Post-war fashion in the USSR dresses. Diary of a Riga woman. Stars and retro style

Exhibition of dresses of the 1940s-1950s "From War to Peace" from the collection of Alexander Vasiliev July 23rd, 2013

Last week, the world-famous fashion historian Alexander Vasilyev brought an exhibition of dresses from his collection to Riga for the fifth time. Why exactly in Riga? Well, he loves this city, do not envy!


Alexander Vasiliev with lime Vaikule at the opening of the exhibition. Photo kasjauns.lv

This time the exhibition is dedicated to the fashion of 1940-1950 and is called "From War to Peace". And although it will be possible to admire the collection of dresses until the end of September, we could not resist and this Sunday we ran to the Museum of Decorative Arts, where the exhibition is being held.

I apologize for the quality of the photos - the flash could not be turned on.

The exhibition begins with wartime dresses - quite modest, without any frills. This crepe georgette evening dress was made in the USA in 1940.

The capital of fashion - Paris - was occupied by the Germans and many fashion houses were closed. The exhibition presents the dresses of those houses that managed to survive during the occupation - Lanvin, Nina Ricci, Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, as well as the work of unknown but talented dressmakers. This white summer dress is sewn from a linen tablecloth (France, 1943-1945).

The dress, knitted from silk braid, looks quite modern.

Platform shoes, high and very extravagant hats, fishnet hair and bright red lipstick were a modest but effective arsenal of women's means of fighting for the attention of men at that time.

The green printed silk cocktail dress belonged to the ballerina Ida Rubinstein (France, 1940).

Please note: the shoe has a Red Cross badge.

Satin evening dress embroidered with pearls and sequins by Lanvin, 1940

The "military" style, introduced into the wardrobe of fashionistas in 1939, was expressed in the padded shoulders of dresses and suits, in shoulder straps, large buttons and belts.

Wartime wedding dress.

And this wedding dress is already peaceful post-war years.

The collection of post-war dresses begins with this photo. After the end of the war, in 1947, a new fashion house "Christian Dior" was opened in Paris, which offered women a new silhouette "New Look". There was a lot of femininity and grace in this sexy look. Wide and long sun-flared skirts were combined with corsages and jackets pulled down at the waist, as well as sloping shoulders and necklines. According to Vasiliev, the New Look dresses took from 16 to 100 meters of fabric.

This cocktail dress, embroidered with sequins, belonged to an Egyptian princess, the wife of an Iranian emperor.

Concert dress from the wardrobe of the singer Alma Kogan (London, 1953-1955).

Tulle ball gown with velvet appliqué (Morocco, 1953-1955).

The next two dresses are my favorites in this show. Although other miracles are good!

Women's accessories in the style of Elsa Schiaparelli, late 40s - early 50s.

But you will see this Norell dress in the old photo below (England, first half of the 50s).

Pleated nylon cocktail dress (Australia, 1955).

The taffeta cocktail dress is also from Australia.

Post-war hats are very different from wartime hats, aren't they?

Winter coat made of satin and astrakhan from the Christian Dior fashion house.

Well, you probably immediately recognized this costume? Of course it's Chanel!

Silver tulle cocktail dress embroidered with rhinestones (Istanbul, 1956-58). Belonged to the wife of a member of the Turkish Parliament.

Balmain striped taffeta cocktail dress.

Silk satin concert dress with guipure cover, owned by the English singer Alma Kogan (1955).

Pay attention to the name of the soap!

I would like to add that the exhibition contains many photographs of brilliant movie stars of the mid-twentieth century - Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Gina Lolobrigida and Sophia Loren, as well as video materials from the Latvian State Documentary Film Archive.

In general, if you are in Riga this summer, be sure to go to this exhibition. She is unique!

The beginning of the 40s of the last century was overshadowed by the ongoing world war. Military conflicts are always a big test for the fashion world. The attitude to clothes is changing, the worldview in terms of presenting oneself with the help of things. Practicality and durability come to the fore in everything. The fate of people is changing and representatives of the fashion world are no exception. Many are forced to adapt to circumstances or stop their activities completely. Fashion 40s - 50s of the last century was full of events both sad and joyful.

The fashion industry of all countries participating in the war was undermined and was in a deplorable state. Many Parisian fashion houses were closed during the Second World War. Among them Maison Vionnet and Maison Chanel . Some designers, including Mainbocher moved to New York. The full-scale program of moral and intellectual re-education of the French state did not bypass the fashion world either. The stylish Parisian was replaced by the image of a reliable wife and a young athletic girl more in line with the agenda of the new regime. Germany took over more than half of the entire fashion industry in France, including fashion houses, and the question of transferring French fashion to Berlin or Vienna was even raised. The archives of the High Fashion Chamber of Commerce were seized, including an extensive list of clients. The point of all this was to break the monopoly that allegedly threatened the dominance of the Third Reich. At that time there were 92 fashion houses in France.

There was a catastrophic shortage of fabric, so in order to save money, the length of the dress became higher and higher. This extended to both casual wear and evening wear. Since 1940, a certain regulation was introduced, according to which no more than 4 meters of fabric could be spent on a coat, and no more than 1 m on a blouse. Cheap materials began to be used more and more, and natural ones were replaced by artificial ones. But despite this, the couture did everything possible to maintain its banner. Humor and frivolity became the main way to protect against the occupying authorities, thanks to this, fashion was able to survive. While some claim that wealthy Nazi wives contributed to the preservation of French fashion, in fact, records show that fashion house clients at the time were a mix of wealthy Parisians, wives of foreign ambassadors, black market clients and other salon goers, among whom German women were in the minority. During the war, fashion houses such as Jacques Fath, Maggie Rouff, Nina Ricci, Marcel Rochas, Jeanne Lafaurie, Madeleine Vramant worked.

