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Kristina Pimenova

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Kristina Pimenova (Russian: Кристина Пименова, born 27 December 2005 in Moscow)[2] is a Russian model and actress, known for her performances and social media following from a very young age and the surrounding controversy. She lived in California with her mother during 2015-2021. At the age of 11, Pimenova starred in the horror thriller The Russian Bride. She is the daughter of football player Ruslan Pimenov.

Career

As a popular child model, Pimenova worked with fashion houses around the world,[3].

With symmetrical features, 'bottomless grey-blue eyes' and lavish long hair,[4] Pimenova has been called 'the most beautiful girl in the world' since age eight, and has attracted millions of followers on the social media.[5] In some pictures, however, she looks too sexy for her age, according to public comments.[6]

Pimenova signed a contract with L.A. Models in 2016 after moving with her mother from Moscow to the celebrity town of Calabasas in California. According to Glikeriya Pimenova, the United States offered better opportunities for her daughter's career than Russia.[7]

Early years

Pimenova started modelling before her fourth birthday.[4] Several brands that she worked for at an early age are Armani, Benetton, Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, Dsquared2, Fendi, Ermanno Scervino.[8] She featured in advertising campaigns for Roberto Cavalli Junior en Armani Junior.[4][9][10]

From the age of 5 Pimenova performed in various Russian TV shows for children, including Disney Channel.[11]

Pimenova was photographed for Papier Mache Magazine (March 2015) and Elle Kids Russia (April 2015).[12] In July 2015 she featured in a Vogue Italia editorial. In August 2015, she appeared on Mezamashi TV when she attended Kids-Tokei in Nagoya, Japan.[11]

In Moscow Kristina practiced rhythmic gymnastics, trained by former world champion Olga Kapranova.[11] In 2013, she competed in a gymnastics tournament in Tatarstan, organized by Alina Kabaeva.[9] She won one gold medal in her age group.[3]

Moving to the United States

September 2015, Pimenova moved to a gated community in Calabasas, California with her mother.[7] From February 2016, she was represented by L.A. Models (Los Angeles) and its sister agency N.Y. Models (New York).[13][14] Judged to be an artist with an extraordinary ability, she was granted a work visa.[15] After its extension with another three years, Pimenova switched agencies to Monster Talent Management to join her friend Ella Gross.[16]

Under contract, she has worked as a fashion model for a variety of brands such as Guess Kids, Hayden Girls,[11] H&M Kids, Levi's, Ralph Lauren,[17], C&A, Claire's, Equestria Girls, Forever 21, and Gap Kids, The Children's Place.

Pimenova appeared in Numéro Russia (April 2016), Vogue Bambini (May 2016) and InStyle Russia (May 2017). She was interviewed for Posh Kids Magazine (November 2016)[18] and Marie Claire Mexico (April 2017)[17]

A documentary about Pimenova aired on RTL Television in October 2016.[7] She remained active for Kids-Tokei, flying to Guilin, China in November 2016. June 2017, Pimenova co-hosted the Top Mini Models show in the Mercury City Tower in Moscow, broadcasted later in 2017 by the World Fashion Channel.[19]

Kristina Pimenova in The Russian Bride, with director Michael S. Ojeda and co-star Oksana Orlan

Pimenova was included in TC Candler's The 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2018, one day after qualifying.[20]

Her last published performance as a child model was the advertisement campaign 'Be a Joelle' by the South Korean company J. Estina (jewelry and handbags) in 2019, produced in Seoul by 88 Gymnastic Heroes.[21]

Acting

Pimenova played a post-production part as a singing child in the Italian fantasy film Creators: The Past.[22] In her interviews for Elle Kids Russia and Posh Kids Magazine, she expressed her wish to become a professional actress and film director.[18] She was cast for the role of Dasha in Michael S. Ojeda's film The Russian Bride, a horror thriller, co-starring with Corbin Bernsen and Oksana Orlan. A 3-minute promotional trailer was published on January 18, 2017.[11] Production on location took place March 2017, in Michigan.[23] The movie had its world premiere on 26 June 2018 in Chicago[24] and was released March 2019.[25]

Return to Russia

When her work visa ran out, Pimenova and her mother moved back to Russia, where she was reunited with her father and other family members.[26] An official Telegram channel was opened March 2022. Pimenova enrolled in the Moscow acting agency 16minus of Elizaveta Kaverau.[1] In the summer of 2023, she attended a modelling camp in Barcelona, Spain organized by Avant Models.[26]

