Alla Ilchun
Kazakh fashion model
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Alla Ilchun (10 December 1926 – 6 March 1989) was a China-born Kazakhfashion model who lived in France. A muse for Christian Dior, who referred to her as "his personal talisman", she was the first prominent Asian woman to model European fashions.
- Mike de Dülmen
- Igor Mukhin
Alla Ilchun | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1926 |
| Died | 8 March 1989 (aged 62–63) |
| Occupation | model |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 1 |
| Parent(s) | Kuantkhan (Zhuanhan) Ilchun Tamara Ilchun |
Biography
Ilchun was born in Harbin, China in 1926. Her father, Kuantkhan Ilchun, was a railway engineer from a wealthy family in Kazakhstan.[1] Her mother, Tamara, was a Russian opera singer and the daughter of a White Army officer.[1][2][3] Due to political unrest in Harbin, with the city passing between the Chinese and the Japanese, the Ilchun family fled to France.[1] Her father was apprehended and sent to Tokyo.
As a teenager, Ilchun worked as a dishwasher in a Parisian restaurant.[1][4] During World War II, she joined the French Resistance.[1]
Ilchun attended a model casting in Paris, as a favor to a friend, and was chosen by Christian Dior to work for the fashion house.[1] She became a highly successful model, and a muse for Dior, who referred to her as "his personal talisman".[5][6] She was the first Asian model in the European fashion world.[3]
While working as a model, she met photographer Mike de Dülmen. The two married and had one child.[1]
After Dior's death, Ilchun worked closely with Yves Saint Laurent.
Legacy
In 2020, a documentary film titled Alla – Dior’s Oriental Pearl was released by Berlin Irishev, president of AKF.[3]