her age. Sotnikova does not hide the fact that a few years ago she did blepharoplasty of the face. But the secret of a good appearance is not only in plastic, but also in healthy way life.
It is also interesting that in Lately Elena discovered painting.
Social networks
Despite this, she has a personal page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pg/SotnikovaElena/about/. Here Elena until the end of 2016 led electronic diary.
The same situation and with Twitter - https://twitter.com/yelenasotnikova.
Lena's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/elenasotnikovastyle/. From the photographs in this social network We can say that the woman has formed an excellent taste. She is not shy about her photos, and many people like her paintings. Here she is followed by 35 thousand subscribers.
Unfortunately, we could not find personal pages in Odnoklassniki and VKontakte.
Elena Sotnikova became the editor-in-chief of the legendary Elle in Russia at the age of 27 and was able to “grow up” her brainchild to 20 years old and put it on a “big voyage”. She always strived to do any job better and better, to be an excellent student in work, family and life.
In my 20 years at ELLE magazine, I've developed rules for the perfect wardrobe, which I hope will help you make the process of choosing clothes for any occasion easier and solve the problem of compatibility of things. In this list, I also included several cosmetic items (for example, red lipstick), some jewelry and accessories. And remember that simplicity is the basis of elegance. Forward!
1. Sheath dress black, or, as it is also called, a little black dress. It can be either a separate piece of clothing, or the basis of several images at once. It can be complemented with large earrings or a necklace, an evening clutch and pumps for a classic evening look. It's easy. The main thing is to choose the length and cut that are right for you.
2. Classic high waisted black pants. I suggest putting away all low-waisted trousers and jeans, unless you are 16 years old, weigh 40 kg and are not going to show a bare stomach. And you probably won't.
3. A few perfect white shirts. It is desirable that some of them should be tucked into trousers / jeans, and some should be worn loose. There are different situations.
4. Jeans light blue, classic blue and dark blue (be careful with the latter: as a rule, the paint on them is unstable, and this applies not only to democratic brands). Let your wardrobe have skinny jeans, straight and flared. Remember the high waist.
5. Pumps. Oddly enough, you can have them in just two colors - black and light beige (nude) to solve any problem.
6. A red thing. Pick your shade of red and buy one simple thing this color. It can be a blouse, a dress with a simple cut, or even a pantsuit. As Coco Chanel said, “if you don’t know what to wear, put on red.” See point 5: beige pumps are ideally combined with red.
7. Red lipstick. If you already know your shade of red, buy the matching lipstick. Red suits everyone, it is only important to choose your shade.
8. Classic cut trench coat, black or beige. The highest chic is to put on a light trench coat on a naked body (more precisely, on underwear) and complement it with tight black tights and high-heeled pumps. Large jewelry in the ears - you are irresistible.
9. Roomy bag of strict lines for the office. Preferably black.
10. Evening clutches. Buy what you like. If the clutch is bright, it has rhinestones and embroidery, take it as a decoration, combine it with simple forms And do not overdo it with jewelry.
11. Evening dress. At least one. Try to find the most neutral option so that you can look different every time with different accessories. Black lace in the style of Monica Bellucci suits many. Attention to the figure! Choose options that emphasize your strengths and mask your flaws. And here I am again about nude pumps - perfect!
12. Office suit to comply with the official dress code. Wear with a white shirt or a light silk T-shirt to match. You can get away with buying a strict jacket if you have matching black trousers or a skirt.
13. Skirt. By the way, about the skirt. "Pencil", godet, maxi, midi - I will not recommend either the shape or the length. You must do this yourself, based on the characteristics of your figure.
14. Leather jacket-leather jacket. Today it can even be worn over an evening dress. The French love it.
15. Vest. This is my favorite. We put on under a strict jacket, leather jacket, trench coat; combine with jeans or wide black trousers.
16. Sneakers, sneakers, loafers on a moderate platform. It's not for sports, it's for almost any look. This is the fashion today.
17. Long earrings, massive necklace, large bracelet. Remember the rule of two pieces of jewelry in one look. We do not wear three-piece sets - outdated.
18. Black shoes with high heels. They replace shoes under trousers (I emphasize - under trousers, skirts have nothing to do with it!).
19. A pair of bright blouses in your favorite colors. We wear a pink blouse with a black bottom and combine it with red lipstick - the highest chic!
20. Black turtleneck. Yves Saint Laurent said: "An elegant woman is one who wears a black pencil skirt and a black turtleneck and who goes arm in arm with a man who is in love with her."
Elena Sotnikova, who was the editor-in-chief of Elle Russia magazine for twenty years, decided to change her profession earlier this year and, leaving glossy journalism and the position of vice-president of a large publishing house, took up painting.
Have you always painted? Or did it all start with the Vari bird that appeared in your letters to the editor in a magazine a few years ago?
