Russian girls make Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer look like chavs

YOSHKAR-OLA is one big bizarre catwalk show.

I’ve never seen so many beautiful women, with legs that go on for miles, clad in elegant dresses with matching bags, stunning high-heel shoes and wearing immaculate make-up, trotting about the rugged and wild landscape of this rough but strangely charming Russian city.

The paths and roads are in desperate need of some fresh tarmac before someone falls down into the earth’s core. And they could do with a proper drainage system – so, that when it chucks down like it did a few mornings ago, the roads will not resemble muddy rivers.

But, despite being as practical as using an electric toaster to heat up a bath tub, the girls here dare to negotiate the huge potholes, rain lakes and other wet muddy terrain in shoes best suited for a swanky dinner party in Mayfair.

The ladies here make Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer look like a pair of chavs knocking about a rundown council estate on a Friday night.

Although many of them struggle to make ends meet on salaries of around £120-a-month and have to work long hours, they somehow manage to shine through the gloomy backdrop of working-class Russian life.

Many men still stagger embarrassingly about the streets, sometimes in the middle of the morning, after necking a bottle or two of vodka.

But the women have more respect for themselves. Coco Chanel would be proud of them.