During the occupation, the only way for women to add variety and color to their gray image was hats. A dress or suit is expensive to change, but a hat is the cheapest. Almost all hats were a turban, standing high above the head, as this model corresponded to the shape of the hairstyle. Whipped curls rose up or gathered in a bun, tucked into a net. In the USSR, such hairstyles were called "lousy house". And this was true, because in order to save money, they washed their hair no more than once a week. The purpose of the headdress was not to show the hair, but to completely hide it, and the shape of the turban did a great job of this.

The fashion for turbans came from the Caribbean. During the war, France was cut off from America, the main consumer of French fashion and the United States turned its eyes to the Caribbean countries: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago. Women working on plantations in Latin American countries tied a piece of cloth like a turban around their heads to protect themselves from the sun. And thanks to the Brazilian actress Carmen Miranda , famous in Hollywood, the platform shoes that he made for her became very popular. Miranda was short (about 149 cm) and became a true promoter of such shoes. To look taller, she wore a platform and a heel of about 20 cm, and a turban on her head. The turban was sewn from the remnants of the fabric and for its manufacture did not require special materials or tools, as for the production of felt hats. Among the innovative milliners of the time were Pauline Adam, Simone Naudet, Rose Valois and Le Monnier.

Various packaging was simplified, the use of cheap materials such as wood, straw, bamboo, and plastic became common. Manual labor is back in fashion, only this time it is cheap. The platform on the shoes, as well as the accessories, could be wooden. The skin became more and more inaccessible, as it was taken for the needs of the army. For women, a leather belt should not be wider than 3 cm, in order to save money. The "patchwork" style, previously used for making blankets in the villages and never before in high fashion, is becoming popular. But due to the difficult economic situation, it is included in everyday clothes. Women used fantasy in order to look beautiful and elegant. A ribbon, a combination of fabrics and even curtains could be used.

Elsa Schiaparelli was forced to leave for the USA, but she did not close her House, but entrusted the management to the Swede Irene Dana. In America, Elsa was busy lecturing about fashion at the Red Cross. In her absence, the leading model of the House was Varvara Rapponet, born in Kiev, who emigrated from Russia. After the liberation of Paris in 1944, Schiaparelli returned to France, to her House, but during her absence, young designers appeared who could compete with her. In 1947, Elsa hired the French aristocrat Hubert de Givenchy to work at the House.

Schiaparelli's constant rival, Coco Chanel, closed her house in 1940. And in 1944, when Paris was liberated, Chanel fled France in order not to fall under repression, since during the occupation her cavalier was a Gestapo officer. She spent 10 years in exile in Switzerland.

One of the famous fashion houses was the House of Madame Gré, a French designer who created dresses directly on the model, without patterns. In her youth, she studied sculpture and painting, which she used in her later work. In 1933, she opened her first salon, which she closed at the beginning of the war in 1940 and left with her family for the south of France from occupied Paris. But due to the difficult financial situation, she returned to Paris and continued to work. She tried her best to resist the restrictions that the Germans set. She spent more fabric than was allowed, refused to serve the mistresses of the Nazis, and presented a collection in the national colors of France at a fashion show for the Nazis. And in 1943, the House of Madame Gré was closed for exceeding the fabric limit and for opposing the authorities. Madame Gré fled again and returned to Paris only in 1945, after his release. In 1947, she was awarded the Legion of Honor as the nation's moral authority. Despite the fact that her models were completely different from those of Dior, she had many fans. Draperies, soft fabrics - this is what distinguished her dresses from others. Some of Madame Gre's clients were Elza Triolet and Lilya Brik.

Many famous actresses of that time contributed to the development of fashion. Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn were very popular and had their own style and imagination. For lack of beautiful lace, things in the 40s were often trimmed with pieces of fur. The silver fox, which was grown in the USA and Siberia, was very popular. Every woman dreamed of having a silver fox collar or muff. The colors in the clothes were mostly dark: brown, dark burgundy, dark blue. Purely for reasons of practicality, dark clothes did not need to be washed frequently. One of the most fashionable fabrics during the war was crepe (matte woolen fabric), and a very popular suit was the combination of a jacket and a dress. The most relevant style of the era of the war was: wide false shoulders, a belt emphasizing the waist, a straight skirt, patch pockets. All this was the details of the military uniform. As a replacement for the leather that was used before, reptile skins are in vogue: python, crocodile and lizard. Gold was requisitioned in banks and gold items became quite rare. Accessories were made of shiny metal, and details that had a clear military theme came into fashion, such as chains, locks, bandolier bags. The production of accessories and jewelry went into decline and the craftsmen made buttons and various decorations on their own.

Worth Fashion House, very famous at the end of the 19th century, lost its popularity and the 40s became the decline of his empire. The chief couturier of France during the war was Lucien Lelong, President of the Paris Syndicate of Haute Couture. And the chief designer at the Lelong House was Christian Dior, second designer - Pierre Balmain. After the war, they will quit and open their fashion houses. Christian Dior in 1947 will show his first collection called "The King", the distinguishing features of which will be an underlined bust, a wasp waist and a fluffy skirt. The hourglass silhouette, consisting of a jacket - a bar and an ankle-length crinoline skirt, conquered the whole world.