Personal life

Pimenova is the daughter of football player and analyst Ruslan Pimenov (Moscow, 25 November 1981) and economist[8] Glikeriya Shirokova (Murmansk, 6 February 1975), who studied international corporate finance. In 2005-2006, Pimenov played for FC Metz.[9]

Pimenova was born in Moscow, but lived in France with her parents as a baby until the family returned to Dedovsk, a Moscow suburb. She has an older half-sister Natalia (29 March 1997, different father) who went to a private school in the United Kingdom.[2][9] When Pimenova moved to California with her mother in 2015, her father stayed behind in Russia[7] and her parents divorced. She has three younger cousins on her mother's side.[26]

While she worked as a child model and moved to a new country, Pimenova did not fall behind with her education.[7] In California, she attended local public primary, middle and high school. In her 2016 interview she mentioned a preference for wearing comfortable clothes, reading books, and playing outside with the neighborhood children after school.[18] Pimenova considers herself an ordinary person, although unattached to a specific pronoun, and is an avid fan of Harry Potter[17] and Star Wars.[27] Pimenova furthermore enjoys gaming, modern dance, and watching football.[26][27]

Due to Pimenova's return to Russia, she couldn't complete her secondary education in the US. She has continued her education online.[26]

Controversy

At the age of 10, Pimenova had 1.6 million followers on Instagram,[7] and nearly 4 million on her Facebook page,[13] both social media presences managed by her mother[28]. A successful child model, in high demand,[3] Pimenova has been called supermodel and 'the most beautiful girl in the world'.[28]

Critics maintained that some of Pimenova's pictures showed adult poses,[6] were sexual and attracted paedophiles.[28] Portraits in 'very short skirts and dresses' incited a flood of sarcastic comments.[4] Pimenova's mother denied that some of the photos were provocative, or that she was exploiting her daughter.[9] She was unhappy with the qualification of her daughter as most beautiful, and stressed that true beauty lies inside.[2][12] As a child model, Pimenova only used minimal make-up.[8][4] Modelling normally didn't occur on school days, and according to Pimenova's agent at L.A. Models, requests that were inappropriate for her age got refused.[7]

Analysis of Pimenova's official Instagram account for the year 2015 showed certain dangers to this type of exposure. A significant portion of the male comments emphasized physical attraction. Women often expressed that girls should have a normal childhood instead of spending time on modelling, and some young girls became depressed upon comparing themselves to Pimenova.[29]

As a teenager Pimenova occasionally contributed to her social media, and for a while she ran an account on TikTok as 'Novakris'.[27]

Productions

Film

Title Year Role Director Notes
Creators: The Past[22] 2020 Singing child Piergiuseppe Zaia Premiere June 2019
The Russian Bride[30] 2019 Dasha Michael S. Ojeda Premiere 26 June 2018[24]

Video

Title Year Role Director Notes
Kristina Pimenova Kids-Tokei[31] 2015 Dancer Hiroki Ikeda
Shangri-la[32] 2017 Dancer Yoshiyuki Yabushita

Game

Title Year Role Developer Notes
Kristina Dress Up[33] 2015 Dress-up doll (image) Sergey Kortikov (Buratino Labs) Game company disbanded later in 2015
Secret Neighbor[34] 2019 Bagger (voice) Wenqi Peak (Dynamic Pixels) Horror

Bibliography

  • Hoe Kristina Pimenova president van de wereld werd (2017)[35]

