FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - II
















THE TSARS COME OUT TO PLAY
For wealthy Russians, the buzz begins three or four months in advance. Those who normally live in London are soaking up the sun in Barbados, the Christmas destination they tend to favour over all others. Here, under the swaying palms, Sasha Ratiu and her friends start planning their diaries round the social calendar we know as “the season”.

The start of the season pulls toffs, aspiring toffs and pretty much everyone else to the banks of the Thames for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race at the end of March or beginning of April – the theory is that they stay in their finery for a glittering sporting and cultural programme that stretches through to Cowes Week in August.

On her return from Barbados, as soon as the spring’s collections slip onto the rails of Bond Street’s most exclusive stores, Ratiu begins her search for the perfect outfit for the royal enclosure at Ascot. There follows a round of lunches, at which she checks that none of her friends will be wearing anything similar. “That would be a disaster!” the 45-year-old jeweller says, her deep-blue eyes wide, and...
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