It was a post-war return to femininity and pre-war luxury, and also marked the resurgence of French haute couture. Dior's popularity grew rapidly, besides, certain advertising contributed to this, the editor of the American Harper's Basaar, Carmel Snow She said it was "a new look!". Thus style was born. new look. This was considered wasteful by many, as a lot of fabric went into skirts in this style, and there was still a card system. Some dresses required from 16 to 100 meters of fabric and tulle. In addition, appropriate tights and good bras were needed.

Along with this, Christian Dior used very simple buttons. He believed that ordinary black buttons with 4 holes were the height of elegance. Although the House of Dior also made military-style suits, perhaps for American working women who continued to be active consumers of French fashion.

In 1947, a young Pierre Cardin who started his career as a theater artist. And in 1950 he opened his own fashion house. A year later, he showed his first collection of women's clothing, and in 1957 he was admitted to the High Fashion Syndicate. He was a futuristic clothing singer. Creating vivid images, he did not particularly care about the beauty of the female figure. Rectangular silhouettes hid all imperfections. The avant-garde direction was the motto of his work.

But Cardin was not only the creator of the future fashion, but also an excellent entrepreneur. He was the first to sell his creations at a lower price as part of a new form of ready-to-wear sale. Collaborating with trading houses, he exhibited his collections under his own name, but at a more affordable price policy. For this, in 1959, he was expelled from the Syndicate for violating the rules and downgrading the image of haute couture. But Cardin turned out to be a visionary and after a while, many designers followed his example.

Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish designer, one of the most famous couturiers of that time. He began his career back in the 30s, moving to France. In 1937, he opened his fashion house and continued his activities until the 60s. For the Spaniards, Balenciaga is a "national hero" today. Balenciaga costumes are very expensive, ranging from $10,000 and up. One of the distinguishing details of his costumes is the presence of a peplum, popular in Spanish attire.

Shanghai became one of the capitals of fashion during the war, as a very international population lived there at that time: the French, the British and many Russian emigrants. There were many fashion houses that were opened by emigrants from Russia, and many women worked in cabarets, theaters, restaurants and carefully followed the latest. For the Japanese who occupied China, European fashion was a real discovery.

In the post-war period, the entire clothing industry was in a deplorable state. Fashion designers have long been in a cramped position and total savings in everything. To fill the cost gaps, as soon as the opportunity arose, designers began to use more fabric. A novelty that appeared in the post-war years is pleating. Straight wartime pencil skirts gave way to flared skirts well below the knee. Men returned from the war and women's clothing took on a new direction. She again had to look attractive, feminine and sexy. There comes a period of elegance, calm tones that do not frighten men.

Starting in 1947, small hats came into fashion instead of turbans and instead of wide heels and platform stilettos, in the heels of which metal pins taken from aircraft construction were inserted. In the era of new look, all delicate powdered shades have become fashionable. A new form of glasses in the form of "chanterelles". In the world of high fashion begins the "golden age".

In the late 40s, an unusual subculture was born in the USSR, which is a community of young people who imitate the American way of life. In 1949, after the publication of D.G. Belyaev, in the magazine "Crocodile" a feuilleton called "Dandies" this name was firmly entrenched in a new direction. The movement became widespread throughout the country and continued to exist until the early 60s. Young people expressed a negative attitude towards the existing system, moral values ​​and the whole way of life. They differed from the rest of the population primarily in their bright and unusual appearance, intricate hairstyles and stylish images, for which they were very criticized by obedient citizens and even carried criminal liability. Stilyagi promoted foreign music, emancipation, the height of chic was wearing foreign clothes, which were obtained with great difficulty and for this, as a response, they received a contemptuous attitude towards themselves. Despite all the obstacles, the dudes remained positive, creative about their appearance, bright and cheerful people.

Famous musician Alexei Kozlov says:

“The dudes had such a practiced meaningless expression in their eyes. Not because we are idiots. It's just that if we bared our eyes, if we looked at how we feel, everyone would see how much we hate them. There was a price to be paid for this look. That's where we screwed up."

In 1949, fashion made a new round in Germany, the first ready-to-wear salon was opened in Düsseldorf. This was the beginning of the mass production of clothing and the true democratization of the fashion industry. With the rise of pret-a-porter in the 50s, the choice of styles, fabrics, colors expanded incredibly, which made it possible to satisfy the needs of every woman.

The fashion of the 50s was distinguished by optimism, luxury and femininity. Gold jewelry and evening dresses decorated with beads and rhinestones returned again. Despite the fact that women were hungry for progress, many of them worked and already drove cars themselves, they accepted the feminine image with joy. Couture experienced something of a renaissance. Small corsets, narrow waist and active décolleté. Throughout the 50s, women still preferred French fashion.

Returns to Paris after the end of the war Elsa Schiaparelli. Her new color is fuchsia, very bright and active. Elsa was a promoter of surrealism painting and this was very strongly reflected in her collections. Schiaparelli's clothes were designed for young, energetic and independent women who were not alien to a new, extravagant way of dressing. But after the war, men were afraid of such women and too bright colors scared them away. Men were tired of fighting, they liked more pretty and calm women dressed in pastel colors. This played a decisive role in the fate of Elsa, because, following her direction, she lost her former popularity and in 1954 left the world of fashion, under the pretext of the birth of her two granddaughters, which her constant rival Coco Chanel was incredibly happy about.