I have been drawing since childhood. Dad, an engineer by profession, is naturally endowed with artistic talent, which, unfortunately, he did not develop. Basically he copied notable works classics, doing it for my own pleasure, and I, following his example, began to work out the drawing, first copying Disney characters, and then already famous artists. The family had a cult of albums on art and, in general, a certain cultural atmosphere, which is so necessary for any person to general development even if he is not going to be an artist, writer or musician. Having connected my profession with journalism, I never left painting, but periods of passion were replaced by periods of complete calm in artistically. The Varya bird is a naive, albeit quite solid, graphic element. This is a genre of caricature with a certain ironic thought. It's a little different.
When I first came to work at Elle and started going to shows, I collected invitations on trips and made huge collages out of them, which I crudely painted over with white paint on top. It turned out very artistic. Where these works are now, I do not know - I never attached any importance to this. She painted still lifes and an urban landscape with colored houses pressed tightly against each other. Then, in the late nineties, I lived in cottage village. When neighbors came to me, they were surprised and asked where these paintings came from, I gave them away without a shadow of a doubt. I made many copies of Goncharova, Matisse, Saryan, Falk. Working with children, she showed how easy it is to achieve the effect by copying the characters of famous cartoons. But let's put it this way: I never had the time or, most importantly, the courage to make a big story out of my painting. It probably should have come to this. That moment has come now. Late? It's never too late to take up painting and music. Another thing is that I have an artistic base, albeit not a professional one, on which the visual experience of the twenty years that I worked in the glossy business is now blessed.
I want my paintings to bring joy to their owner.
And yet, why now?
During the last years of work in glossy magazines, the feeling that I had already done everything in this field did not leave me. That I can give people something more, personal, energetic, positive and inspiring. My departure from Elle coincided with my large-format acrylic painting at International school design. When the teacher gave me a palette knife instead of a brush, I realized that this was mine. A palette knife (this is such a special narrow spatula) gives the necessary scope, courage and even some impudence in what you do on canvas.
How would you characterize your style? What are your works?
It's hard to identify with any style. Rather, I am close to neo-expressionism, although my style is still “walking” and has not been fixed. In any case, the term "expressionism" is very close to me. If you look, there is almost no static in my works. For example, roses seem to fly towards you or move in a circle, energizing the surrounding space. In one of my most popular works, Holiday in New York, you see a girl in a beautiful dress walking through the city in a whirlwind of evening lights. Her dress is caught in the wind, she moves forward and radiates happiness, although I did not even draw a face - this work does not need it. I put a lot of personal energy into each picture, I paint impulsively, intuitively. Sometimes in a few hours I am exhausted as if I had run ten kilometers over rough terrain. People read it instantly. They do not need to explain for a long time: “Look, here I wanted to say this and that.” I really like the phrase "If you have to explain, then you don't need to explain." I want my paintings to bring joy to their owner, charge them with positive and energy, or, on the contrary, relax and bring a calm feeling of happiness into the house. Yes, this painting is mostly for interiors, but I am not at all shy about it. On the contrary, I am happy that my works bring into the house the emotion that its owners need.
Any person needs a certain cultural atmosphere in the house, even if he is not going to be an artist, writer or musician
Who is your art for?
For people who need paintings not only as an ideal interior decoration, but also as things that radiate positive energy and give the right energy boost. I know that I can share it, then I quickly recover and am ready to invest in the canvas again. I've been to collectors' houses contemporary art and I can say that for all their progressiveness, many works are very depressing, they “press” and cause unpleasant emotions. By the way, collectors themselves began to complain about this. “I’m tired of all this,” one collector told me. - Totally negative. I want to send everything to the warehouse and fill the house with something more joyful. This is what I'm working on.
Do you write only according to your mood or do you create works to order?
One flows into the other. For example, I wrote “Holiday in New York” spontaneously, but the work is a great success, and now I have several orders for it. Another thing is that I do not make copies of my work, this is wrong. Each of the new paintings on this topic will be purely individual.
Do you feel like an artist?
Yes.
Would you like to organize an exhibition of your work?
It will definitely be. But for now, everything that I draw for the exhibition is “leaving”. We need to work more, write more, devote maximum time to this, work out the style. I hope to see you at my exhibition in the fall!
(Eng. Yelena Sotnikova; born August 22, 1967, Moscow, Russia) - Vice President, Editorial Director of the publishing house Hachette Filipacchi Shkulev and InterMediaGroup, Chief Editor women's fashion and style magazine.
Biography and career
Elena Sotnikova was born on August 22, 1967 in Moscow, in the family of a pediatrician and an engineer.
Parents strictly followed the progress of their daughter, and Elena graduated from school with a gold medal. Then Sotnikova entered the Faculty of Translation at the Institute of Foreign Languages. Maurice Thorez and received a diploma with the qualification "Linguist, translator". For four months after graduating from the institute, she worked as a teacher of English and German v high school but quit soon after.
