Real USSR » clothing

The Fashions of the War Times

eugenia — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:45:33 +0000

I have come across a very neat collection of the old Soviet fashion magazines from the forties, and I thought I’d share them with you. Very elegant, stylish images — and a little surprise from the insides of one of these magazines. Please read on.

Summer 1936

Spring/Summer 1937

Season of 1938–1939

1939–1940

1940–1941 (Competition inside!)

1940

Also 1940

1941

Spring/Summer 1941

After I got mesmerised by looking at these neat ladies, I decided to do a little bit of googling to find out what actually was inside those mags. Unfortunately for me, the pictures I found were far from neat, fashionable or pretty: just typical faceless images, where each is an exact replica of the other. These were like comic books for the Soviet girls, I imagine.

One of the magazines above

Various ideas

And not to forget about stylish kiddos!

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Good Soviet Kids Go to Heaven? Nope, They Go to Artek!

eugenia — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:44:12 +0000

Kids in the traditional uniform.

The most famous PR image of the pioneria of the Soviet Union was a summer vacation camp situated in the Crimea (Ukraine), next to Gurzuf town. Founded as a sanatorium for the kids suffering and recovering from the TB by the Russian Society of the Red Cross, it first opened doors in 1925, June 16th, accommodating about 80 kids from Moscow and the nearest Ukrainian towns.

Then it was just a step ahead of a basic camping ground, with kids sleeping in tents out in the forest. However, it grew rapidly until in early 1930s a few permanent buildings were built. It was then Artek started working all year round due to its mild Mediterranean-like climate.

One of the first lots to arrive, early 1920s

1927. Central — Artek’s founder Soloviev, next to him — GM Shishmarev.

1925. The evidence of tent life.

1928. Arrival from Simpheropol

For a regular Soviet kid, a ticket to Artek did not cost anything – yet it had to be well-earned. Within a school, for instance, only the top students were rewarded by the trip to Artek. During its heydays Artek accommodated about 27 000 kids a year, so from its first days to 1969 about 300 000 kids were able to enjoy the facilities. By then the area of the camp was about 3.2 km², there were more than a hundred bulidings including the sleeping quarters, three medical buildings, a proper school for those visiting Artek during the academic year; a movie pavillion Artekfilm, three swimming pools, a stadium seating more than 6000 spectators at a time as well as a park, a garden and some sporting and play grounds.

One of the permanent blocks on Artek’s territory

After the Collapse of the Soviet Union the popularity of Artek took a swing, due to the lack of funding and the overall mishaps of the Ukrainian country. But it quickly gained its status back and it is a popular vacation site for the kids from all over Russia and Ukraine – despite the fact that now the parents bear the costs of a vacation.

The seaside. Suuk Su Beach, the diver statue

The flag alignment

A typical day at Artek would have a 7 am start, regardless of the season, followed by the morning exercise and bathroom routines. After breakfast kids would go to the beach, be it summer – or to the school quarters in winter, where they’d stay till lunch – sunbathing or studying, depending how lucky they are. After lunch – and this has been reinforced quite seriously from the very early days of the camp – all kids, regardless of age, would have to take a two hour nap. Traditionally the Artek nap has been nicknamed as Absolut – because during the nap the supervisors would require absolute silence – even if one was awake, he could only read quietly in bed, no exceptions. After the nap and a wee snack (a glass of juice/piece of fruit/tea with biscuits) kids split up into their teams and prepare for competitions or concerts till dinner. After dinner – and the food was good! — the whole of Artek would get together. 10Pm was the bed time, and it would be much desired – after such an intense day.

1933. The Big Fire — the symbol of pioneria.

Structurally Artek was a group of ten smaller camps, each accommodating kids according to their age, from 9 up to 16. Each team of kids would have two or three adult supervisors, who typically are students in training to become teachers. The supervisors are responsible for kids safety, entertainment and the nicest memories. Kids would have to defend the honour of their teams in sport, singing, dancing, theatrical plays and so on.

