Karina Nigay – about instant popularity, personal life and the beginning of a creative path

We met Karina about seven years ago, when she, then an unknown girl, participated in the contest “The Most Stylish According to HELLO!” in the category “Most Stylish Reader”. Karina did not take the prize then, but was invited to the award as a guest, and this was the first secular exit in her life. Today we are meeting with Karina already for the cover shoot – which was also the first for her.

There is something fateful in this, she thinks. — It turns out that the magazine gives me opportunities. Did I think then that I would become the heroine of the cover? I always believed in myself, but at that moment I just dreamed of winning. Another girl won, but I still got a great experience. At the ceremony, I sat at the same table with Sasha Savelyeva and her husband Kirill Safronov, who received the award in the Couple of the Year nomination. There were many celebrities around, the atmosphere was incredible. Red carpet, photographers, correspondents… Now this is my ordinary life, but then everything was new.

Karina, but popularity came to you shortly after that ceremony. How did it happen that only now you have filmed for your first cover story?

It seems to me that today it is not enough to be just a popular blogger with a million subscribers to get on the cover of a magazine. There are a lot of such people, but not every one of them gets into the gloss. Something more is needed. I’ve been relatively popular for quite some time, but as a fashion figure, I’ve only recently established myself. Initially, I was just a stylist – and, again, there are a lot of them. I didn’t want to be “simple”, so I decided to go international. Knows me well today fashion-industry in Europe and America, I am a stylist, blogger and TV presenter of a fashion show on the federal TV channel TNT. Today Karina Nigai is a strong personal brand. I have secured my position. And now I think it’s time for me to be the cover girl HELLO!.

Then I propose to start with your story. Where did you get such an unusual surname – Nigai?

Thanks for the question. There are so many speculations associated with it! This is a Korean surname, it belongs to my own father. He is a purebred Korean, his whole family has devoted their lives to medicine in more than one generation. Grandparents held high positions. But I never talked to this family, because my mom and dad divorced when I was about a year old. I know little about them and for many years I was not at all interested in my roots. Only after 30 did she decide to fly to Seoul to explore her second homeland. By the way, Korea is now a trendsetter. I am interested in understanding the culture of this people. And my mother is Russian, her last name is Zaitseva. By the way, her family is also connected with medicine – my grandfather worked as a driver in a hospital, my grandmother worked as a nurse, my mother is a dentist and a psychologist. But I chose a different path. Although, it seems to me, I also help people, just in a different way – I suggest how they can gain self-confidence.

So your mom raised you?

When I was six, she got married again, and today my stepfather is my second dad, my own person. Seven years ago, I moved them from my native Tomsk to Moscow, so we are close.

Not so long ago, you also divorced your husband. How are things in your personal life now?

I live with my son, I have a young man, we have been together for a year and a half. We are trying to build relationships. I don’t really want to get married yet, I was there. So all my attention at the moment I focused on my career.

How did you start your journey in Moscow?

I came to enter the university with 20 thousand rubles in my pocket. They had to rent an apartment and somehow live. Then it was fashionable to enter the Faculty of Economics, and I applied there, and also to IT. And ended up on budget. at the Russian State Social University. My specialty is business informatics. And before that, I entered a similar faculty in Tomsk, my mother persuaded me to give the original documents there, to return home. I did not believe that I could enter Moscow, but I did.

It wasn’t easy to learn. But there were a lot of guys in the group with me, they helped me. I am glad that I have a red diploma. I think it’s unusual. By the way, we still communicate with some of my classmates. For example, one of them is now engaged in the creation of websites. And he made my websites.

But why ITrather than dancing? You have been dancing since childhood.

Yes, since the age of three. Then she was a soloist in show ballet until graduation. And after the 9th grade, she even applied to the Tomsk College of Culture and Arts. I got a budget place, but changed my mind over the summer. Dancing is cool, but I did not see in them the prospects for that beautiful life that I always dreamed of.

How did fashion come into your life?

I am from a very poor family, the three of us lived on eighteen square meters. There was so little space that I slept in a chair, my parents had to step over me in the morning while I was sleeping to leave the house. Mom worked as a seller in the market, I helped her. I always liked beautiful clothes, at school I stylized them as best I could, in all available ways. I attached some straps and flowers to my coat to make it look unusual. When I had already moved to Moscow, my mother opened her own clothing store in Tomsk, she brought goods for him from the capital. In general, even at that time I helped her, chose the assortment, advised something. So in a sense I have always worked with clothes.

Why did you decide to become a blogger? How it all began?

When I was looking for a cameraman to shoot a love story before my wedding, I met Denis. And he said: you are so cool in front of the camera, why don’t you become a blogger? At the time I didn’t really understand what it was about. In Russia, this profession did not yet really exist. Denis showed me American bloggers, I studied their accounts and caught fire. So I started blogging. At first she talked about cosmetics and gave online makeup lessons. And she did it in YouTube and did not plan to switch to social networks, but then I realized that you can develop anywhere. It turned out that this is interesting to people. Later she began to show how to style clothes.

At what point did you feel that you stood out from a number of Russian fashion– bloggers?

When in the first days of quarantine I began to shoot trending videos and my account in TikTok became very popular. I was noticed in Europe, my ideas began to be copied by Russian brands and other bloggers.

Probably the most common question for a stylist, but it’s really always interesting. What items are special in your closet?

I have a huge turnover of things that I use for myself or on other people’s shoots. I confess that brands are not very important for me, it is more important that the thing be “working”. Personally, my image is always jewelry, watches, a fairly standard set. I have two bags Hermes KellyI’ve been wearing them for many years. Otherwise, I do not cling to things, I love everything new.

How to be fashionable when there are practically no world brands left on the Russian market?

Oh, it’s easy. Our Russian brands have shot very cool lately. We have a lot of stylish, trendy, cool clothes. I am very proud of Russian designers. We are growing rapidly, expanding production. Everything is changing, talented fashion guys occupy important places in the industry. Our brands are beginning to be recognized abroad, they are worn by world-class stars. It’s worthy. Now it’s important to scale up. And there are people who are actively involved in this. It seems to me that soon the production of Russia will be no worse than the production of Turkey, where many brands now sew things. I think we will soon compete with them.

What projects does Karina Nigai have now, what is in the works?

This year, I launched the Star Factory online school, which is currently training over 10,000 people. I continue to work – as a stylist and influencer – with major Russian and international brands. But most of my life is occupied by television. This has always been my dream. And now I am very proud that I work on my favorite TV channel TNT and with my participation such shows as “Fashion Games” and “Beauty Battle” are released.

And most importantly – very soon you can see me in one of the most popular projects of the TNT channel, which one I will tell you a little later.

Text: Marina Savelyeva

Photo: Vladimir Guryanov

Style: Pavel Andreev

Makeup and hair: Natalia Bach

Producer: Olga Zakatova

Photographer’s assistant: Alexander Filimonov-Volkov

Stylist assistant: Tatyana Polyakova

Producer assistants: Elizaveta Kondakova, Janina Pilichovsky