Though East and West are not as far apart as they once were, in many minds the words "Russian" and "fashion" in the same sentence still produce visions of an old fast-food tv commercial, famous for its send-up of a bad Russian fashion show. Even in the international fur industry, Russia plays a vital role more for its legendary sable pelts and voracious appetite for foreign-made garments than for its own design talent.

But Helen Yarmak, prolific designer of furs, jewelry and who-knows-what-else this week, is out to change all that. Russian of ancestry and spirit, this former academician has entered the fast-paced international fashion world and received recognition that defies old geographic stereotypes. Her salon addresses include Manezh Square, Moscow, and 57th Street, New York City, and she directs her manufacturing in Italy.

"I am a child of perestroika," she says. "It changed my life." In turn, she adds, "I am one of the first women in Russia who has had a hand in the undoing of the Soviet style, which was ridiculed in the West."

Not that it sounds like Yarmak suffered under the Soviet regime. She has a PhD in cybernetics and reports she held a prestigious position at the University of Kiev as a mathematician.

Even so, the design bug bit. On a trip to Tashkent she saw a broadtail coat of superb quality but simple design. She asked the store owner if he would make a coat based on her own design. Inspired by the results, she left the University and contacted a Moscow fabric manufacturer. She convinced him to make up some samples of her designs, and he convinced her that stores might buy them. In a matter of days, samples placed in stores had sold out. Helen began a joint venture with the factory that led to factories all over Russia using her designs and name.

Helen set out to create clothing that was stylish, tasteful and provided something Russia never knew under the Soviet regime -- a choice in fashion.

She is so proud of what she's accomplished that, her Moscow showroom carries a photo display of all the factories she has worked with, exhibiting both what they produced before they worked with Helen (in their pre-Hellenic stage, she quips) and after.

"They were able to transform their existing Soviet style into clothing of exquisite elegance," she explains. "Elegance was never looked upon in a positive way [under the Soviet system], only because it was very much in vogue to be poor."

Helen's taste is the opposite. Perhaps because Russian sable was once worn only by tsars or used as Soviet currency, it is now Helen's specialty. She adds, however, that her ancestor, General Timofei Yarmak, in the sixteenth century explored Siberia -- home of the world's finest sables -- and opened it to trade.

Her style is generous, dramatic and somewhat architectural, reflecting her background. Mindful of current fashion trends, her collection incorporates fabulous knit fox scarves, whimsical fur-trimmed handbags and modern fur-and-fabric combinations. Her signature, however, is a silhouette concept of one-size- complements-all-figures. But they're not for the demure. Her current Millennium Collection for men and women uses fur with gleaming silver silk metal.

As evidenced by her collection of Russian Vogue magazine covers and features, Helen Yarmak has made a name for herself since she made her furs available to Eastern Europeans in 1995.

She opened her New York showroom about a year ago and already has racked up press clippings on this continent, including Women's Wear Daily, New York Post, Aspen Country, Aspen Daily News. Celebrities who've discovered her include Melanie Griffith, Goldie Hawn, Luciano Pavarotti and David Copperfield. Even the notorious fur-hating Cindy Crawford was photographed with Helen at her Moscow store, and Helen prizes the photo of herself with Prince Charles as a symbol of her accomplishment breaking nationalist barriers of style.