Princess Mary Eristavi ( Georgian მერი პროკოფის ერისთავი ), at the birth of Shervashidze ( Georgian შერვაშიძე , 1888, Batumi - January 21, 1986, Paris ) - Georgian aristocrat, fashion icon, one of the first models of Coco Chanel . Mary occupied a high place among the Georgian nobility, as at the court of the Russian emperor in the last years of the existence of the empire . Sometimes Mary is considered as a muse of the famous Georgian poet Galaktion Tabidze [1] .
| Mary Eristavi | |
|---|---|
| cargo. მერი პროკოფის ასული ერისთავი | |
 Mary Eristavi, 1911 | |
| Date of Birth | 1888 |
| Place of Birth | Batumi , Georgia ,  Russian empire |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
| Citizenship |  Georgia |
| Occupation | model, court lady |
Biography
Mary was born in Batumi in the family of Georgian Major General Prokof Shervashidze . She was known in Georgia for her beauty and sophisticated physique and even received compliments from the Russian emperor Nicholas II when he met her during his visit to Tiflis in 1912 [2] .
Since her father soon became a deputy of the State Duma , the family moved to St. Petersburg , where Mary became the court lady of the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna . After the death of her father, Mary returned to Georgia, where she spent her youth with her mother and sisters Lena and Tamara.
After the formation of the Georgian Democratic Republic , as a consequence of the February Revolution , Mary's fiance Prince George Eristavi (an influential Georgian nobleman and former adjutant of Nicholas II) returned to Georgia, planning a wedding with Mary. The wedding took place in Kutaisi [3] .
In March 1921, the couple were forced to leave the country as a result of the seizure of power in Georgia by the Bolsheviks in order to avoid imprisonment, deportation or execution. Through Istanbul, they moved to France .
Upon arrival in Paris, Mary and George settled on Roux de la Tour in the 16th arrondissement, a popular area of French high society. The flight from Georgia led to material losses, so the family faced certain financial problems while living in this expensive area. For some time, Mary's mother and sisters lived with their young spouses. The situation changed when the family decided to open their own atelier, and Mary became the model of Coco Chanel - a famous French designer of that time.
Soon, mother and sisters began to live separately, husband George died; spouses in marriage did not have children. Mary spent the rest of her life living alone and rarely contacting other Georgian emigrants, with the exception of visits to the local Georgian church. In the last years of her life, she was forced to move to a nursing home, where, thanks to her good financial capabilities, Mary was provided with a personal caregiver [4] . Despite living in a nursing home, Mary continued to visit her friends in the 16th arrondissement of Paris for playing cards. According to her friend Baba Dadiani, Mary’s room was filled with flowers from famous and unknown fans.
Due to the closeness of the USSR to visiting emigrants, Mary, like other refugees from Georgia, was not able to visit Batumi. Mary Eristavi died in France at the age of 97. Like her husband, Mary was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois .
Notes
- ↑ Princess Mary Eristavi-Shervashidze - the legendary beauty of the twentieth century (Russian) , Pulse.ge . Date of appeal April 24, 2018.
- ↑ Iberiana Mary, Princess Eristavi Archived August 18, 2011 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Memoirs of a maid of honor to the Empress. The royal family, Stalin, Beria, Churchill and others in the family diaries of three generations . - Litres, 2017-09-05. - 335 p. - ISBN 9785457270688 .
- ↑ Igor Obolensky. Russian trace of Coco Chanel . - Litres, 2017-09-05. - 225 p. - ISBN 9785457759756 .