The most famous couturiers of that time were Cristobal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Balmain. In 1951, Balenciaga completely changed the silhouette: widened the shoulders and changed the waistline. In 1955, he designed a dress - a tunic, which by 1957 was transformed into a dress - a shirt. And by the end of 1959, it ended with the empire line, high-waisted dresses and coats cut like kimonos. Balenciaga differs from many couturiers in that he could create models himself from beginning to end, since at the age of 12 he was apprenticed to a tailor.

Hubert de Givenchy opened his first fashion house in 1952 and made a splash with mixed fabrics. Boutiques were opened in Zurich, Rome and Buenos Aires. He was called a man of great taste and understated elegance. His clients included Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy. At 25, he became the youngest and most progressive designer on the Parisian fashion scene. Givenchy's first collection was named "Bettina Graziani" after a young Parisian model of the time. The fabrics he used were not expensive, but he attracted customers with the originality of his designs. Givenchy sewed almost all the costumes for the heroines of Audrey Hepburn. She was his muse. After Audrey's death, Givenchy decided to leave the fashion world.

Pierre Balmain opened his fashion house in 1945. But it began to enjoy great success only from 1952. Balmain maintained the style of an elegant Parisian with a touch of glamour, and he also masterfully mastered the creative combination of fabrics and subtle color combinations. The clients of his house were supporters of elegance, simple cuts and a more natural look.

In 1953, they begin their activities in Italy Ottavio and Rosita Missoni. This year they open their small knitting workshop and this becomes the starting point for the birth of a new brand. In 1958 they present their first collection in a Milan department store under the brand Missoni. She was adequately covered in the press and became popular with the public. With the support of the editor-in-chief of the journal Arianna, Anna Piaggio business flourished. Missoni started mainly in the production of sportswear and searched for their own way, their corporate identity for about ten years. The coming decades will be the heyday of this brand, and multi-colored stripes - zigzags in ethnic style will be the calling card.

After a ten-year exile, she returned to the fashion world Coco Chanel. She was at that time already about 70 years old. She hated the new look and presented a number of ideas to the public, which later became the highlight of her image. These are quilted handbags on metal chains, large-weave fabric suits with gold chains, shiny jewelry, flowered silk blouses, monogrammed snaps and buttons, evening dresses and furs, long strings of pearls. But the first post-war collection was a failure and a fiasco.

The public perceived the models as old-fashioned and out of touch with the spirit of the times. But sometimes fate brings amazing surprises, and this is exactly what happened to Chanel models. This period coincided with the Warsaw Aircraft Convention, which allowed women and men to take only 20 kg of baggage with them. And of course, puffy dresses in the new look style did not fit in more than one suitcase. And Chanel's suits were great for transportation in a certain amount. In 1955, the public accepted the ideas of Chanel and adopted them.

One of Chanel's inventions was a chain sewn on the bottom of the jacket from the wrong side, so that the bottom of the jacket did not ride up. The lining should be exactly the same tone as the jacket itself, there should not be a border. The length of the skirt never rose above the knees, which, according to Chanel, were the most unattractive place on a woman's body. Coco Chanel did not know how to draw or sew, but she always did all the fittings herself.

In 1959, the invention of lycra revolutionized the fashion world. This changed the attitude towards underwear in many ways and led to a restructuring of the industry associated with the production of underwear. Floral bright colors of fabrics with printed patterns have come into fashion. And the most popular fabrics were taffeta and organdy, because they kept the shape of the dress well. The red line through all the 50s is the theme of ostentatious luxury, which people missed so much during the war. The theme of relaxation has become popular, something that everyone could not afford some time ago. This was expressed in marine patterns on fabric, applications on handbags in the form of shells and fish. San Tropez is becoming the most fashionable resort where all the playboys flock to.

In Hollywood, a special style of glamor was created, which was promoted by Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Lauren Bacall. Some fashion designers believed that a dress shown on the screen would be seen by millions, compared to models in magazines. Therefore, this is a more profitable investment of their labor and they actively cooperated with film studios. They did not try to follow all the styles of fashionable Paris, but tried to create their own version of classicism, which should be timeless. Furs, sequins, luxurious materials, chiffon were used to create costumes. The model with a deep neckline on the back was popular, the actress in such a dress looked very impressive. The most influential designers in Hollywood at the time were Orry Kelly, William Travilla, Travis Benton and Gilbert Adrian.

The 50s is a triumph of color and stones, not always real, but the main thing is that they shine. In 1953, a young Yves Saint Laurent, and after the sudden death of Dior, he becomes the leading fashion designer of the house. In 1957, Yves Saint Laurent introduced a new trapeze silhouette into fashion. The first "humane" model in which a woman could eat. This silhouette will move smoothly into the 60s, but will acquire a new sound.

In 1959, a significant event will take place within the framework of the USSR. 12 French fashion models and 120 clothing models led by Yves Saint Laurent will visit the country's capital. All 14 collection shows will be held behind closed doors, the audience of which will be high-ranking officials and representatives of the textile and light industry. During several days of stay, the collection will be shown at several factories in Moscow, as well as fly to Arkhangelsk.

