The Griboedov Channel. The bridges St Petersburg is so famous for.

By many, St Petersburg (Leningrad  in 1924–1991) is often considered to be so beautiful due to its architecture of Italian origin. Quite strange to see these fine buildings embellished by the symbols of the Soviet Era. Let’s take a walk around this fine city in the summer almost 30 years ago.

When I was 7 years old, there was a flower market just like that next to our house. By Erhard K.

Image by Erhard K.

Peterhof, the Russian Versailles, by Erhard K.

Peterhof by Erhard K.

Peterhof by Erhard K.

The Smolny Cathedral, by Erhard K.

The Neva River embankment, Rostral Pillars. Image by Erhard K.

The Dvortsovaya Embankment. Image by Erhard K.

Summer river cruises. By Erhard K.

St Isaac’s Cathedral, the monument of Peter the Great. By Erhard K.

The Winter Palace close up, Dvortsovaya Embankment. By Erhard K.

The Winter Palace, from the Palace Bridge, by Erhard K.

Peter the Great was the one to build this city on the swamps. During the Khruschev Era, the city was further decorated.

Nevsky Avenue, by Erhard K.

The Neva embankment, the Aurora cruiser, by Erhard K.

In 1925, the Aurora cruise ship played a major part in the October Revolution: the city was flaming with revolutionary spirit and so the Revolutionary Committee was created. On 25 October 1917, Aurora refused to carry an order to take off to sea, which sparked the Revolution. At 9.45 p.m. on that date, a blank shot from her forecastle gun signalled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace.

The Church of the Saviour on Blood (Spas na Krovi), by Erhard K.

The main street: Nevsky Prospect (Avenue). By Erhard K.

The Dvortsovaya Square, Aleksandriysky Stolp, by Erhard K.

Related posts:

1. Best of Winter 2009–2010
2. Fashion in the USSR. DIY.
3. 21+ Depressing Photos of Post-Revolutionary Russia by Arkady Shaikhet

We are very fortunate to have gained the access to the collection of photographs below — they have come from a private collection of Eugene Orlov, a keen photographer of 1960s, scanned by his grandson. Portrayed is a series of shots from a summer walk in the Gorky Park, an iconic family recreational venue in Moscow. Please click on the magnifying lens image for the close up and if you like it — tell your friends!

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Images courtesy of Eugene Orlov. Late 1960s.

Related posts:

1. Photos of Moscow and Surroundings by Marc Riboud, 1960s
2. More pictures of Soviet Moscow 1960s by Mark Riboud
3. Photos of Moscow and Surroundings by Marc Riboud, 1960s

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.

Related posts:

1. A Trip Around the USSR: Leningrad 1972
2. The Patriotic Education in USSR. Part 2 — Pioneers, Soviet Boy Scouts
3. British Fashion in Moscow, June 1956.

In the Soviet times there was a great shortage of all consumer products. Clothes or food were no exception. In order to buy some bread people were ready to spend hours and hours queuing up.

1983. A long queue into the footwear store. The length of the line implies that people would expect to buy imported footwear  which was of better quality and fashioncompared with the Soviet stuff.

Queue in front of footwear store

(Year unknown). Long queue  in front of the store with a simple signboard “Bread”. It actually meant that there was nothing else sold in there apart from the bread.

Queue in front of the Bakery

(Year unknown). People force their way into a liquor store (Rus: “Vino”). Probably it is happening right after the lunch break so the alcohol could be consumed after work.

Liquor Store

And one more queue…

Source: germanych.livejournal.com (in Russian)

Related posts:

1. Signboards of Soviet Stores
2. Fashion in the USSR. DIY.
3. Soviet Cars: History of the Copy-and-Paste Industry — Part 3 of 3