Russian fashion
Covers displayed women in plain work clothes, yet the magazines often contained advertisements for private companies selling stylish attire.
[4] In its place, the state commissioned projects to engineer a new Soviet type of dress, which drew on traditional clothing, constructivist forms, and technological facilities.
[13] Persistent images of plain women and quaint peasants were thought to propagate the capitalist view that socialism engenders poverty.
[24] In the Mid-1950s, the Soviet government enacted an anti-stilyagi campaign through "public censure, humiliation and shame" for being influenced by and promoting excessively Western fashion norms.
[25] However, at the turn of the Second World War, during the Khrushchev Thaw, authorities became aware of fashion as a ‘natural force’ in society; particularly as more women became interested in dressing well.
[26] Therefore, fashion became an avenue through which the Soviet government would, primarily, seek to rebuild a war-torn nation and revitalise the efforts of promoting pro-Party sentiment.
[27] The symbol of the post-War "New Soviet People" would thus emerge, wherein trendy youths would help construct the modernist image of a new communist utopia[27][28] and subsequently help fight counterculture movements like the stilyagi from the pop-cultural front.
[29] There are indications that Khrushchev, while still opposing the excessive nature of art and architecture in Western culture, was lenient in his judgement towards fashion and the clothing industry.
[30] In 1964, Khrushchev oversaw the Fourth Session of the Supreme Council of the USSR that promoted measures towards The Communist Party Program in the field of Raising the People’s Prosperity.
[30] He declared: Working people want to acquire clothes and shoes that have an up-to-date style and beautiful color and that correspond to the season and to fashion.
[34] To some historians, the Khrushchev era, thus, represented an ideological shift largely promoted by international contacts through commodity exchange;[35] signifying the new current of Western values, at least, in relations to cultural expression.
However, these views are controversial with some scholars taking aim at the growth of collective surveillance from the Soviet government and the emergence of ‘volunteer policing’ that increased the "prevalence of social control at the daily level under Khrushchev".
The retail chain Beriozka also sold some Western clothing, but only to the privileged few who could pay in hard currency or foreign exchange certificates.
The collapse of the USSR in 1991 resulted in the flooding of the consumer market with imported American and European designer clothing, especially blue jeans.
[48] Neon colors such as hot pink, orange, turquoise or electric blue, acid wash denim, rhinestone or sequin dresses, black leather jackets, and geometric printed clothing featuring triangles, zigzags, lozenges and lightning bolts were particularly popular in Yeltsin's Russia during the early to mid 1990s.
[50] Russian fashion during the 2000s and 2010s generally followed Western trends, with slim fitting grey or navy blue suits being particularly popular among professional men.
At the same time, however, some traditional accessories such as the ushanka or astrakhan cap made a comeback as part of a backlash against the West, due to many Russians rediscovering their national pride.
[54] Larissa Zakharova addressed this fact too and stated this individualistic element of ‘DIY-ing’ clothes was symbolic of Western fashion influence.
Zakharova also argued that aside from the individual production of clothes, the fashion industry operated as an arm of state apparatus influenced by Soviet policy and ideology.
[56] Historians Mila Oiva, Anna Ivanova and Elena Huber placed women at the forefront of shifting fashion trends.