Let's move on to the part of the exhibition dedicated to the fashion of the war and post-war years. I must say that at the exhibition of A. Vasiliev, she is mainly represented by outfits for going out, but this is interesting, because we can judge everyday fashion from old family photographs, which are probably kept in every home, and from films of those years. Before I forget, I will ask readers, if they wish, to post photos of your great-grandmothers in the clothes of the 40s and 50s in the comments. It will be very interesting for all of us to understand the fashion of that time. If you have some vintage items that have nowhere to store, and it’s a pity to throw them away, you can try to contact Alexander through his secretary (a nice young man) and talk about acquiring these things for his collection. When I was at the exhibition, one of the visitors approached them and offered (in words, of course) shoes from her grandmother's wardrobe. So anyone can add interesting things to Alexander Vasiliev's collection, if he is not sure that he will be able to save them himself. Who knows what treasures were lying around on the mezzanines and in the pantries of our houses!

And I will touch on the topic of cinema and its significance for studying the history of fashion in my review, but for now I will talk a little about the typical features of wartime and post-war fashion, illustrating them with photographs from the exhibition if possible.

Since the late 30s, the main style-forming detail has become padded shoulders. In the 1940s, massive shoulder pads were indispensable for both women's and men's fashion. Skirts are getting shorter than they were in the 1930s, with slightly flared and pleated designs predominating. In addition, details appear in clothes that are characteristic of military style and sports style - patch pockets, yokes and deep folds on the back, straps and shoulder straps, belted waist is in fashion. In the photo below you can see how some of these characteristic elements look on a plaid coat:

Dress in printed crepe de chine. USSR, 1940s Summer coat in gingham fine wool with patch pockets. USSR, 1939-1940s Satin hat with velvet flowers. Moscow, 1945-1946. From the wardrobe of the actress Magdalena Lukashevich.

Crepe dress with an embossed floral pattern. Khabarovsk, 1941-1945 From the wardrobe of the wife of Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky, Raisa Malinovskaya. Black-brown fox boa. USSR, 1940-1945 Felt hat. USA, 1946-1947

Due to the fact that the USSR included countries where elegance in clothing was part of the culture, Soviet fashion is moving closer to European. For example, Riga was called little Paris for the stylish outfits of local residents, and Lviv tailors were famous far beyond their city. Public interest in the war in Spain was expressed, among other things, in the fashion for Spanish-style toilets, especially dresses and blouses. dotted.

Fashionable smells of the 40s were "Red Moscow", "Silver Lily of the Valley" and "Carmen", and TEZHE cosmetic products were invariably in great demand.

The war quickly left its mark on the appearance of people. Hundreds of thousands of girls and boys had to put on military uniforms. Many of the women who remained in the rear did hard and dirty work instead of the men who had gone to the front - they dug trenches, worked in hospitals, put out "lighters" on the roofs of houses. Instead of fashionable clothes, women's lives have entered trousers, padded jackets and tarpaulin boots. You will not see such models at the exhibition, as for the most part items of an elegant assortment are presented.

Hairstyles were fashionable those that you could create yourself. For every day, women who worked in the rear, and even more so at the front, created simple buns and braids. The most common hairstyles of the war years among Soviet women were - a roller above the forehead and a bun at the back, often covered with a net, or a roller and hair twisted with Marseille tongs or pinned up at the back, as well as pigtails-bagels and pigtails-baskets.

Most wartime fashion trends are explained by banal scarcity. Those who have not been able to acquire such a wardrobe item that has become a fetish of the decade as stockings, or drew a seam directly on the bare leg, or replaced the stockings with short white socks worn with a flowered dress and pumps. Due to the inability to buy fabrics for new blouses and dresses, women altered old outfits or clothes of their husbands.

In outerwear, long, widening down coats with large padded shoulders with a belt at the waist, which were sewn from gabardine, Boston wool, cord, carpet coat, as well as drape, drape velor, cloth, fule, beaver, ratin, were common. Models with a sleeve came into fashion raglan.

Evening dress in silk velvet trimmed with black sequins. Berlin, 1940s From the wardrobe of the wife of a Soviet colonel. Boa made of black-brown fox. From the wardrobe of N. S. Levchenko (married Harlambidis). Turban hat in taffeta and velvet. Filipovic, Istanbul, 1940s

For fashionable evening and elegant dresses of the 40s, slightly flared skirts, neckline, tight-fitting bodice, or bodice with drapery, small puffed sleeves are typical. The main materials of evening fashion are crepe satin, fidechine or thick silk, crepe georgette, crepe maroquin, velvet, panne velvet and panchiffon. They tried to make toilets for going out as elegant as possible: dresses were decorated with appliqués, beads, lace and false flowers. White lace collars are very common. The main addition to the exit toilet was considered silver fox boa. Of the jewelry, beads and large brooches were especially popular.

Silk crepe dress with gauze and sequins appliqué. USA, 1940-1945 From the wardrobe of actress A. Budnitskaya. Boa made of black-brown fox. Germany, 1940s Turban in quilted felt, decorated with moire ribbon. Filipovic, Istanbul, 1940s

Since the mid-1940s, romance began to prevail in women's images, dresses became extremely popular in the USSR. Feminine and delicate models were most often with a floral pattern, with various details - collars, bows, cuffs, with embossed grooves, decorative stitching, coquettes and frills. Often such dresses were worn with a jacket or knitted jacket with buttons. Dresses were made from bright printed fabrics such as chiffon, crepe de chine, georgette crepe, canaus, taffeta, silk, batiste, voile. Elegant skirts and blouses, summer beach overalls with flared trousers were also in fashion. Casual dresses became shorter, and long models were still recommended for the evening. The hat was almost a must-have accessory in the 1940s.