External links

References

References:
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kristina Pimenova at 16minus.ru (retrieved 20240131)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Svetlana Samodelova, "Самая красивая девочка мира ходит в обычную московскую школу" (in Russian) ("The most beautiful girl of the world goes to a regular school in Moscow"), Moskovskij Komsomolets, 27 November 2014
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Kristina Pimenova" (in Russian), Ragazza, 5 May 2015
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Xenia Shipilova, "Кристина Пименова была признана самой красивой девочкой-моделью" (in Russian) ("Kristina Pimenova has been recognized as the most beautiful girl model"), Fashion Time, 3 December 2014
  5. Annabel Fenwick Elliott, "Too young to be a supermodel? Meet nine-year-old Kristina Pimenova, the controversial child fashion star dubbed 'the most beautiful girl in the world'", The Daily Mail, 27 November 2014 (note: actual age was 8)
  6. 6.0 6.1 Lisa Zvonova, "9-летнюю российскую модель обвиняют в чрезмерной сексуальности" (in Russian) ("9-year-old Russian model accused of excessive sexuality"), Woman, 27 November 2014 (note: actual age was 8)
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Bettina Von Schimmelmann, RTL Exclusiv Weekend (in German), RTL, 30 October 2016
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Anna Kasyanova, "О самой красивой девочкe мира Кристине Пименовой" (in Russian) ("About the most beautiful girl of the world Kristina Pimenova"), Hello! Russia, 24 January 2015
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Will Stewart, "Mother of 'the world's most beautiful girl' defends 'provocative' pictures of her nine-year-old model daughter and says: 'You must be a pedophile to see sex in these pictures'", The Daily Mail, 5 December 2014 note: actual age was 8
  10. Lauren Tuck, "Is 8-Year-Old Kristina Pimenova the Most Beautiful Girl in the World?", Yahoo! Style, 8 December 2014 note: actual age was 8
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 "Kristina Pimenova - Professional YouTube Videos", EnewsOf (retrieved 20170418)
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Кристина Пименова. О красоте, мировой славе, модельной карьере и детских мечтах" (in Russian) ("Kristina Pimenova. About beauty, world fame, model career and children's dreams"), Elle Kids Russia, 25 April 2015
  13. 13.0 13.1 Ashitha Nagesh, "This girl just landed a major modelling contract – but she’s only 10", Metro UK, 6 February 2016
  14. Kathleen Lee-Joe, "Top modelling agency signs a 10-year-old girl", Life & Style, 12 February 2016
  15. "Bernard P. Wolfsdorf Helps Model Kristina Pimenova Become One of the Youngest O-1 Visa Holders", Cision, 16 March 2016
  16. Kristina and Ella's pages on IMDbPro (retrieved 20240213)
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 Pamela Cortés, "Mini Supermodelos" (in Spanish) ("Mini Supermodels"), Marie Claire Mexico, April 2017
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Anny Mejia, "Kristina Pimenova, The Humble Little Supermodel", Posh Kids Magazine, 27 November 2016
  19. "Top Mini Models", World Fashion Channel, on Fridays, 2017
  20. T.C. Candler, "The 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2018", YouTube, 28 December 2018
  21. One of several 'Be a Joelle' advertisement clips, J. Estina on YouTube (retrieved 20240213)
  22. 22.0 22.1 "Film actors", creatorsmovie.it (retrieved 20170418)
  23. Ogidius, "Filming of The Russian Bride to take place in March", Paraduin, 1 March 2017
  24. 24.0 24.1 Cinepocalypse 2018, Music Box Theatre, Chicago (retrieved 20180706)
  25. Brad Miska, "'The Russian Bride' Married to March 19 release", Bloody Disgusting, 14 March 2019
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 Various posts on Telegram (retrieved 20240213)
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 Playlist of Pimenova's TikTok clips on YouTube (retrieved 20240213)
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 Simon Keegan, "Supermodel aged NINE called 'world's most beautiful girl' but critics say she's too young", Daily Mirror, 28 November 2014 note: actual age was 8
  29. Llovet C, Díaz-Bustamante M & Karan K, "Are Girls Sexualized on Social Networking Sites? An Analysis of Comments on Instagram of Kristina Pimenova", p. 131-140 in Lemish D & Götz M (eds.), 'Beyond the Stereotypes? Images of Boys and Girls, and their Consequences', Göteborg: Nordicom 2017
  30. "The Russian Bride", Reigning Entertainment (retrieved 20170418)
  31. "Kristina Pimenova Kids-Tokei", Kids-Tokei, August 2015
  32. "Shangri-la", Kids-Tokei, October 2017
  33. "Kristina Dress Up 1.4" at Soft112.com (retrieved 20240201)
  34. "Secret Neighbor" official website (retrieved 20240201)
  35. Gabriela Pol and Geert Vanspauwen, "Hoe Kristina Pimenova president van de wereld werd" (in Dutch) ("How Kristina Pimenova became president of the world"), ShopMyBook, 26 January 2017, ISBN 978-1-61627-205-0