Faces of 1937

Morning exercise.

Morning exercise

Canteen. Most likely, lunch. The reputation of Artek’s food has always been very envious.

Sea voyage. The boat is called Artek

1934. Sailing in the harbour

After the swim. Till late 1940s, there were alternate boys’ and girls’ days, until swimsuits were made compulsory

Circa 1935

Idle time

Chess tournament

Supervisors, late 1920s

A concert.Different coats of arms of different republics. Kids dressed in traditional costumes.

Dance Rehearsal

Dance performance

And now possibly two of the most scary photographs of the entire epoch, which could not even leave the kids’ summers alone. Every time I look at these two pictures below, I feel a pang of guilt — something which we all own to those kids.

The one below is all camp’s gathering. Mind the blank faces — those guys, during the Stalin’s repressions, were announced as public enemies and were executed. Their faces were erased from all photos — so the camp wouldn;t be linked with those names.

1937.

And one more.

A regular outing? It is. The only issue is, it is the morning of June, 22nd, 1941. A few hours later it will be announced that Germany has invaded Russia and the war is upon these kids.

June 22nd, 1941.

To be continued.

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British Fashion in Moscow, June 1956.

eugenia — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:17:07 +0000

All images are by Lisa Larsen, for LIFE magazine.

In 1956 an array of British designers were trying to expand their market share into the Soviet Union. So a fashion week of some sort took place — in Moscow, Gorky Park, twice daily the shows took place. What a huge success it was! Every day it was a full house, and the public were in love with the British models and the fashion. Jeans, for instance, were very trendy and could cost as much as a month’s salary — yet one still had to queue up to get a pair.

However, after so much ado, not a single British clothing company ever received any Soviet offers of cooperation. Sad, really — just like Christian Dior in Moscow, it could have been a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Catwalk

Jeans made a sensation. Nothing was more wanted — and unavailable.

A model Joy Slape, in Gorky Park

Do want! A girl eyeing up a bracelet in a shop

Model Ann Smith talking to a soldier

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The Patriotic Education in USSR. Part 2 — Pioneers, Soviet Boy Scouts

Anton Markin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:27:03 +0000

We are the pioneers, sons of working class (a popular song)

As you remember from the previous post, at the age of 9 the Soviet Kids grew out of their October Kids affiliation. The next ideological rite of passage was pioneering which the Soviet country placed a huge importance on. Loosely based on the American Boy Scout’s movement, pioneering covered all kids till the age of fourteen and worked in close relation with schools. Just like anything else Soviet style, it had its idiosyncrasies.

The pioneer tie knot under a school jacket.

Almost all October Kids made it to the next level – not to be accepted, one had to really misbehave and do something wrong on several occasions. However, the process of initiation was organised in a smart ideological way: usually it was scheduled close to some Soviet days of importance: November 7^th (The Great October Socialist Revolution), 22^nd April (Vladimir Lenin’s Birthday), 19^th May – the Pioneering day. As the initiation ceremony was broken down into several parts, everybody had the impression that only the most “worthy” of the lot were accepted. In reality, a class of school kids would make it to pioneers in full over a period of time of less than two years.

The initiation were MC’d by school teachers. Stalin himself would witness off the wall.

The initiation process involved a vow:

I am (full name, eg Anton Markin) entering the team of the Soviet Union Pioneer Organisation, in front of all my comrade mates, I solemnly declare: to love and to protect my country, live as the great Lenin advised, as the Communist party guides, as the Pioneer Laws require.

Then the neophyte would receive a tie, which was just like any other scout’s type of a tie. There were rules on how to tie a knot, and the colour was, of course, bloody red. A badge with the burning fire of Pioneering and Lenin’s profile was also presented. The badge bore the slogan of all pioneers – Always ready! – which was meant to be a reply to “Pioneer, be ready for the mutual action of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union!”

Always ready!

