Valentina Zelyaeva — supermodel (ralph lauren) with roots in the USSR
Valentina Zelyaeva is a Russian model born in Ulan-Ude (Republic of Buryatia, Russia) who became an internationally celebrated supermodel, walking for Chanel, Prada, Valentino, and appearing on major fashion magazine covers worldwide. Her Buryat origins — the indigenous Mongolian-Buddhist people of Siberia — give her one of the most distinctive cultural backgrounds in fashion.
Tracing the roots — Ulan-Ude (Buryatia)
Born in Ulan-Ude in 1985 — the capital of the Buryat Republic, adjacent to Lake Baikal, where Mongolian Buddhist culture meets Russian imperial civilisation — Zelyaeva's journey from Siberia's Buddhist heartland to the world's most prestigious catwalks is one of the most geographically extraordinary in this database.
Ulan-Ude (Buryatia). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.