V 1980-kh godakh Aleksandr Vasil'yev emigriroval vo Frantsiyu, gde sobral unikal'nuyu kollektsiyu kostyuma i aksessuarov XIX-XX vekov, o kotoroy on rasskazyvayet v svoyey knige. On vspominayet o roditelyakh, delitsya razmyshleniyami ob istorii i evolyutsii odezhdy. Avtor vystupayet i kak letopisets russkoy emigratsii, rasskazyvaya o znamenitykh russkikh balerinakh i aktrisakh, so mnogimi iz kotorykh yego svyazyvali druzheskiye otnosheniya.