Usually each school class would contain up to three pioneer teams. Each team had a designated captain, a discipline watcher, a note taker and other positions ensuring the smooth organisational process of the every day life of pioneers.

The initiation.

It was pioneers’ job to curate the October Kids by providing guidance and mentoring, organising their leisure time. The “older brothers” were responsible for taking the October Kids not only to the movies or museums: as they had to be the “right” influence, they often organised meetings for kids of all ages with remarkable citizens or excellent production line workers to keep the young ones keen on learning and working.

Pioneers with astronaut Leonov, the first man in the outer space.

A popular activity, which any modern ex-pioneer would find nostalgic now, was the collection of paper from the neighbourhood for the recycling purposes. This was organised as a competition between the pioneer teams: kids had to go knock on doors and ask for old newspapers, books, unused boxes etc. The winners – whoever collected most – were entitled to a “thank you” letter from school or the Komsomol organisation.

A usual school class round up

So in fact, no matter how hard they denied it, the pioneer organisation took a lot after the American Boy Scout movement. Starting with the uniform and right through to the organisational structure, it was a copy and paste scheme of work. Needless to say, the propaganda lines went as “American kids living the dangerous life of crass consumerism, whereas us, Soviets, bring up our younger generations in accordance with the rules of good behaviour, wellbeing, respecting the elderly and so on”. Well, as the Iron Curtain was hanging up strongly, nobody had the means of comparing– even though it could have been a great way to learn off the American counterparts. But a typical for the Soviets “Ours is best, is Western is rotten” attitude was adopted.

Boy Scout

The mass media catered well for the pioneer market segment. The teen magazines, such as “Friendly Kids”, “A Soviet Schooler”, “Pioneer”, “Burning Fire”, “Young modeller – constructor” etc., were extremely popular. Well, providing this was almost it – there was nothing in print, which would cover music, or interpersonal relations, or sex, or anything of the interest of those approaching puberty as it was considered inappropriate. The propaganda had its sprout tentacles reached out to even to the teen Russians.

“Burning Fire”. May 1988. The cover topic is 285 years of city of St Petersburg.

Summers – June to August – was the time to take off the tie and enjoy the well-earned school break. Many kids would be sent to the pioneer summer camps – the places to stay for a few weeks, play, rest, do sports, meet new friends.

Altogether the pressure was constantly on: being a pioneer was not only an honour, it was also a responsibility, and the adults, knowing it was an easy subject to manipulate, would demand good behaviour, good marks, household help etc. Nothing unreasonable, certainly, but still – the possibility of being expelled from the pioneer organisation was a constant threat, and so in order to do well in the Soviet Union, one had to belong.

Pioneer! Learn to fight for the actions of the working people. Unfortunately, wordy slogans, which made very little sense, were idiosyncratic to the USSR.

That was what kids were doing until the age of 14, when it was a new rite of ideological passage – the Komsomol.

To Be Continued.

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Christian Dior in Moscow: a Fleeting Sense of Happiness

eugenia — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:52:24 +0000

1959. The official photo shoot, images courtesy of LIFE archives (Howard Sochurek)

The Khrushchev’s Thaw was to bring change to many aspects of the Soviet life, and fashion was one of them. The decision to allow the Soviet fashion designers to learn off their French counterparts was made as high as at the government level, which implicitly put fashion above politics or international ideological regimes. The colour of the Soviet Union, a generic grey, was about to be mixed up with the motley and lithe palette of the French fashion.

The fashion house of Christian Dior was chosen for many reasons. Firstly it was the epitome of elegance and style, defining the haute couture all over the globe. Secondly and most importantly, the Dior fashion was considered to be classic, regardless of the season or collection — and this suited the Soviet clothesmakers immensely. A “classic” cut of a suit would be considered “ideologically neutral” by the Soviets, as well as stable and practical. It would also mean lower production costs, as after having produced a set of patterns, the clothesmakers could go on releasing the same clothes for years.

Girls just want to have fun!

Full of life.

The statue of Liberty, French style.

