Yudashkin: “The form in which they freeze in the army has nothing to do with me”
The famous couturier stated that the Ministry of Defense changed the draft of the military uniform that he had developed.
After the new leadership of the Ministry of Defense decided to get rid of the "Yudashkin form", the couturier decided to declare that he had nothing to do with the current form. In an exclusive interview with Izvestia, the designer stated that the military had grossly distorted his original project, replaced it with fabrics, accessories, and heat-retaining materials. As a result, instead of an innovative form, it turned out a fake.
- Valentin Abramovich, why have you just now decided to declare that the uniform worn in the army has nothing to do with you?
- I hoped to the last that the military would still admit, publish some letter, a statement that Valentin Yudashkin has nothing to do with our form, we ourselves are “Dolchi and Gabana”, we’ve thought of everything ourselves, we’ve been happy, and we’ll answer for quality, but they did not, so I do it.
Officially declare: what is worn in the army now is not the form that my staff and I developed in 2007 by order of the Ministry of Defense.
- What are the differences?
- This, you know, as if you wanted a brand-name jacket, and they give you from the Chinese market - the type is the same. But actually it is a fake! In the current form the color is different, the composition of fabrics, dyes. Accessories are different, buttons, velcro, insulation - everything else. If the sample is approved, nothing can change - no buttons, no zipper. This is the uniform. It can not be a little bit greener today, a little grayer tomorrow, we ran out of paint - add another tone, buttons run out - we put the velcro tape, the waist isn’t - we’ll tie it up somewhere.
What I heard is that in one set of trousers of one color, jacket of another, the fabric is different. It is unacceptable. A box of famous cigarettes cannot be more red or less red. There is one and the same background and the same color. This is a brand name. If the hat is made of fur, you should not put a “cheburashka” there. And when public things and insults begin in our direction, we believe that this is simply indecent.
“How did you even get involved in this?” And for what? For money?
- What kind of money. Neither the Fashion House nor I received a penny from this project. All money was directly transferred to factories that sewed prototypes. I had an artistic interest - to make a large-scale national project to create a beautiful, functional, modern, technological form. We expected it to breathe new life into our textile enterprises, allow them to purchase new machines, new technologies. Personally, I spent two years of life on this case, I studied history military uniform.
To create the ceremonial tunic, we took something from the form of the army of Suvorov, something from the army of Zhukov, from the Soviet army - colors, texture. For example, the main color of Russia - red, which came to us from the Soviet era, is very beautiful. To it we have added a blue, slightly aqua-green, very deep, which causes very correct emotions and goes well with red. We, of course, reworked the shades, changed the silhouette, because over the last decades the cut of clothes, the quality of life, the appearance of men have changed.
The greatest work has been done on the creation of the field form. We had the task to make comfortable, fashionable, prestigious clothes that would be comfortable in any climate, at any time of the year and day, and which would be happy to be worn after the service, both on the street and with jeans.
To do this, we studied foreign experience, went to factories that make uniforms for different armies - for the French, Italian, for the NATO countries. We spent a lot of research, we learned a lot of things that are not in ordinary clothes. Many factories were ready to sell licenses for unique materials. For example, for many armies they use nanotechnology, membrane tissues that retain heat and allow moisture to pass or, conversely, retain moisture, but allow the skin to breathe. In the Israeli army there are shoes that you can not take off for a week - and there will be nothing for your leg.
We applied all this in our samples, which were approved and were supposed to be produced. People came from special brigades who said that it’s more convenient for us to get into this pocket, this pocket is better to do this. Every step has been verified. It was possible to take any general's jacket to pour coffee, water, juice - and everything flowed from it. These were special heat treatments.
But in the end now they sew it is not clear that it is not clear from what, and all this has neither to me nor to the House. We have letters in which the Ministry of Defense states that we have independently developed the winter and summer form using our own codes. We cannot be responsible for the quality or non-quality of those clothes that we don’t even know who made them.
- And you, as the author of the development, could you not demand that you follow the technology?
- I gave all the rights to the Ministry of Defense. I thought I was doing a good thing for the country. It never occurred to me that they would pervert a good idea like that.
- What made you especially shocked in “your” form?
- I once turned on the TV and saw in the news soldier with a shoulder strap on his chest. I thought - what a nightmare? Take off shoulder straps and hang them practically on your stomach - where is the logic? People are proud of their rank, shoulder straps, they get it so hard, but they were hidden somewhere, and it is not clear why. In no army in the world have I seen shoulder straps on the chest. In our samples, shoulder straps are where necessary - on the shoulders.
Then, all the unique accessories that we so carefully arranged were special buttons, special things that did not melt, various convenient trifles — all this was removed and replaced with some other things. And all - go make out.
