Alexandra on horseback in Kyrgyzstan. Featuring our stunning jumbo cord overshirt and trousers, silk blouses and folk print dress, this collection is your one stop shop to style her fairy tale inspired Fair Isle jumper and tank top. 2023 - All Rights Reserved Alexandra Tolstoy: An Interior by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler selling online at Christie's from 4 25 November, The comments below have not been moderated, By Influenced by Alexandra's Russian heritage and many years of travel on horse across Central Asia, The Tolstoy Edit embraces folk traditions and craftsmanship with their love of colour, pattern and texture. Id only been to France on holiday, I didnt speak Russian and all my friends were on gap years in Thailand and India. Three North European decorated and painted lidded jars, mid-19th century. Countess Alexandra Tolstoy is the daughter of Count Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, the current head of the noble House of Tolstoy, distantly related to Leo Tolstoy, and the separated wife of Sergei Pugachev, a Russian oligarch who was once worth $15 billion and was amongst Putins inner circle. By 2015, he was dividing his time between France and the family home in London and claimed to be number 3 on Kremlin's hitlist. I wanted it to be really comfortable not to be stilted and too formal. The smaller two: 19 in (48 cm) and 24 in (61 cm) high. ", Having featured Alexandra Tolstoy's Chelsea house in House & Garden two years ago, we now look back at the contents of the house as they go up for sale at Christie's, Everything we know about Frogmore Cottage, Harry and Meghan's former UK home, A light and calm Victorian flat in Belsize Park by Alice Davies, The 7 cringiest home decor trends, according to Youtubers and Tiktokers, An interior designer's Welsh cottage, inventively furnished with second-hand finds, An elegant house in Chelsea layered with soft colour and thoughtfully curated art, Divine inspiration: what churches can teach us about interiors, A Cotswold farmhouse mixes a calm colour palette with flourishes of pattern. I love this because its on a grand scale but informal and pretty too - I chose antiques that work in modern as well as traditional interiors, and this is a prime example. With the help of Emma Burns and Daniel Slowik of Londons longest established interior decorating firm, Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, the Anglo-Russian author and broadcaster created an interior that was warm, welcoming and a reflection of her unique sense of style. They were symbols of a bad time so it doesnt matter.. Now, Alexandra has reclaimed her creative autonomy and a certain intellectual freedom which was repressed during her years spent with the billionaire: We all have different tastes, but if our taste isnt reflecting who we are or where we are in life, that lack of harmony can make you feel not very happy. Her Instagram page has allowed her to present her own image to the world, one which she finds to be truly representative, unlike that of the media which is seemingly always speculating. Being in these places is, to me, the ultimate luxury. Stephanie Linning For Mailonline, What REALLY happens on The Chase! Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the Settings & Account section. You can still enjoy your subscription until the end of your current billing period. The industry is completely different now. I was living at Claridges, which is just around the corner from where Colefax & Fowler used to have their antiques shop. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many users needs. Her connection to nature and rusticity, a love of . ", "The long Italian table - elegant and non-obtrusive, it was a fantastic background for photographs and pieces of Russian enamel that I had collected. I thought Id just sell a few things but it went quite viral. When I was in Sergeis chteau, he wouldnt really let me do anything anyway. Now I embrace embroidery, vintage Fair Isle knitwear from eBay and clothes by the Russian designer Russmotive, which reprints old fabric designs. The pinnacle of Tolstoys new fashion life was dressing for Prince Albert of Monacos wedding in July 2011, an occasion which called for two new couture dresses: a yellow Fifties-style Princess Grace look dress by Giambattista Valli for the day ceremony, followed by Valentino for the evening. I went to Yasnaya Polyana (which means clear glade) Tolstoys former home, which is 125 miles south of Moscow. I fell so in love with him. Later, while living and working in Moscow, she met Sergei Pugachev, with whom she would have three children. 2023 Getty Images. In 1934, she authored a book about her life entitled "I Worked for the Soviet" and it was published by Yale University Press. Biographies of Teymuraz K. Bagration :::: Tatiana Schaufuss. She died in 1979, at age 96, and was laid to rest in the Russian cemetery of Spring Valley, New York, USA. We camp and sometimes people have reservations about that. As well as her own pre-loved pieces, there are also bargains from some of her fashionable friends, including Cond Nast Traveller's fashion director Martha Ward and chic interiors store owner Alex Eagle. The Tale of Alexandra Tolstoy. Countess Alexandra Tolstoy is selling furniture, rugs and personal treasures that decorated the 12million London home she once shared with her Russian billionaire ex. I think whats prepared me has been all those adventures I did, like riding the silk road, riding through Mongolia; I went for months when it was pre-mobile phone we had no connection with the world outside When I was eighteen I lived in Moscow for six months and really did nothing but read books and learn Russian. We had an oligarchic lifestyle, and even had a suite on standby at Claridges. It took me two years to really look at these things, and think this was really not you and I dont even like these things, she explains, switching in a breath from cheerfully recounting her incredible memories to her voice crackling with the stress and anxiety of rebuilding her life. It was one of the first pieces that I bought and I bought it for practical reasons as well as aesthetic - its great storage! [4], In 1921 she became the director of the Tolstoy museum at Yasnaya Polyana. We had unusual hanging space in Glebe Place - the huge windows meant there wasnt much wall space but what we did have was a big open wall and needed something on a similar scale. The tycoon is in another legal battle with Russia in The Hague where he is suing the Federation for 11billion. I speak fluent Russian now, but growing up in the UK my mother is very English and we lived in the countryside I didnt feel at all Russian. The auction house expects the lots to make in the region of 250,000. Sergei Pugachev once owned two major shipyards, the world's biggest mine and large chunks of real estate in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Mezhprombank, which he co-founded in the 1990s. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Maybe my father could live without church and without God, but we weaker people need something to support us. In 2018, I returned after eight years away. Featuring a classic Fair Isle jumper, snood, and mittens, along with this season's most coveted knit; a tank top. But its absurd Putin just wouldnt care about that. Having once enjoyed an intensely close friendship, even spending many holidays together, by the time Alexandra met Sergei, he had only seen Putin once, in all those years., Alexandra asks if Ive watched Dirty John on Netflix, and compares theirs to the romance underpinned by the manipulation of the sociopathic significant other: I just find the psychology of being a sociopath or narcissism so fascinating; this creating of narratives that are literally just complete lies, but I think they end up half-believing them She later asks if Ive read And Quiet Flows the Don, saying that the relationship at the beginning is very, very similar; it just feels so full of danger and its very raw, and often angry, but then very passionate to me, it felt really like I was so in love. Reflecting on their marriage, and his moments of physical violence and control over her, she says that there were signs there, but she just didnt know how to read or understand them., I think the real truth was that, yes, he wasnt bowing down to Putin, but he also had a business partner who he was very close to for years, and that business partner left [and it was at this point that Sergei began having business difficulties]; Sergei himself was no kind of businessman. Pugachev has cut off Alexandra and their children financially, she claims, and she is now auctioning her possessions with Christie's to mark the 'start of a new chapter'. With Sergei, I lived in this new Russian way but I hated it. Discover Alexandra Tolstoy's favourite pieces and collaboration designs. A set of 12 hand-coloured engravings of botanical specimens, 19th century. I feel were moving to a new phase and thats exciting, she says. I note how impossible it must be to represent oneself in a society where value and status is projected through selfsame designer clothes and modern houses, which is entirely different to the way she represents herself now. A German man came up to me after my talk and asked if I could set up a trek for him and 10 of his friends. 11:17 EST 03 Nov 2020. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for $69 per month. She is an adventuress who has travelled the Silk Route by horseback and explored different cultures, uniquely, as host of BBC's Horse People. Simon Brown 2/8 Cushions and textiles add colour to the pale linen-covered sofas. He got a prison sentence in the UK so he wont come back. Since then Tolstoy has launched a number of projects, among them an online pre-loved fashion business and The Tolstoy Edit, an online platform where she shares her style secrets for the worlds of fashion, interiors and travel. The Italian models of buildings in Pisa worked in perfect harmony amongst the photos on this table. And when youre in an abusive relationship like that it makes you completely and utterly lose your confidence, you dont even realise its happening. He has previously been declared to be in contempt of court, with a two-year prison sentence left hanging over his head should he return to this country. The family moved between an array of properties including a 12million family home in Battersea, a 200-acre country estate in Hertfordshire, and a 40million beachfront villa in St Barts. The aristocratic beauty, 46, and her three children,Alexei, Ivan and Maria, were evicted from the south London mansion during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic after reportedly being given just 12 days notice by the Russian government, who repossessed the property. Xander Haveron-Jones talks with Countess Alexandra on cultivating an aesthetic, the liberation of stylistic reinvention, and her infamous billionaire marriage. I lost myself, I lost my confidence. Tolstoys future might be uncertain but whatever it brings, shes bound to do it in her own inimitable style. In the propertys light, lofty rooms, vibrant contemporary pieces sit in happy juxtaposition with 19th-century works of art, fabulous curiosities and treasures from Tolstoys globetrotting adventures. At the time of writing, there are dresses and jewellery by Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci shoes, Saint Laurent trainers, Hermes scarves and Valentino jackets available to buy. It was also life-changing: a book deal soon followed, as did a brief marriage to an Uzbek showjumper. Throughout my life, all the bad things that have happened have spurred me on. Each 18 x 14 in (47 x 35.5 cm), framed. Tolstoy is alluding to the discomfort which these indulgences eventually came to signify for her, leading her away from her instinctive style and appreciation for tradition towards a struggle to fit in and conform to being the sort of woman Pugachev and his circle expected. I was always scouring around. Images from the time show her looking the bohemian ideal, wearing romantic blouses whilst leading horseback tours through the wilderness. I slightly lost myself thinking [the Pugachev-era clothes] were beautiful and actually its extraordinary how your vision can get warped and distorted. Its a safari-type adventure; we stay in the most beautiful locations. But I will never go to France. Anne-Jessica Faure, a lawyer for Mr Pugachev, said there has been no court decision establishing financial wrongdoing by him. She was born on July 1, 1883, at her parents' Russian estate, Yasnaya Polyana, in Tula province, about 130 miles south of Moscow. After nearly 11 years, however, Tolstoy is moving on from the home she has so lovingly put together, and is now offering some of its contents for sale at Christies. Alexandra worked closely with the London-based interior designers and decorators Emma Burns and Daniel Slowik of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler Interiors from 2008 onwards to create her family home, where she lived for 12 years. Tolstoy will donate 20% of the proceeds from her sales to St Gregorys, a charity which helps poor families in St Petersburg. Tolstoy has also partnered with Ampersand Travel to curate boutique tours of Russia, and garnered a loyal following across her trio of Instagram accounts. You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. 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