Soviet ideologues first tried to ban fashion, then control it, and ended up with unsuccessful attempts to stop it. But, despite the condemnation, under cover of the night, underground women of fashion continued to cut skirts, flare trousers and "get" batnichki.
1. Babette
Jacques Dessange invented everything, who became the author of several more legendary hairstyles, in particular coiffe-decoiffe ("hairstyle without a hairstyle"), but all the glory went to Brigitte Bardot and her heroine.
The film "Babette Goes to War" was seen in the USSR a year after the premiere, and it made an even more stunning impression than in Europe. A light romantic comedy, where the adventures of a blonde in the German rear are played out, the viewer liked.
All Soviet men raved about the actress, and women diligently copied her image. To be honest, it turned out badly. The Soviet masters were already inferior to Dessange. Their creativity lacked that verified negligence that captivates in the film. Soviet babette more often resembled uniform caps.
2. Batnik
Shirts with a turndown collar appeared in the fifties, when dudes thundered in the USSR. They called them in a foreign way "buttondown", the word later turned into a batch file.
You cannot blame anyone in particular for the emergence of this trend. The movement arose spontaneously and captured both the golden youth and the girls from the outskirts. But in those days, the trend was not yet popular. Even after the 1957 Youth and Student Festival.
Body shirts were able to truly gain a foothold in Soviet society only in the seventies, when the "unisex" style came from the West. With him, too, everything is complicated. Fashion historians still cannot decide who to give the palm: among the winners are Coco Chanel and Rudy Gernreich with his identical swimwear for men and women. In the USSR, it probably did not go without hippies, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The Soviet body shirts were very colorful.
3. Hoodie dress
Pugacheva's popularity in the Soviet Union can be envied by all modern Russian stars taken together. But at the same time, at the beginning of her career, it was difficult to call her a style icon. The prima donna dressed simply even on stage: long skirts, the already mentioned body shirts, boring "official" dresses
Vyacheslav Zaitsev helped Alla become the founder of the trend. In the late seventies, for a performance at a festival in Sopot, he came up with a hoodie dress, which at the same time successfully hid all the flaws in the figure and at the same time was quite bright and extravagant.
It cannot be said that this outfit was perceived with delight by everyone, the singer even received angry letters from fans, but many donuts liked the new trend very much.
4. Miniskirt
The "pernicious influence of the West" was felt in the USSR already in the fifties, and in the sixties the Iron Curtain cracked seriously, no matter how hard the law enforcement agencies tried. The story of the miniskirt demonstrates this very well. It was invented in England and literally in two or three years the fashion for it spread throughout the world.
In the USSR, she appeared largely thanks to Jacqueline Kennedy, who began to appear in mini even at official events, and Vyacheslav Zaitsev, who included the trend in her collections.
Very soon, Soviet women of fashion began to mercilessly cut their skirts into an increasingly cardinal mini. The authorities tried to somehow fight this trend, but without much enthusiasm. They did not carry out a full-scale campaign - the fighters for morality took revenge on trifles.
Komsomol organizers stood at the entrance to universities, checked the length of the skirts and sent overly brave students to change. Those who were especially guilty were even threatened with expulsion from the Komsomol. And of course, I used to scoff at the fashion "Crocodile".
However, the mini-skirt survived and even began to appear in the movies, where bell-bottoms and jeans made their way much later. For example, in the film "Seven Old Men and One Girl," the main character sparkles with her legs in the very first frames.
5. Bologna cloak
He owes his fame in the USSR to Alain Delon. In 1962, the film by Luchino Visconti "Rocco and His Brothers" was released - and the French actor instantly became a sex symbol of Soviet women. Each new film with his participation collected long lines at cinemas.
Men, on the other hand, liked a raincoat made of synthetic fabric (nylon with a water-repellent composition), which was called "Bologna". Even clumsy Soviet officials managed to set up its production at the Novo-Fominsk factory in just a few years. Then others joined in, but they could not meet the demand.
