When Plastinina staged her first fashion show in March 2007, it looked like a Soviet-era parody with ‘80s throwback T-shirts, short-shorts, outsized bows and winged models. In October 2007, she had Hilton in her front row — for a reported $2 million fee. By March 2008, she was showing a full collection of sweet teen clothing in a slickly produced runway production that was documented in a MTV Russia special, A Day in the Life With Kira.

Not that any of it holds water with the fashion folk. “If there is any demand for her line,” sniffs Alyona Isayeva, fashion editor of Russian Harper’s Bazaar. “It’s mostly in the far-flung provinces.”

Last week, in LA Plastinina looked completely at home. She was wearing her own line, as she usually does, including a $34 rhinestone studded denim miniskirt and a cobalt blue patent leather bag with tortoise handles that packed a lot of style for $48.

Just weeks shy of her 16th birthday on June 1, Plastinina still carries herself like a girl, not a woman. She would rather talk friendship bracelets (“One of my friends has the same birthday as mine on the same hour!”) and pet miniature pigs (“I want one for my birthday”), than designer clothes and marketing strategy.

One day, Plastinina hopes to attend fashion school in London or New York, but this summer, she’ll be working in L.A.
-Booth Moore