After the crown came everything else

Muse: Irina Zhdanova. Top & shorts: Theory. Scarf: Ettika. Earrings: Nadri. Shoes: Sam Edelman.

For more than a decade, Irina Zhdanova has built a career that spans continents, cultures, and creative disciplines. From representing Russia on the Miss Russia stage to modeling internationally with Wilhelmina Models, she has learned that success is less about fitting an ideal than discovering her own voice. Today, as a model, actress, and digital storyteller, Irina believes beauty is found not in perfection, but in authenticity.

In this conversation with Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam, she reflects on the meaning of home, the lessons of China and America, the realities behind the modeling industry, and why the most powerful image is often the one that reveals who you truly are.

Scarf: V Frass. Dress: Aqua. Shoes: Stuart Weitzman.

HBZVN: Looking at these photographs, you seem to belong everywhere, from Mediterranean courtyards to New York streets. Do you think home is a place, or is it something you carry with you wherever you go?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: Home, to me, has never been defined only by architecture or geography. It is wherever my family is – my husband and our beloved cat. At this moment, that place is Seattle. I also have my second home where I was born and where my parents live, in the city Irkutsk, Russia.

But my work often asks me to live out of suitcases and wake up in unfamiliar cities. Over time, I have learned that home can also become an inner state: The feeling of being loved, understood, and connected. So even when I am far from Seattle, I carry a small version of home with me, in memories, familiar routines, phone calls, and the certainty that there is somewhere, and someone, I truly belong to.

Scarf: V Frass. Dress: Aqua. Shoes: Stuart Weitzman.

HBZVN: Every country has its own rhythm. What habit from your years in China do you still keep today, even after moving to America?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: What stayed with me from China is a combination that may seem contradictory: extraordinary discipline and a deep respect for restoration. The work ethic I witnessed there was remarkable. In such a competitive culture, people learn from an early age to refine their skills, take responsibility, and keep improving. That influenced me enormously.

At the same time, China taught me that ambition does not have to mean constant exhaustion. There is a beautiful culture of wellness, traditional medicine, tea rituals, spas, and taking care of the body before it begins to protest. I still try to live by both lessons: work with precision and dedication, but know when to pause, return to myself, and restore my energy.

Top & shorts: Reiss. Necklace: Ettika. Bracelet: Anabel Aram.

HBZVN: You’re now represented by Wilhelmina Models, one of the world’s most respected agencies. Many young models dream of signing with a major agency. Beyond finding jobs, what does a great agency actually do that people outside the industry rarely understand?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: A great agency does much more than send you to castings. At its best, it recognizes what is distinctive about you before the market fully understands it.

I love the Wilhelmina family because I have never felt that they were trying to fit me into a formula. They help reveal and strengthen the qualities that already make each model individual.

A strong agency is part strategist, part protector, and part lighthouse. It helps you navigate an industry that can be exciting, unpredictable, and sometimes disorienting. My relationship with my agency is very warm. I am surrounded by strong, elegant, and caring women, and that kind of support gives you confidence not only as a model, but also as a person.

Cardigan: Nic + Zoe. Top: Donna Karan NY. Pants: Tahari. Necklace: Zoe Lev. Bracelets: John Hardy. Ring: Moon & Meadow. Shoes: Dolce Vita.

HBZVN: You started in beauty pageants before building an international fashion career. Looking back at Miss Russia 2016, what did pageantry teach you that still helps you today, and what did you have to completely unlearn once you entered high fashion?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: Pageantry taught me discipline, stage presence, and how to remain composed under pressure. Miss Russia 2016 also showed me how much work can exist behind an image that appears effortless.

But fashion required me to unlearn the idea that I had to be polished in exactly the same way at every moment. Beauty pageants often ask you to present the most complete and harmonious version of perfection – the posture, the smile, the crown.

High fashion became more interested in what happened when the crown came off: the unusual angle, the vulnerability, the character, and even the contradictions.

“PAGENTRY taught me how to ENTER A ROOM. Fashion taught me that I did NOT have to PERFORM PERFECTION to deserve being SEEN.”

Dress: APNY. Necklace: Anna & Ava. Shoes: Coach.

HBZVN: Beauty pageants reward perfection. Fashion often celebrates individuality, even imperfection. Which world feels more honest to you today?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: Fashion feels more honest to me today because it leaves room for contradiction. I no longer want to become an image of someone else’s idea of beauty.

With age, you begin to accept not only yourself, but also the world in all its complexity. In everyday life, I rarely wear much makeup or heels, and I do not feel the need to maintain a character.

A woman’s beauty is not only in her features. It is in her energy, her integrity, and the way she makes others feel. To me, individuality is not imperfection. It is the most honest form of beauty.

Top: Ralph Lauren. Scarf: Ettika. Skirt: Farm Rio. Bracelet: Nadri. Belt: Veronica Beard. Shoes: Jimmy Choo.