The case brought Sotnikova to the Moscow agency Reuters: Elena's husband worked there as a translator, and when he fell ill, she was asked to replace him, and then offered a job at permanent basis. So Elena worked for some time as a simultaneous interpreter, and then moved to the position of economic correspondent.
Glossy career
In 1995, Elena Sotnikova received an offer to head the Russian Elle. Elena has been the Editor-in-Chief for ten years since the first issue of Elle Russia was published.
In March 2005, Sotnikova was appointed editorial director of the Hachette Filipacchi Shkulev (HFS) publishing house, and from June 1, 2007, vice president and editorial director of the HFS group of companies and InterMediaGroup.
In May 2005, Sotnikova left the post of editor-in-chief, and Irina Mikhailovskaya was appointed in her place. However, the new team was unable to withstand the economic crisis and adapt to the changing needs of the audience, so the popularity of the publication fell sharply, and the main competitor pulled far ahead. In this regard, the management of the publishing group decided to remove Irina Mikhailovskaya from the post of editor-in-chief, and also to replace key employees.
In 2009 Elena Sotnikova returned to Elle Russia. Thanks to her, the magazine has undergone significant changes that affected not only the team, but the entire structure of the publication. For example, covers for almost every issue have been created in-house, the quality of photo shoots has significantly improved, many of which are discussed in international fashion blogs.
The result of the work done is shown by statistics: at present, Elle's readership is more than two million people (traditional edition in conjunction with the iPad version).
Elena participates in television projects. In 2011, Sotnikova became a member of the permanent jury of the Podium project on the MTV Russia channel, and also participated in the filming of the MTV Special documentary film Design in Russian.
Personal life
Elena has a daughter from her first marriage - Maria Yudina, who works at Elle as a fashion department producer, leads an automobile section and is engaged in the Lifestyle section.
On June 2, 2011, Elena got married for the fourth time. Alexey Dorozhkin, editor-in-chief of Elle Decoration magazine, became her chosen one.
Elena Viktorovna Sotnikova does not like the hype around her name and does not give interviews. According to the actress, she was born in the wrong century - it would have been more comfortable in the 19th century. She is disgusted by bad manners, dishonest people in power, the insecurity of citizens. Flashing on the TV screen, fuss with image and fame is not her way.
The theater helps to dissociate oneself from tinsel, to hide in another world, albeit a fictional one. If not for acting, Elena Sotnikova would have chosen the profession of a psychologist or a writer. But she became an artist, which fans of talent are endlessly happy about.
Childhood and youth
The actress is a native Muscovite. She was born in April 1961 in the famous 25th maternity hospital. Childhood and youth were spent on Leningradsky Prospekt, next to the Aeroport metro station.
Childhood was remembered by Elena Sotnikova as echoes of the atmosphere of aristocracy, the remnants of which the girl saw on the old Moscow streets, in the green courtyards of Stalinist buildings. Intelligent grandmothers in lace sat on the benches, famous writers, actors and artists walked the streets.
Children and directors studied at school with Lena. The dream of becoming an artist was also born at school, although Sotnikova's parents had nothing to do with artistic bohemia. Mom is a teacher, father is a pilot. Their romantic acquaintance also happened at school: Viktor Sotnikov came to meet the teacher of his younger sister, who told his brother that he must certainly marry her teacher.
They collided at the door of the school. The young teacher's notebooks were scattered, the handsome pilot helped to collect them. The aviator offered his hand and heart after 3 days. Elena Sotnikova grew up in an atmosphere of love and constant expectation of her father, whose every visit home was a holiday. Lena has been preparing for acting since childhood. The girl attended the figure skating section, participated in school amateur performances, and enrolled in the drama circle at the Pioneer Palace.
I heard the first applause at the CSK stadium, when I went out on the ice with flowers to congratulate eminent skaters and ... fell. The audience clapped their hands to support the girl. Elena suddenly felt that she was madly in love with being in public.
The film debut took place in 1976, when Elena Sotnikova was in 8th grade. The young director selected artists for his debut film - the school melodrama "Joke". Lena came to audition and she was approved for a cameo role - a schoolgirl.
On the set of the picture, young Elena Sotnikova, with bated breath, watched the play of the stars of Soviet cinema,. The film appeared , and novice . After the release of the tape, Elena Sotnikova established herself in the desire to connect her biography with the stage. Didn't consider other options.
The first role on stage was played at the Theater of Young Muscovites on Lenin Hills. Theater teacher Elena Galkina entrusted the girl with the image of Lida in the play based on the story "A House with a Mezzanine."