Women in the 1940s wore blouses with puffed sleeves, small handbags with a long strap, a variety of hats, ranging from the usual berets and felt hats, ending with a turban, which was unusually popular in the early 1940s. Turban Soviet women liked it so much that those who could not buy the finished product simply tied a scarf folded with a strip in a special manner, with the tips up, constructing a large knot on the crown, imitating a semblance of a turban. Miniature leather or silk envelope bags were also in fashion.

The 1940s is the time of platform and wedge shoes. A very fashionable model was shoes with open toe and heel, high heels, having a platform under the toe. In the USSR, there were practically no such shoes, only the "chosen ones" possessed them. Most of the platforms in those days were hand-crafted from wood, and then straps or vamps made of fabric or leather scraps were stuffed onto them. One of the most common models of women's shoes of the 1940s in our country were lace-up low shoes with a small heel and pumps.

In winter, women of fashion dreamed of getting “Romanians” - boots with a small heel, laced, fur-lined inside, and trimmed with fur trim on the outside. But often, both women and men had to be content with felt boots, or cloaks popular at that time - warm high boots with a top made of thin felt and a bottom trimmed with genuine leather. Good shoes were in short supply, they were expensive, so on the feet of Soviet women one could often see rough models that looked a little like elegant shoes from fashion magazines.

Trophy fashion- This is a special phenomenon of the post-war period. With the return of Soviet troops to their homeland, a stream of trophies poured into the USSR. Carried including fashion magazines, jewelry, perfumes, furs, clothes and shoes. Foreign things were a curiosity for many Soviet citizens.

The style of Soviet women in the postwar years was greatly influenced by the images of Western movie stars from captured films, postcards, and women's magazines. Under the influence of trophy films and fashion magazines, makeup has also changed. Bright red lipstick, eyebrows plucked in a curved arc and lined with a pencil, and false eyelashes came into fashion. Images of foreign and domestic film stars and singers were collected, pasted on the walls, as shown in the film "The meeting place cannot be changed."

Domestic actresses and singers, who in the 1940s were broadcasters of Western fashion standards, also had a huge impact on Soviet women. Fashion magazines and photo postcards of actresses are lined with accessories in showcases.

The second half of the forties is the time of the boom in fur products. Every fashionista tried to get herself a fur coat, or at least a coat with a massive fur collar and a muff. A very popular model of those years was a short trapezoidal fur coat with padded shoulders. The most fashionable furs of the 1940s are karakul and cat which almost no one had. Fur coats and jackets "under the cat" from a plucked rabbit were more common. Rabbit and squirrel coats were also common outerwear. One of the most fashionable things was fur boa.

Trophy peignoir in silk viscose. Germany, 1940s Trophy jacket with sequin embroidery. Berlin, 1938. From the wardrobe of N. K. Kuznetsova-Serbskaya. Boa made of silver fox. Velvet hat with fringes.

Trophy dress in tucked silk crepe. Western Europe, 1940s Crepe headpiece. USSR, 1940s

Elegant dress made of printed trophy panne velvet. Voronezh, 1945-1948 Trophy straw hat decorated with velvet ribbons and berries. Western Europe, 1940s

Trophy dress in hand-stenciled silk crepe and satin. Germany, 1940s Monkey fur coat with wool yoke. USA, 1930s From the wardrobe of the ballerina O. Lepeshinskaya. Velvet turban. USSR, 1948

Dress in viscose crepe satin, embroidered with beads. USSR, second half of the 1940s. Straw hat in the shape of a beret.

Elegant dress. Tulle, chain stitch embroidery. Model "Cold rime". ODMO on the Kuznetsk bridge. Moscow, 1949. From the wardrobe of actress Galina Kalinovskaya. Felt hat. USSR, early 1950s

Style has dominated fashion since 1947 "New bow" proposed by Christian Dior. He created a completely new female silhouette - without padded coat hangers, with a strongly cinched waist and either a very fluffy skirt or a narrow skirt in the shape of an unblown bud. The New Look required women to create a single ensemble, in which petticoats, grace, good bras, stockings, high-heeled shoes, gloves, handbags, hats and jewelry should be present. Skillful makeup and hair styled in a hairstyle completed the image. But in the post-war USSR it was impossible. Therefore, in the second half of the 1940s, and in the early years of the 1950s, women still wear the same models of the early 40s, and fashion magazines are in no hurry to acquaint them with new global trends. The New Look style was finally established in the USSR only in 1956, with the release of the film Carnival Night.

Thus, the Soviet fashion of the 1940s was a mix of touching colorful dresses, often sewn at home, over which a jacket was usually worn, unexpected trophy toilets, old-fashioned things that had been preserved since the 20s-30s, skirts and blouses altered from old clothes, worn coats and frilly fur boas. The country dressed very heterogeneously, the capabilities of some were very different from those of others. But the desire to be beautiful and attractive has always been characteristic of both women.

Men's fashion during the 1940s, it did not change as quickly as women's. In the early 1940s, shirts with soft collars were worn, without a tie. Suits consisted of fitted single-breasted jackets and wide-cut trousers, often with lapels at the bottom. Jackets were sewn from worsted suit fabrics - boston, carpet coat, tights or cheviot. A new model in 1940 was golf trousers in the form of knee-length wide pantaloons made of woolen fabric. Men's jackets and outerwear also had massive padded shoulders. Coats with a secret fastener and a raglan sleeve are popular.