- Have you tried to somehow reach Minister Serdyukov, to call him to account?
- It was like in that song: “I shout, but silence in response”. We wrote, talked, but after seeing shoulder straps, I didn’t communicate with the minister, nobody accepted me. There are tons of letters - so what? Every time we asked - give us at least your press office, we will communicate with them. And every time there was no answer.
- Could it be that he was simply not warned?
- I think these changes could not be made without his consent. Or what happens - one person accepted and the other quietly changed? First, we took our samples, and then put everyone in valenki?
- Well, this form, which is in the army, is cheaper than your version?
- Factor of.
- Maybe this is the problem?
- Well, maybe, but why say that this is a form from Yudashkin. There is an author - call him, show everyone, tell who made it.
- Will you file a lawsuit?
- Well, no, to sue your army is still wrong and ugly. Why I was silent. Today, there are many politicians, deputies, including Zhirinovsky, who accuses me of not serving in the army. Especially for Vladimir Volfovich I say that I served two years in the Soviet army, in the topographic service, and experienced all the hardships and deprivations. Therefore, I will not sue.
- Well, at least Serdyukov should somehow answer for this?
- Personally, I have no complaints about him. Not for me to judge, not my question. I do not even want to call myself a victim in this story. I'm just deeply surprised that we live in a civilized world, in an open space, where all the prehistory can be found, and people are silent for a long time and hide behind my name.
But we value our reputation. If people at least find out how everything was in fact, it will change the attitude towards us. Because of this whole story, we ended up with insults, and from ordinary people, and for something we do not have anything to do with.
“Have they at least explained the reason to you?”
- The reason clearly no one explained. They have one answer - to confirm, to approve, well, just like in the army.
- If the new minister, Sergei Shoigu, suggests that you return to the original version and start all over again, will you agree? Well, or at least participate in the creation of a new form?
- Maybe yes. This is my country, I have spent years living the form. Therefore, we, of course, are ready to help understand the intricacies of creating military uniforms, because research has already been done, there are developments on this topic, and prototypes in warehouses. This is a workflow that was launched and which can be used for the benefit of the army.
Of course, to finish what they are going to now, this is possible. And if you go back to what we did and what was accepted, then we are ready to help.
And the boys who were freezing in this form, I, of course, feel sorry for.
Photo: JOURNAL / Alexander Melnikov
After the new leadership of the Ministry of Defense decided to get rid of the "Yudashkin form", the couturier decided to declare that he had nothing to do with the current form. In an exclusive interview with Izvestia, the designer stated that the military had grossly distorted his original project, replaced it with fabrics, accessories, and heat-retaining materials. As a result, instead of an innovative form, it turned out a fake.
- Valentin Abramovich, why have you just now decided to declare that the uniform worn in the army has nothing to do with you?
- I hoped to the last that the military would still admit, publish some letter, a statement that Valentin Yudashkin has nothing to do with our form, we ourselves are “Dolchi and Gabana”, we’ve thought of everything ourselves, we’ve been happy, and we’ll answer for quality, but they did not, so I do it.
Officially declare: what is worn in the army now is not the form that my staff and I developed in 2007 by order of the Ministry of Defense.
- What are the differences?
- This, you know, as if you wanted a brand-name jacket, and they give you from the Chinese market - the type is the same. But actually it is a fake! In the current form the color is different, the composition of fabrics, dyes. Accessories are different, buttons, velcro, insulation - everything else. If the sample is approved, nothing can change - no buttons, no zipper. This is the uniform. It can not be a little bit greener today, a little grayer tomorrow, we ran out of paint - add another tone, buttons run out - we put the velcro tape, the waist isn’t - we’ll tie it up somewhere.
What I heard is that in one set of trousers of one color, jacket of another, the fabric is different. It is unacceptable. A box of famous cigarettes cannot be more red or less red. There is one and the same background and the same color. This is a brand name. If the hat is made of fur, you should not put a “cheburashka” there. And when public things and insults begin in our direction, we believe that this is simply indecent.
“How did you even get involved in this?” And for what? For money?
- What kind of money. Neither the Fashion House nor I received a penny from this project. All money was directly transferred to factories that sewed prototypes. I had an artistic interest - to make a large-scale national project to create a beautiful, functional, modern, technological form. We expected it to breathe new life into our textile enterprises, allow them to purchase new machines, new technologies. Personally, I spent two years of life on this case, I studied history military uniform.