After graduating from school, Elena Sotnikova, having overcome a huge competition, entered the Shchukin school on the first attempt and got on the course of Lyudmila Stavskaya. Thus began an affair with the Arbat, because the "Pike" and the future place of work - the Vakhtangov Theater - are located on the famous street. Sotnikova graduated from Pike with honors and in the same 1982 she joined the troupe of the Vakhtangov Theater.
Theatre
On the stage of the theater, which became native, Elena Sotnikova was introduced to the play after 2 weeks. The young actress got a role in the production of "Leshy", where the Vakhtangov masters shone, and. The atmosphere of the theater, according to the actress "home", fell in love with Elena Sotnikova. Since 1982, the artist has never thought about changing the stage, although she had to perform in other theaters.
At the time of the arrival of Sotnikova, the Vakhtangov Theater was directed by Yevgeny Rubenovich Simonov, who gathered talented actors under his wing. In addition to the above, his troupe included,. Soon Elena Sotnikova became one of the leading artists of the theater. She was involved in all repertoire and sold-out productions.
The actress calls the meeting and cooperation with a talented director, whom she calls her teacher, a success. In the production of "You are our sovereign, Father," Pyotr Naumovich entrusted the actress with a role. Then there were works in the performances of the master “Guilty Without Guilt” (Otradina), “The Queen of Spades” (Princess Polina), “The Miracle of St. Anthony” (Mademoiselle Hortens).
Movies
Elena Sotnikova's film career also developed, although the actress did not star in so much. In her last year at Pike, she played a cameo role in the movie hit "Beloved Woman of Mechanic Gavrilov." Sotnikova got the role of the bride who is being stolen.
In the same 1982, the audience saw the aspiring actress in a larger role: Sotnikova played Connie, Margaret's sister, in Leonid Pchelkin's drama Theft based on the story. In the image of the main character - Margaret - appeared, and played her father. In addition to them, other stars played in the picture - and.
In the 1990s, the artist appeared in the films Just Don't Leave, Murder Method and Guilty Without Guilt. In the melodrama Just Don't Leave, Elena Sotnikova played the main character, Olga Zemtsova, a charming woman who is successful in everything. But life deals an unexpected blow to Olga: she is diagnosed with AIDS. He became the director of the melodrama, he also played the main character.
Sotnikova combined work on the set and the theater stage. Playing a movie, she was involved in the production of "The Stone Guest" on Malaya Bronnaya, which she staged. At the same time, Elena Viktorovna was invited to the Theater. , where they offered a role in the play "The Law of Eternity".
Elena Sotnikova is a versatile actress. She is capable of tragic and deep roles (Queen Elinor in the play The Lion in Winter, Henrietta in The Three Ages of Casanova), but the artist is also organic in the image of gossip Farpukhina in the lyrical farce Uncle's Dream.
Friends and colleagues of the artist are amazed at her energy and diligence. Working in the theater and acting in films, Elena Sotnikova manages to write scripts for skits in the Actor's House, participate in concerts at Russian Houses in Berlin, Vienna and Prague, write poetry and voice radio shows.
Personal life
There is no information about the personal life of the artist: she does not talk about her family. It is not known whether Sotnikova has a husband and children. Photos with the family are not found.
It is known that the actress spends all her free time and money on travel: she traveled around America and Europe. She willingly reveals the secret of unfading beauty: in the life of Elena Sotnikova there is no envy and fuss, she eats right, does not eat meat, does not forget about gymnastics and goes to the pool.
Elena Sotnikova now
On the stage of the theater, the actress is involved in the performances "Uncle's Dream", "Games of the Lonely", "Last Moons" and "", which are going on the Vakhtangov stage today.
Fans of the artist come with pleasure to poetry evenings in the Art Cafe, where Elena Sotnikova delights the ear with a filigree combination of poetry, music and beauty. In the aristocratic calmness of the actress lies an irresistible attraction.
Sotnikova is a member of the Council of the House of Actor, a member of the acting "Women's Battalion" of the Vakhtangov Theater. Communicates with , and .
Filmography
- 1976 - "Joke"
- 1981 - "Theft"
- 1981 - "Beloved woman mechanic Gavrilov"
- 1984 - "Manka"
- 1984 - "Through all the years"
- 1989 - "I'm called in the spring"
- 1992 - "Just don't leave"
- 1993 - "Method of Murder"
- 1994 - Guilty Without Guilt
- 2000 - Uncle's Dream
- 2014 - "Last Moons"
Performances
- "Goblin"
- "Anna Karenina"
- "Three Ages of Casanova"
- "Mary Tudor"
- "Little Tragedies"
- "Zoyka's apartment"
- "You are our sovereign, father ..."
- "Lion in Winter"
- "Cyrano de Bergerac"
- "Royal Hunt"
- "Chulimsk last summer"
- "The deep blue sea"
- "Last Moons"
- "Games of the Lonely"
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