You're reading: Partygoers who get second looks

Contemporary Kyiv highlife would be boring without the flamboyant socialites who seem omnipresent at every glamorous event in town. The Kyiv Post has chosen five of the most eye-catching revelers about town.

 Anna-Viktoriya Vorontsova
The former chief editor of little-known fashion magazine VIP, which stands for “Vorontsova International Podium,” Anna-Viktoriya Vorontsova is a habitué of many Kyiv parties. She is fond of Anna Piaggi, the famous Italian fashion writer and style icon, with whom Vorontsova claims to have much in common. Like Piaggi, the glamorous Ukrainian blonde has her own notable style. She prefers shiny sequins-decorated fabrics, clutch bags and accessories with luxury brand logos.

Anna-Viktoriya Vorontsova

The magazine Vorontsova published shuttered a couple of years ago. According to her Facebook page, the bright blonde now is the president of her own advertising agency VIP Media Group. However, the agency’s website is shut down because the domain name expired.

Sanatan
Every public appearance by Oleksandr Nahorny, the extravagant fashion designer known as Sanatan, causes a stir. The designer has eight collections under his belt, but he rarely displays them at local fashion events. However, his every appearance at a social event is as eye-catching as any runway demonstration. He is especially fond of hats, gaudy jewelry and animal prints. Last March, Sanatan got a fashion award – but probably not the kind he would enjoy. He was listed among the most tasteless designers in Russian fashion magazine SNC. Such a dubious honor did not reduce the price of the designer’s clothes. The dresses he makes are sold online for Hr 3,000, and bags go for Hr 4,000.
Chasing his dream of becoming a pop star, Sanatan failed in two popular music contests on Ukrainian television in 2010.

Oleksandr Nahorny, known as Sanatan.

Serhiy Pastukh
Local prince of glamour Serhiy Pastukh started his path towards glory in 2008 when he was working as a hair stylist in his own beauty salon in Lviv. But it seems that this creative soul has always strived for more. In 2013 the stylist turned pop singer. Yet, while climbing to musical heights, Pastukh seems to have sacrificed quality for quantity. In two years he wrote over 200 songs, including such titles as “Fashion of Dupes”, “I’m not gay” and “I’m Your King.”

Serhiy Pastukh

Coolbaba
Valeriya Kruk, also known as Coolbaba, always looks as if she just stepped out of the cover of a men’s magazine. Augmented lips, breast implants and tanning are Coolbaba’s choices to look beautiful.
She has won a couple of local beauty contests, worked as a model and as a host on M1 music TV channel, and is not a stranger to nude photo shoots.
Coolbaba is also a heartbreaker. Tabloids impute her love affairs with many rich and famous men, including gifted footballer Artem Milevskiy. In 2013 she debuted in music, releasing her first and only song “Extract of Happiness.”

Ilona Zherko
Ilona Zherko is one the mysterious figures of Kyiv beau monde. Although her face is familiar to all tabloid photographers, nobody seems to know what the tall blonde does for living. Zherko hardly ever misses a single social event. She wears designer clothing and accentuates her long legs with short skirts and high heels. Bright pink lipstick is Zherko’s trademark feature.
The blonde leads an active online life as well. She told the Kyiv Post there are five fake Facebook pages with her name.

Ilona Zherko

“The world is envious and cruel. I don’t know who’s doing it, but the universe sees it all,” Zherko wrote.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected].