Three years ago, in the Moscow region of Shchyolkovo, the legendary designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev passed away at the age of 86.
The departure of the maestro marked the beginning of a convoluted story surrounding his legacy, which unfolded before the astonished public for a year and a half.
A Career That Became a Legend
The rise of "Red Dior," as Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Zaitsev was called in the West, began in 1962 when he took charge of the Experimental Technical Sewing Factory of the Moscow Regional Council of National Economy.
Just three years later, the designer moved to Kuznetsky Most, becoming the artistic director of the experimental workshop of the All-Union House of Fashion Models. A monumental event in the couturier's career was 1982 — he headed the Moscow House of Fashion and that same year founded the first Fashion Theater in the USSR, turning the House into a creative laboratory. Six years later, the team unanimously elected him as director. In 1993, the institution was transformed into a joint-stock company and renamed the Moscow House of Fashion Vyacheslav Zaitsev, of which the designer remained the unchanging general director until 2019, when he handed over the reins to his son Yegor.
The Battle for Inheritance
Even during the maestro's lifetime, scandals surrounded him, and after the celebrity's death, the struggle for his estate flared up with renewed vigor.
According to experts, in the last years of the seriously ill Vyacheslav Mikhailovich, he was literally occupied by outsiders who could influence his will.
In 2023, headlines began to appear in the press: some individuals showed up with wills in their pockets, while strangers declared themselves legal heirs. There were even plans to reinter the deceased in a more prestigious cemetery rather than in Shchyolkovo.
The inheritance saga was dubbed "cursed" — it exhausted all the participants. As the former director of the House of Fashion claimed, shortly before his death, Zaitsev did indeed go to a notary, intending to bequeath the estate in Kablukovo to his granddaughter, but those plans were not destined to come to fruition.
Who Inherited It All?
As a result of the months-long standoff, all movable and immovable property went to the only son — Yegor Zaitsev. However, the maestro's heir, who was battling cancer, survived his father by just over a year, passing away in June 2024.
Consequently, the second-tier heirs became Yegor's closest relatives: his mother Marina Vladimirovna, widow Ekaterina Romashkina, and the designer's grandchildren — Marusya, Anastasia, and illegitimate son Anton Zubkov.
By unanimous decision of the family, the management of the House of Fashion was taken over by Ekaterina Romashkina, the creative part was entrusted to the eldest granddaughter Marusya, while the youngest, Nastya, is receiving a specialized education at a textile university, preparing to continue the legendary dynasty.