To create the ceremonial tunic, we took something from the form of the army of Suvorov, something from the army of Zhukov, from the Soviet army - colors, texture. For example, the main color of Russia - red, which came to us from the Soviet era, is very beautiful. To it we have added a blue, slightly aqua-green, very deep, which causes very correct emotions and goes well with red. We, of course, reworked the shades, changed the silhouette, because over the last decades the cut of clothes, the quality of life, the appearance of men have changed.
The greatest work has been done on the creation of the field form. We had the task to make comfortable, fashionable, prestigious clothes that would be comfortable in any climate, at any time of the year and day, and which would be happy to be worn after the service, both on the street and with jeans.
Photo: JOURNAL / Alexander Melnikov
To do this, we studied foreign experience, went to factories that make uniforms for different armies - for the French, Italian, for the NATO countries. We spent a lot of research, we learned a lot of things that are not in ordinary clothes. Many factories were ready to sell licenses for unique materials. For example, for many armies they use nanotechnology, membrane tissues that retain heat and allow moisture to pass or, conversely, retain moisture, but allow the skin to breathe. In the Israeli army there are shoes that you can not take off for a week - and there will be nothing for your leg.
Photo: JOURNAL / Alexander Melnikov
We applied all this in our samples, which were approved and were supposed to be produced. People came from special brigades who said that it’s more convenient for us to get into this pocket, this pocket is better to do this. Every step has been verified. It was possible to take any general's jacket to pour coffee, water, juice - and everything flowed from it. These were special heat treatments.
But in the end now they sew it is not clear that it is not clear from what, and all this has neither to me nor to the House. We have letters in which the Ministry of Defense states that we have independently developed the winter and summer form using our own codes. We cannot be responsible for the quality or non-quality of those clothes that we don’t even know who made them.
- And you, as the author of the development, could you not demand that you follow the technology?
- I gave all the rights to the Ministry of Defense. I thought I was doing a good thing for the country. It never occurred to me that they would pervert a good idea like that.
- What made you especially shocked in “your” form?
- I once turned on the TV and saw in the news soldier with a shoulder strap on his chest. I thought - what a nightmare? Take off shoulder straps and hang them practically on your stomach - where is the logic? People are proud of their rank, shoulder straps, they get it so hard, but they were hidden somewhere, and it is not clear why. In no army in the world have I seen shoulder straps on the chest. In our samples, shoulder straps are where necessary - on the shoulders.
Then, all the unique accessories that we so carefully arranged were special buttons, special things that did not melt, various convenient trifles — all this was removed and replaced with some other things. And all - go make out.
- Have you tried to somehow reach Minister Serdyukov, to call him to account?
- It was like in that song: “I shout, but silence in response”. We wrote, talked, but after seeing shoulder straps, I didn’t communicate with the minister, nobody accepted me. There are tons of letters - so what? Every time we asked - give us at least your press office, we will communicate with them. And every time there was no answer.
- Could it be that he was simply not warned?
- I think these changes could not be made without his consent. Or what happens - one person accepted and the other quietly changed? First, we took our samples, and then put everyone in valenki?
- Well, this form, which is in the army, is cheaper than your version?
- Factor of.
- Maybe this is the problem?
- Well, maybe, but why say that this is a form from Yudashkin. There is an author - call him, show everyone, tell who made it.
- Will you file a lawsuit?
- Well, no, to sue your army is still wrong and ugly. Why I was silent. Today, there are many politicians, deputies, including Zhirinovsky, who accuses me of not serving in the army. Especially for Vladimir Volfovich I say that I served two years in the Soviet army, in the topographic service, and experienced all the hardships and deprivations. Therefore, I will not sue.
- Well, at least Serdyukov should somehow answer for this?
- Personally, I have no complaints about him. Not for me to judge, not my question. I do not even want to call myself a victim in this story. I'm just deeply surprised that we live in a civilized world, in an open space, where all the prehistory can be found, and people are silent for a long time and hide behind my name.
But we value our reputation. If people at least find out how everything was in fact, it will change the attitude towards us. Because of this whole story, we ended up with insults, and from ordinary people, and for something we do not have anything to do with.
“Have they at least explained the reason to you?”
- The reason clearly no one explained. They have one answer - to confirm, to approve, well, just like in the army.
- If the new minister, Sergei Shoigu, suggests that you return to the original version and start all over again, will you agree? Well, or at least participate in the creation of a new form?
- Maybe yes. This is my country, I have spent years living the form. Therefore, we, of course, are ready to help understand the intricacies of creating military uniforms, because research has already been done, there are developments on this topic, and prototypes in warehouses. This is a workflow that was launched and which can be used for the benefit of the army.
Of course, to finish what they are going to now, this is possible. And if you go back to what we did and what was accepted, then we are ready to help.
And the boys who were freezing in this form, I, of course, feel sorry for.
Information