Out in the streets, mesmerising the simple folk.

GUM — the biggest and the most upmarket Moscow department store.

Buying flowers from street vendors.

After 1957, the teams of Russian fashion designers regularly visited the fashion houses of Christian Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin. Special attention was also paid to the art of shop window displays: in Paris, no two were the same; in Moscow, it was a sad, standartised, withered look. In short, a lot was to be taken home.

This reminds me of the Sex and the City episode, season five — girls partying with sailors.

I wish those girls had twitter — I wonder what they were thinking!

Looking swell, Dolly!

An alien on the street

Three graces

The wow factor

However, things were so much behind in the USSR. The implementation of new styles and techniques was inhibited by the overall conservatism of the state. The decorative elements of dresses were often omitted (Russian women were considered to be above cheap frills), and the cuts were simplified not to let the seduction slip in. The magazines were scarce and of Polish or Czech origin, if one was lucky. The clothes on sale were identical and sad-looking– it was labelled practical. Overall, despite the efforts, the French fashion had very little influence over the Russian fashion until the very late 1980s.

Also at GUM

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Dirty Dancing Soviet Style

eugenia — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:50:42 +0000

Just like anywhere else in the world, the Soviet youngsters wanted to socialize, to listen to the music and to dance. The nightclubs were unheard of – anything of that kind would have been announced as promoting debauchery or morally wrong lifestyle habits. So the best one would hope for were the discotheques – the special dance occasions, organized by the officials on a weekly basis. They always had a designated supervisor – a school principal or a city council representative in charge.

A Soviet discotheque, most likely late 1960s.

Often enough, especially in the small cities, these dance events were the only source of entertainment. Movies were scarce and arrived in towns infrequently; the circus would visit once a year; and libraries just didn’t do it.

In summer months, the discotheques were usually taken outdoors. Typical dancing grounds.

Knowing the popularity of discotheques, the authorities also liked using it as the sweet part of the “carrot and stick” tandem: for instance, dancing would follow some boring meeting, or a motivational lecture, or some propaganda pep talk. Linking the attendance of the lecture to the permission to come out and dance was an easy way to twist arms of the rebellious youth.

She is feisty! An old movie “Gals”, 1961, an episode on the dance floor.

A set of rules – how to behave on a discotheque – was usually displayed and enforced by the person in charge. For instance, it was suggested that work clothes were not welcome, and the outfit should be light and comfortable. The dance moves were suggested to be well-rehearsed as dancing “freestyle” was not considered appropriate. Women were allowed to express discontent towards males who would make inappropriate advances or dance in a wicked manner. Smoking was prohibited, but at least there was never a cover charge.

An old cartoon, circa 1960

As for the dancing “appropriately”, it was generally accepted that classic dances (waltz and other slower modest moves) were better than tango, foxtrot or swing – these were more of a “dirty Western dancing”. That was what the crowd would long for, though – so the dj was allowed to play such a tune once a night, perhaps. And, just like anything forbidden, it really drove the crowd wild.

A New Year’s Eve Night, a painting by A. Snegirev, 1982.

The propaganda, which was everywhere, stated that in the West people are so overworked, they need their weekly portion of dances to rewind (this was a subtle reference to “Saturday Night Fever”, also banned in the country). The logic was that in the USSR things were different: people went out to dance in order to socialize, not because their capitalist bosses tired them out.

This is an old cartoon portraying foreigners on the dance floor in their unnecessary flamboyant outfits. Note the bottle and their greenish faces — propaganda full throttle!

Quite the contrary, in the USSR dancing was also a part of a harmonious development of a person. This notion was very popular with the movie directors: the working class – electricians, nurses, teachers etc – go dancing because they have too much energy, not to lose themselves in music. The latter one was considered to be wrong and asocial. It is a nice finish for the week, but it is not a desperate, Travolta-like TGIF, it is an active type of rest and a great deal of cultural activity.

Dancing in the Ural Mountains, by G. Sorokin.