In the second half of the 1940s, men's fashion was dominated by massive double-breasted jackets and wide trousers, huge coats, which we would now call "oversized". A common men's ensemble of those years - trousers tucked into boots, a jacket and a cap on the head, as well as knitted vests and sweaters worn over a shirt under a jacket. Ties of this period are short and wide, most often in silk, and popular patterns are polka dots and stripes.

Trophy or leather jackets and coats left over from the 20s and 30s were considered great chic. Well, all those who could not afford a new thing wore a military uniform for a long time. The cap was one of the most common headwear in the 1940s. Caps were worn by workers, employees, criminals and petty punks. The most fashionable model was considered a cap made of wedges, with a small visor and a button on top. If we recall the film "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed", which I already mentioned, we will see that the characters were dressed in this way. We remember Zhiglov in a leather coat, Fox in military uniform, criminals in characteristic caps.

The post-war trophy influence in the men's wardrobe was manifested in the cut of jackets, felt hats were fashionable. During the war years, many high-class Jewish male tailors appeared in the USSR, and shoes for the Soviet elite were made by Armenian shoemakers.

In the post-war years in the USSR, among the students, where there were many children of the Soviet elite, "styling" was born. The first mention of dudes dates back to 1947, but the main time of Soviet dudes is still ahead - this is the 1950s - 1960s.

In the first years of the decade, fashion trends coming from the West were considered dangerous and pernicious for the Soviet people. With the coming to power of Khrushchev, the time of reforms in the life of Soviet society begins. Thanks to the development of international relations between the USSR and Western countries, Soviet people are getting more and more opportunities to learn about the latest foreign fashion. Fashion magazines and periodicals began to publish foreign models of clothing, most were from the countries of the socialist bloc, but the work of Western fashion designers also leaked. Soviet people were able to read about the style proposed by Christian Dior.

Dresses of the 1950s are characterized by: a complex cut that emphasizes the figure, a lot of decorative details, a variety of finishes, and folds. Along with dresses, fashion magazines also promoted women's suits, the silhouettes of which, thanks to the style new look, acquired grace and femininity:

Stenciled silk moire suit with small polka dots. 1950s Pill hat made of cord and velvet. 1950s.

A set consisting of a suit, a hat, gloves, a handbag and jewelry could be seen on fashionable respectable city ladies. This image was promoted in the Soviet cinema of those years.

For evening dresses, natural and viscose silk were most often used. The same materials were used to sew white translucent blouses and striped blouses that were fashionable in the 50s. In the late 1950s, polyamide, polyester, capron, dederon, elastic (elastic synthetic knitwear) began to be widely used in the USSR. In the windows you can see accessories made of synthetic materials:

Sometimes in fashion magazines one could see models made of moiré, taffeta, brocade, but it was almost impossible to buy such fabrics in stores. Silk crepe-satin, voile, cambric, pongee, madapolam were recommended for use in sewing fashionable models.

In the collections of Soviet fashion houses in the 1950s, many long dresses with cord trim, appliqué and embroidery appeared. Collars, pockets, cuffs of dresses and blouses were trimmed with fashionable machine-made lace "richelieu".

Silk rep coat. Raushoffs fashion house. San Francisco, 1950s From the wardrobe of actress Lydia Smirnova. Wool twill dress with covered buttons. USSR, 1950s Velvet hat. 1950s

Summer dresses of the 50s were sewn from colorful fabrics, fabrics with stripes, polka dots, checks, as well as with newfangled geometric and abstract patterns. Warm - mostly from plain wool, often with white lace or small round collars, with plastrons, with various finishes - appliqués, cords, embroideries, with miniature buttons fastened with air loops, etc.

Elegant dress in embossed jacquard velvet and taffeta. 1950s From the wardrobe of O. Lepeshinskaya. Straw hat with machine lace and artificial flowers.

The 1950s are the time of fashion for natural fur coats. The most common were fur coats made of astrakhan fur, squirrel, rabbit, cygkey, as well as coats with a silver fox collar, or with a collar and cuffs trimmed with astrakhan, cygkey and rabbit. The vast majority of women wore coats, fitted or trapezoidal.

Style printed nylon dress new look. India, 1958 Mink jacket and hat, from Olga Lepeshinskaya's wardrobe.

In the late 1950s, residents of large cities could be seen in intricate hats, in hats with veils. At the same time, a very large number of women wore headscarves. An extremely fashionable detail in these years were decorative hat pins and brooches. Brooches and beads were the most favorite decorations of those years. They were often worn under the collar of a blouse or dress, in the cut of a dress, on the lapel of a jacket, on the collar of a coat, in addition, they were often pinned to caps and hats, and scarves were pinned up.

Nylon Cocktail Dress with Stencil Style Padding new look . Karachi, second half of the 1950s. From the wardrobe of an employee of the Soviet embassy in Pakistan, Margarita Gordienko.

Fashionable and beautiful clothes could be seen at exhibitions demonstrating the achievements of Soviet manufacturers, but in an era of commodity shortages, they rarely reached the shelves. Those who wanted to dress fashionably either sewed themselves or ordered things from an atelier. Thrift shops were another source of good clothes, which it was decided to open everywhere due to the shortage of a number of consumer goods. And of course, speculators bought up and resold popular products. Trade workers became "big people" in the country, many wanted to get acquainted with them.