In the late seventies, women began to wear such cloaks. The demand grew even more, it was difficult to get even domestic products, not to mention imported ones.
6. Flared trousers
Sometimes fashion in Soviet society took on the character of some kind of insanity. This can be clearly seen on the example of flared trousers. They got to the country together with the Beatles records in the late sixties. True Beatlemania in the USSR did not acquire the same widespread character as in the West, but some elements of their style spread throughout the country at an impressive speed.
If in the capitalist world fashion was just a light and capricious breeze that could change direction at any moment, then in the Soviet Union the "wind" lasted for decades and only intensified over time.
The flare was worn by everyone, in any combination and for any reason. They even "flared" the school uniform, so that teachers, as guardians of morality, walked with a ruler and checked that the trousers were not wider than the 31 cm, which was considered the norm.
7. Jeans
The history of trends in the country of developed socialism cannot do without jeans. Actually, according to the way they changed, one can study Soviet fashion, according to their cost on the black market - the economy, and according to the history of fighting the trend - the criminal code.
For the first time, jeans made themselves known in 1957 at the Festival of Youth and Students, from which the thaw began for many. The lucky ones who visited the capital at that time simply exchanged them with foreigners for any kind of native crap like earflaps.
Fashion began to creep across the country when the American film The Magnificent Seven was released. Despite criticism, it was watched by almost 70 million viewers - and many of them first learned about "cowboy pants".
The popularity of ideologically alien jeans irritated the Soviet authorities even after they were officially imported from India and Bulgaria. But despite the caricatures and debacles at party meetings, throughout the Soviet period, they remained the main trend, slightly changing shape: from flared to "bananas".
8. Chinese umbrella
In the early fifties, Soviet stores were literally flooded with goods from China. At that moment, the countries began to make friends and build communism together. The USSR sent machine tools, equipment, metals to the Celestial Empire, and from there received various consumer goods, which were often produced in an artisanal way.
However, unpretentious Soviet people, who managed to miss beautiful things, literally pounced on him. Chinese umbrellas made of bamboo and silk were in great demand. A self-respecting woman must have appeared with him on the beach, for a walk in the park and in the yard.
Fans were also in demand, but they were more often hung on the walls. The fashion ended as suddenly as it began. Stalin died, his cult was debunked at the twentieth congress, which mortally offended Mao Zedong. Trade stopped, conflicts began, and wearing such an umbrella quickly became unpatriotic.
9. Striped gaiters
In the USSR, the fashion for them began thanks to Jane Fonda. The American actress kept in shape with aerobics in between filming and at some point decided, as they say now, to monetize her hobby. The whole world was literally flooded with videotapes with her set of exercises. They also moved to the socialist camp. Soviet women liked both aerobics and leggings.
In the early eighties, self-made groups for rhythmic gymnastics began to appear throughout the country, in 1985 it penetrated central television, becoming another symbol of perestroika.
Leggings, meanwhile, lived their own lives. They fell into the powerful stream of popularity of disco music, so they began to be worn in everyday life. At the same time, for some strange reason, it was striped products that became fashionable.
10. Artificial fur
The fashion for artificial materials began in the late fifties. Similar trends were observed around the world, and the Soviet Union was not unique in this. Lurex, nylon, acrylic, crepe de Chine, polyester and all the other inventions of the chemical industry turned the heads of designers and fashion designers.
In the early sixties, the era of faux fur began. Fur coats made of something chemical have become a must for fashionistas. Although it was originally supposed to be only a cheap replacement, they were bought even by those who could afford a real mink. First of all, imported fur coats were valued - they were sold in thrift stores more expensive than astrakhan fur.
The peak of popularity came in the mid-seventies. The most striking thing is that the quality of such fur was rather poor. He simply could not stand the Russian frosts. And in the nineties, when the industry finally managed to improve its performance, faux fur just went out of style.
