Avsadzhanashvili was able to exploit an initiative by the then mayor of St Petersburg who, encouraged by the first signs of perestroika, or opening up, offered help to retired people to start their own businesses. Few retirees, however, took up the offer, preferring not to take such a gamble in their 60s.

The exception was Avsadzhanashvili who, as a ballet dancer with a limited career span, was allowed to retire from the Moiseyev Ballet in his 40s. This left him with the time, and energy, to become the city’s first entrepreneur, issued with the business licence 001.

What’s more, as a well-travelled individual, he knew what kind of fashion was out there in the wider world. He had an instinctive feel for what would appeal to people who, for the first time, were able to spend their hard-earned roubles on things like pretty dresses and stylish shoes.

Babochka opened its first store in a building that once housed monks on Nevsky Avenue, a thoroughfare that – then and now – is the grandest and most prestigious street in the city. Business boomed from day one. The original address was later expanded and more stores added, stocking all the major luxury labels from Paris, Milan, London and New York. The company now also manages mono-brand boutiques for international labels.

“At that time his friends thought the idea of private business was a kind of utopia – nobody believed that it was the genuine intention of government to give this possibility to capitalistic ventures,” says his daughter Hatulia Avsadzhanashvili, who now runs the business with brother Timur.

“They said that if he opened something, the government would not allow him to operate. But he said if that is the case, and it is for a short time, I will call it Babochka, or butterfly, because they are beautiful and live only for a day. A few years later, when it became successful, my mum Svetlana, who was a doctor, joined him.

“I was always around the business. I was eight when my parents opened the first shop, and, as often happens in a family business, me and my brother were involved from a young age. When I finished studying law at university I immediately joined the company; already I had been helping my parents a lot. When I visit the showrooms in Paris, people say they can remember me and my brother from many years ago.”

An additional boutique adjoins the LVMH-owned Belmond Grand Hotel Europe to target the increasing number of tourists that pass through the city – founded by Peter the Great in 1703 – whose historic centre and related monuments were designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1991.

Meanwhile, the original, much-expanded outlet concentrates on classic luxury brands; in total, Babochka offers shoppers a range of around 130 luxury and lifestyle labels.

“Many clients say that the original building has a real spiritual atmosphere, a place where people were living and praying,” Hatulia says. “It has history and energy and that is where our story started. It also has a beautiful Belle Époque facade.

“In general the fashionistas here are much closer to European fashionistas. They are not the kind of women who are changing their wardrobe and buying looks from brands without thinking about the price. Those days have gone. Now it is a woman who can invest properly with her budget and how to put together different looks using one jacket, for example.

“In St Petersburg the climate can be very extreme. It is very windy and quite damp. You have to be able to mix fashion with the climate conditions, to wear, let’s say, a parka and evening dress. We are not like in London wearing sandals with open toes – you have to know how to mix your boots with a cocktail dress. Our girls are very much aware of winter stuff. That is what we know the best.”

Business for Babochka boomed in 2018 thanks to World Cup football games played in the city, which attracted a free-spending crowd of well-heeled, fashion-aware visitors. Among them were Chinese nationals, who are an increasingly important source of revenue for the company. Chinese-speaking staff are on hand in all stores, while the tax-back policy for visitors is an added lure.

Hatulia’s long-term goal is to expand the St Petersburg fashion district, known as Staronevsky, by encouraging other lifestyle-related businesses such as trendy boutiques, cafes, bars and restaurants to open in the area.

The founder, meanwhile, watches proudly as his offspring take the business to new heights. There is another neat squaring of the family circle: son Timur married Mariinsky Ballet principal ballerina Alina Somova, one of the world’s most renowned dancers, known for her incredibly acrobatic and vigorous techniques.

Naturally, father in-law Boris is a regular at rehearsals and performances, vicariously reliving his own glory years as a talented folk-ballet dancer who toured internationally. His days off spent browsing the swish boutiques of the Western world turned out to be a judicious use of time.

“My father is still in good shape and he still loves theatre and the choreography,” Hatulia says. “Some consultants wanted us to change his original name, Babochka, saying it was not serious, but we decided to keep it because of the history behind it. We also found out that in oriental philosophies the butterfly is a symbol of a long life, of reincarnation.

“My brother and I are young and we have a lot of ideas and want to develop fashion in St Petersburg. It is a busy life. In fashion, it never stops.”