HBZVN: Social media has turned models into storytellers, entrepreneurs and even media brands. If you could give one piece of advice to a young model trying to build a meaningful online presence, what would it be, and what mistakes should they avoid?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: I would tell her not to build an audience around a version of herself that she cannot sustain. Trends can give you visibility, but only individuality creates a genuine connection.

Do not be afraid to show your real temperament. Some people are quiet and thoughtful; others are bold, humorous, or highly energetic. There is magnetism in every type of personality when it is authentic.

The biggest mistake is copying someone else so closely that your own voice disappears – or measuring your value only through numbers. Learn the business, understand your audience, and be consistent, but do not let analytics become your identity.

“Trust YOURSELF, trust God, and allow people to MEET THE PERSON behind the PHOTOGRAPHS. That is what they WILL REMEMBER.”

Jumpsuit: Karen Kane. Bracelet: Oradina. Shoes: Badgley Mischka.

HBZVN: If someone only followed your music playlists instead of your Instagram, what would they learn about you? What’s always on repeat lately, and what do you love doing when fashion isn’t asking for your attention?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: They would probably discover that the distance between a woman listening to blues in a quiet room and a woman ready to stand up for herself, protect the people she loves, or defend someone who needs help is much shorter than it seems [Laughs].

My playlists can be soft, soulful, and melancholic, but there is always strength underneath. Blues is often on repeat because it carries vulnerability and resilience at the same time.

When fashion is not asking for my attention, I love the simplest things: spending time with my family and my cat, taking long walks, discovering new places, and having moments when I do not need to perform or produce anything. That quiet time always brings me back to myself.

Jumpsuit: Karen Kane. Bracelet: Oradina. Shoes: Badgley Mischka.

HBZVN: Twenty years ago, a successful model needed a great book. Today she might also need editing skills, storytelling, analytics and business instincts. Which of those “new jobs” do you secretly enjoy the most?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: I secretly enjoy storytelling the most. I love that social media has allowed models to become more than the face of someone else’s vision. We can now be our own creative directors, editors, publicists, and entrepreneurs.

More importantly, we can explain who we are, share what we have learned, and create a real conversation. Girls often write to tell me that a post or a story motivated them, helped them through a difficult period, or gave them the courage to take a step they had been postponing. Some ask for advice; others simply need to feel understood. That interaction is incredibly valuable to me.

“A BEAUTIFUL IMAGE may hold someone’s attention FOR A MOMENT, but a SINCERE STORY can stay with them MUCH LONGER.”

Dress: Free People. Necklace: Kazuri.

HBZVN: What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever paid for, either with money, with time, energy, or emotion?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: The most expensive thing I have ever paid for was my decision to move to America. The price was not only financial. It was paid in time, distance, uncertainty, emotional energy, and the courage to begin again in a place where nothing was guaranteed.

That decision turned my life 180 degrees, and I am deeply grateful for it. America challenged many versions of me that had once felt permanent. It taught me independence, resilience, business, and how to create opportunities instead of waiting for them.

In a way, I came here with one identity and slowly discovered another – stronger, freer, and more conscious. Some choices cost you your old life, but give you a much larger one in return.

Dress: APNY. Necklace: Anna & Ava. Shoes: Coach.

HBZVN: After thousands of photographs, do you still remember one picture that changed your life? Not because it was beautiful, but because it changed how you saw yourself?

IRINA ZHDANOVA: I would choose the photograph you are looking at now: my images for the cover story with Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam. That makes this interview especially meaningful to me, because the image that changed how I saw myself is part of the story we are discussing today. There was something deeply personal about this Moroccan-inspired editorial. With minimal makeup, natural hair, and no elaborate transformation, I felt that the camera captured the real me rather than a character I was trying to portray. I felt completely at home in this world, as though I genuinely belonged within the story.

“Seeing myself in this ATMOSPHERE felt both new and strangely FAMILIAR. It reminded me that I do not need DRAMATIC STYLING to be interesting or expressive. SOMETIMES I feel most POWERFUL when I am CLOSEST to my natural self.”

I am deeply grateful that Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam chose to show this authentic side of me and place it on the cover. The story inspired me so much that I would now love to visit Morocco and experience its colors, architecture, traditions, and rhythm in real life.

Cardigan: Nic + Zoe. Top: Donna Karan NY. Pants: Tahari. Necklace: Zoe Lev. Bracelets: John Hardy. Ring: Moon & Meadow. Shoes: Dolce Vita.

Mode: Irina Zhdanova @zhdanovadiary.
Photographer: Nicholas Tamposi @nicholastamposi.
Hair, Makeup & Styling: Marianne Tamposi @mariannetamposi.
Assistant: Vere Ronner @vereronner_. 

Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam

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