Another common feature of the discotheque phenomenon is the same-sex pairs. Oh no, they were not queer – it was simply due to the shortage of men. Fortunately for all, there came the baby boom and this tendency almost disappeared by the end of 1960s.

Girls girls girls

Also, there was the age bar. Firstly, the teenagers were not allowed – you would have to be at least 17 to attend. Secondly, and this is interesting, the oldies were not meant to come and dance – and by oldies we mean the married lot. It was unheard for a married person to turn up to shake their booties – it was frowned upon, and therefore there were themed discotheques “For those over 30”, type of thing.

As for the music, apart from the domestic Soviet bands, the imported stuff from Italy and France was very popular. Adriano Celentano, Toto Cutugno, Romina Power and Albano; Charles Aznavour, Joe Dassin, Serge Gainsborough. Not only were they melodious, oh no. Mind you, both the countries had communism orientation back then, so it was a mere political calculation to approve of their culture. But nobody in the USSR minded — these artists are still a big (even though mildly nostalgic) hit.

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Sexy Soviet Underwear. Not!

eugenia — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:03:00 +0000

Late 1960s. Actress Svetlana Svetlichnaja is doing a wee strip dance for a movie. This was probably the most R-rated scene of the Soviet cinematography.

Due to a series of not so fortuitous events ( the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, the First World War, the overall rundown of the young Soviet country) women never had their needs attended to properly. Underwear was made, first and foremost, for the working class with no preferential treatment for the females so women had no choice other than to wear those sexless garments. This is probably the saddest part of the Soviet history.

Mini dress slips

These mini slip dresses were often the only specifically designed female undergarment (even the bras were made in one size up to mid-1930s). They were meant to ensure a better fit for the dresses, to provide an extra layer in winter and, for many women, it was a hygienic necessity: as the bath or shower did not feature in every household, sometimes washing up would happen only once in a few days.

Photos of the slips in an old fashion book. Circa 1950s.

The rumours have it that after the war some lucky women were brought the trophy slips from Germany — and wore them out as evening dresses. It might as well be an urban legend, but for some reason I would personally tend to believe it.

Night gowns, warm and celibate. Would have been made of thick flowery flannel.

According to some document circa 1940s, the sanitary norms were that each woman should own at least two sets of underwear which she would not wear for longer than 5–7 days.

Gym gear. God forbid.

The magazinesof those times did not offer fashionable solutions: quite the contrary, they tried to lift the spirit of women by including some not so subtle propaganda articles. “A harmoniously developed person as a builder of the communistic future has a rich inner world, as well physical health, high morality and culture”

Gymnast girls. Sport gear. Despite all medals awarded, the USSR Olympic gear was still far from flash.

There were never any fitting rooms, as bras were considered to be a hygiene item and fitting was not allowed, nor exchange was possible. Considering that the size range was really limited (say, small, medium and large), being a woman wasn’t easy. However, the diy fans were really doing it themselves – any fashion book would have a detailed tutorial on how to sew a bra. Those who succeeded at this filigree activity were doing it for friends and friends of friends, as a nice secondary income. The fabrics would be plain (not stretchy!) cotton with buttons.

Numbers 6, 7, 8 and 10 were meant to be dressy.

I guess it would be number four of five from the previous image.

Usually the new models and designs were approved once every five years as high as the ministerial level. That was the main decision-making time: even the number of buttons had to gain consent.

Something for the male: swim gear, every day wear, the Soviet boxers.

When the problem with bras what somewhat solved (or at least minimised), tights and stockings were still in huge demand. It is truly unbelievable who the country, whose engineers could envisage sending people into the outer space, could not come up with something resembling lycra to provide women with elastic tights! The Soviet stockings were made of plain cotton and were of black and nude colour. Often the supply in shops was so minimal that women had to sew stockings to a pair of underpants

DIY

In a modern movie East-West the main female character fails her mission as she gets recognized as a Russian – the guard notices her truly horrible stockings! Moreover, knowing how fragile a pair of stockings is and how difficult it is to find it in shops, Russian beauties would share tips with each other on how to prolong the life of this delicate garment: the suggestions to freeze it before wear or mend the holes with nail warnish. Nothing works, of course, but it was well worth trying.

