Noted Russian fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin has died at the age of 59, his wife said on May 2. Yudashkin was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2016. He rose to prominence in the late 1980s, dressing the Soviet Union's first lady, Raisa Gorbacheva, while exhibiting his fashion creations in the West. Yudashkin's death came two days after another prominent Russian fashion designer, Vyacheslav Zaitsev, who was known in the West as "Red Dior" and whom Yudashkin considered a mentor, died at the age of 85. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
