For the first time, the portrait of the future model Irina Pantayeva hit the pages of the printed publication when she was three years old. The editor of one of the newspapers in Ulan-Ude, where Ira was born and lived, needed a picture of a pretty child. He chose a photo of Irina, which was accidentally captured in the Buryat Theater, where the girl’s parents worked. This case became a prophecy, and the yellowed clipping is still kept in the Pantayev family.
Having become a schoolgirl, Irina took
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For the first time, the portrait of the future model Irina Pantayeva hit the pages of the printed publication when she was three years old. The editor of one of the newspapers in Ulan-Ude, where Ira was born and lived, needed a picture of a pretty child. He chose a photo of Irina, which was accidentally captured in the Buryat Theater, where the girl’s parents worked. This case became a prophecy, and the yellowed clipping is still kept in the Pantayev family.
Having become a schoolgirl, Irina took up ballroom dancing, but a year later she damaged her spine, and doctors forbade her to continue. Ira did not lose heart, she had another passion: she loved sewing.
At the age of sixteen, Pantayeva began to date a guy from a parallel class, but when she was offered a modeling job, her personal life went to the hundredth plan. One of the designers of Ulan-Ude accidentally noticed a girl in the crowd of people, and this hour became the most important.
Then Irina found herself in Moscow during the difficult years of perestroika - without connections and money, but with a great desire to work as a model. So she came to the Fashion Theatre of avant-garde designer Irina Molchanova. Soon Irina was offered to work in France. Almost not knowing the language, Irina achieved a meeting in Paris with Karl Lagerfeld and signed a contract with him. In the life of Pantayeva began a bright streak. She met the first models of the world, visited shows in many countries, and friends advised her to go to New York.
Irina, following this advice, decided not to return to Russia: she took the American embassy almost by storm, demanding a visa. The persistent girl got her way and moved to the United States in 1994. There she graduated from the theater faculty of New York University and began to work in a large modeling agency. Once Irina was invited to pose for the cover of Vogue, where before her models with oriental appearance did not appear.
As a model, Pantayeva signed contracts with Ralph Lauren, Kelvin Klein, Donna Karan, Kenzo. Her career as an actress was also successful. Irina played Jade in
film "Escape from the Gulag" "Deathly Battle: Extermination", "Celebrity", "Necessary People" and others.
About the height to which Irina rose, says the fact that in 1997 she took part in the shooting for the calendar "Pirelli" - on its pages get only outstanding personalities. Pontaeva was on par with such style icons as Linda Evangelista, Sidney Crawford and Naomi Campbell. /