It was hard to be a woman in the USSR

Another shop scene. Still no fitting room in sight.

By 1970, the textile industry had allowed a range of nine sizes for bras, which was more than welcome. However, the styles were still, well, behind, even by the most modest of standards. Another legend goes that when the French actor and singer Yves Montand came to Moscow and saw the Russian underwear, he laughed so hard he couldn’t stop for a while — and then bought the whole lot to display in Paris later. The exhibition, understandibly, was popular with the French and not so popular with the Russian authorities, so the relationships became tense.

Do you think it’s handmade? Beach wear, 1951

The unisex of the communism epoch would not allow any beach wear up to 1970s: before that the swimsuits were either handmade (even knitted) or women had to wear the undergarments to the beach.

A flower child of Soviet origin

The most important message here is probably that “Soviet” is not an ideology, it is about the planned economy (badly planned, unfortunately) and hence the affected every day lives of regular people who had no access to the foreign, imported, pretty things. Any item, be it a TV set or a bra, should just solely serve its purpose, and the frills are not necessary at all.

An old poster “Be prepared for work and defense”.

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Catwalk Models With No Underwear On. Haute Couture Soviet Style.

eugenia — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:26:51 +0000

A catwalk model, circa 1947–1957.

Haute Couture, just like in any other other country in the world, did have a place in the USSR. However, it was a different, isolated, strange and suffering element, full of its own peculiarities and catfights. Two catwalk models, Leka Mironova and Tatiana Mikhalkova, reminiscent about their jobs at the only Fashion House back in the USSR. Those were the days, my friend..!

In the shop.

Leka Mironova

I became a model by pure chance. Once a friend took me along to a Fashion House on Kuznetsky Most in Moscow, where some guy approached me and offered me a job as a catwalk model. The guy turned out to be a young Slava Zaytsev (who was to become a huge Russian couturier, in due course). I accepted – I didn’t make it to university that year – and never regretted it.

The pay was about 76 roubles – hell, the cleaners were getting 60! The hours were regular, 9 till 6, five days a week. A photo shoot would bring you about 90 roubles, and if you wanted extra work, each new set of clothes to wear was priced at a rouble. We were allowed to earn extra cash at other Fashion Houses, but it was tough, as the hours were getting really long.

Tatiana Chapygina.

The rewards were more intrinsic, as you say – we, models, tried to think of ourselves as of the ultimate conveyors of physical beauty and style appreciation to the Soviet women. It was quite radical – the propaganda went that none of it was necessary for happiness or contentment. Our job, apart from being a “human hanger”, was to educate women on style, posture and poise.

Bringing the knowledge to people.

Not only the pay was minimal, we had to pay for everything ourselves – like, make up or perfumes. It was expensive and also almost impossible to buy. The lucky ones, who got sent overseas for fashion shows, had to bring it back for colleagues in bulk quantities.

High heeled shoes were a huge deficit. I remember, there were about ten pairs which belonged to the Fashion House, so sometimes we had to wear those. If they were a size or two smaller – tough luck!

Rumia (no last name) — one of the most beautiful women ever.

Another huge problem was the underwear. Oh boy, those Soviet panties –Yves Montand, who saw it once, was puzzled and then shocked. We were ordered to take it off and stay commando – which was unheard of, back in the 60s. I still laugh when I think of it.

The body standards for the models were state regulated, no less. There were three standard sizes (say, small, medium and large), and you had to fit in. However, the good thing was that modelling was, indeed, a job for life. If you get pregnant or put on a few sizes, you just start working for a different department, like mature clothing.

Russian Models in New York, 1959.

Tatiana Mikhalkova

It took me ages to adjust to modelling. First, back then clothes were far from plentiful: to wear one dress for a few days was normal. So when we had to change dresses during the catwalk shows, I just couldn’t get over the shock: it was unbelievable, having access to clothes, let alone pretty clothes!

Tatiana Mikhalkova (to the left), 1970s.

We would learn off each other how to do make up and hair – we were never provided with make up or hair artists, these jobs didn’t exist back then. We never had movement coaches, either – to walk on the catwalk is a skill, yet there is nobody to show you how to do it, how to create an image or how to deliver a message with your image.

Flaunting it!

The job itself was quite tedious – we had to walk really slowly in order to allow the groups of invited fashion designers (and students, and clothesmakers and so on) to draw sketches of our dresses so they could replicate it later.

Elena Metelkina

The police morale did exist back then, and it was after us, day and night. We were meant to be the face of the Russian women (especially when overseas), so they really watched us behave. Like, the curfew to be back to the hotel was 9pm, and it was strict. Even the job itself was called “clothes demonstrator”, no less, and what reputation it had! It was a serious effort to persuade my parents to allow me to do it – they thought it was really dodgy.

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Fashion in the USSR. DIY.

eugenia — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:09:43 +0000

During the Soviet times fashion was first and foremost, an instrument of propaganda of hard work attitudes and education of good taste. Therefore the way people were dressed was very strictly regulated – just like anything else, fashion had to be “planned” and “approved”.

Officially the most popular designs were the classic ones. Not only were they set out to promote the good taste of the clean cut and reserved elegance, it was also a very convenient way of production: once designed and approved, the classic dresses and suits were not as responsive to changes in the trends and hence inexpensive to maintain. The often boring-looking pieces of clothing were labelled as never going out of fashion and promoted as “eternally youthful”.

Eternally youthful, isn’t it?

The Soviet era catwalk model — not too skinny, is she? C1960.

Such clothes were meant to also have a disciplinary influence over the regular folk, as they would set the “right” attitudes and lines of behaviour. That, in 1960s, had developed into the state regulations over the school uniform, which was standartised across the country.

School boys

But back to the adults now. Generally, due to the lack of new designs and the limited stocks of the department stores, most Soviet people had more than a humble wardrobe, compared to their Western counterparts. Usually it consisted of two parts: the winter one (had to be solid, warm and inextricably expensive):

Pupils and mother with child

Another queue. Even winters never stopped the Russians from queuing up.

… and the summer wardrobe. Presumably these ones are dressed up for the occasion.

A group of graduating highschool students celebrate graduation by singing and dancing in the Red Square.

A good half of summer clothes anyone owned could have been handmade.

Oh, DIY was very popular in the USSR. Literally everybody would dream of owning a sewing machine and then the patterns of standardised garments would be shared among many and treasured for generations. The apt ones would make everything, from aprons (pictured) to bras and swimsuits. Note: this is not a modern-day pattern collection, those Soviet ones were scaled down so you’d have to reconstruct it to the real size.

Oh well, no wonder every second Soviet was an engineer.

The most suffered were, understandably, the younger ones, as their fashion ambitions and desires often went unnoticed. Since in the late 1960s it was decided that jeans are unwelcome in the USSR, the practicality and comfort of the denim garments were outlawed. However, the denim failed to become ostracised – quite to the contrary, it was well sought after: often a pair of jeans could cost as much a month’s salary.

This is obviously a later photograph, when the regulations were loosened and the “fashion neighbourhood watch” became less vigilant. Scary, really.

The younger ones

As the Iron Curtain was lifting, the Western ways of dressing were getting more exposure through the movies and tourists. As you can see the envious faces on the background, foreigners did stand out.

Foreigners in Moscow

The funniest thing is that the Soviet fashion is very hard to break into time periods. Apart from separating the pre-war era fashion from the post war (the later one being non-existent), the bulk of it stretches for over 40 years right up to the 90s. Since then fashion has taken the form of a sexual competition — just like anywhere else in the developed world.

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