IN RUSSIA THEY LOVE FASHION AND THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE.

Alla Verber, Vice President of Mercury Distribution, wants to set the record straight about Russian women — they’re not fashion victims.

“They are very stylish right now and are buying many beautiful things,” Verber said.

Popular images of women in babushkas — or at the other extreme, glitzed out in gold and fur — have lingered. But as Russia’s most powerful fashion buyer and a native of the country, Verber has a point of view based on first-hand experience. She’s built a career on elevating the offerings in Russia and has been on a mission, shopping leading design houses in Europe and the U.S. and convincing them to open franchised stores with Mercury, or supply Mercury’s retail destinations.

Mercury operates about 50 franchised designer boutiques in Russia, owns the iconic Tsum department store in Moscow and operates other retail destinations containing designer shops. The company also runs dealerships with firms such as Ferrari and Harley-Davidson. The 15-year-old Mercury, which is based in Moscow, plans to open a DLT department store in Saint Petersburg and the Sochi Luxury Village in the Black Sea resort town, which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Mercury is the luxury leader in a country where Communism once stifled any form of style and expression, but has now become one of the world’s most important markets for upscale goods.

“In our country, for 70 years we really had nothing,” Verber said. “It was a Communist country and everybody had to be equal. Everybody had to be in gray. Everybody had to be the same. People were afraid to be different. If you are different, you go cool off in jail for 10 years and then you come back.”

The first designer store that opened in Russia was Versace, and it was a fashion milestone. “The new Russian woman [post-Communist] wanted to buy something and there was nothing else to buy but Versace,” Verber recalled. “Of course, whoever had money would go to Versace and buy this style and when they would travel from Russia, they always looked overdressed and colorful. These were the people who had money.

“The second brand we brought in was Gucci, and then Dolce & Gabbana, and then Kiton, Armani, Loro Piana, and many more followed. And the last brand we brought to Russia was Ralph Lauren.”

Among the most popular fashion brands in Russia currently are Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, Verber said.