Cocktail dress in style new loo k from organza and guipure. USA, 1950s From the wardrobe of the announcer N. Kondratova. bibi hat with flowers silk velvet.

In the second half of the 50s, fashion design was concentrated in fashion houses. Model houses regularly held fashion shows not only within their own walls, but also on the stages of clubs and houses of culture. Unfortunately, the ideas of Soviet fashion designers could not be implemented in mass production. The desire to overfulfill the plan at any cost, to reduce the cost of clothing models, to simplify tailoring technology - all these factors did not allow the desire of domestic fashion designers to fulfill the desire of domestic fashion designers to dress people fashionably and beautifully.

Evening dress and bolero. Silk, organza. Moscow, 1955. From the wardrobe of E. Timoshenko, daughter of Marshal Timoshenko. Hat in tulle with veil, sequin flies. 1950s

In everyday fashion, knitted cardigans and jumpers with a length just below the waist, with a high elastic band, tightly fitting the waist, were popular. They were decorated with embroidery or knitted patterns. Also in fashion are thin jumpers with a large round neckline or V-shaped neckline - "boat", which were belted with a thin strap and worn with a narrow skirt.

Satin shoes from the wardrobe of the dancer and poetess Larissa Andersen. Plastic fan. Moscow, 1957

Although I did not find a photo of men's clothing from the 50s. from the exhibition, I can’t show it, but it’s worth talking about it, all the same, I don’t think so. Illustrated with frames from our favorite films.

Men's mass fashion, like women's fashion, has changed extremely slowly over the course of a decade. The men were wearing outdated massive raincoats and coats, double-breasted jackets with padded shoulders, wide trousers with pleats at the waist and cuffs at the bottom.

Only at the end of the 1950s did the male silhouette gradually become lighter in shape, the line of the shoulders of the jackets becomes more sloping. Many wear short, slightly fitted jackets with wide trousers. Trousers from the 1950s have a high waistline. The fashion includes short coats, raincoats with a belt, tracksuits, consisting of trousers, leggings and sweaters, fitted sports-type jackets. Under the jacket, in the manner of the 1940s, they often wear knitted sleeveless jackets, plain or with a pattern.

Shirts were predominantly white, either plaid or striped. Caps are still common. In the 50s, hats with brim began to come into use, over time, becoming a necessary addition to the wardrobe of every elegant Soviet man. In winter, many wore fur hats made of astrakhan and cygkey.

A very common thing in the youth men's wardrobe were jackets, which back in the 1940s were popularly called "hooligans" - with a contrasting yoke and pockets. A special chic were short sports-cut jackets with zippers, with patch pockets on the chest. Fashionable young men from the films of the 50s were very often dressed in such jackets (photo below). "Height", "Spring on Zarechnaya Street", "Girl without an Address", "Behind the Showcase of a Department Store" - from these and many other films you can get an idea of ​​how young people looked like, how Model Houses and shops worked in those days.

In general, I personally love the cinema of those years. Before that, they have charming heroes, and it becomes very sad that now you will not find the same simple, kind, positive, witty guys in the city ...

In the summer, as in previous decades, men most often wore white canvas low shoes and men's sandals. By the end of the 1950s, tight pipe trousers came into fashion. Those who wore them were immediately classed as dudes. In the mid-1950s, the first nylon shirts appeared in the country and became extremely popular.

Interestingly, socks at that time in the USSR were produced exclusively without rubber bands. To prevent them from falling off, it was necessary to use men's garters, which were an elastic band fastened under the knee, to which the following elastic band was sewn with a clip that held the toe (like a women's belt with fasteners for stockings):

In the 1950s, a large number of Chinese goods appeared in the USSR, including clothing and accessories - silk embroidered women's blouses, silk pajamas and robes with dragons and large flowers, bamboo umbrellas, fans, scarves, small embroidered handbags, which were an invariable addition to ceremonial toilets, gabardine coats and raincoats, various men's and women's shoes, fabrics. All this was in incredible demand. In the showcases at the exhibition, samples of Chinese imports from the Vasiliev collection are just presented.

First half of the 1950s Chinese imports to the USSR.

Suede platform shoes. Shanghai, 1950 Cross-stitched handbags. China, 1950

In the late 1950s, several significant events took place, such as the arrival of Yves Saint Laurent in Moscow with the collection of the fashion house Dior; The US National Industrial Exhibition, also held in Moscow, in Sokolniki. Fashion shows were held within the framework of the exhibition. Moscow, of course, was the center of clothing culture, broadcasting fashion to the provinces. Since new fashion trends came from the West belatedly, on the territory of the USSR, style new look existed until the mid-1960s, when other trends began to dominate the world podium. Soviet women have not yet been in a hurry to part with the silhouettes of the 1950s.

End of the second part of the review of the exhibition “100 Years of Fashion in Russia: 1915-2015. From the collection of A. Vasiliev. "Followed by a description of the models of the 60-70s.

By the end of 1947, the commercial network in the country was very extensive. Within the framework of the Glavosobgastronom, Glavosobunivermag, Glavdorrestoran, it included 673 grocery stores, 399 department stores, 688 restaurants, 974 canteens, 3604 buffets. In addition, the network of local trades included 1,443 commercial stores, the same number of tents, stalls and kiosks, 11,535 restaurants, canteens and tea houses. Commercial prices were prohibitive for the majority of the population, even with repeated cuts. According to the Central Statistical Bureau of the State Planning Committee of the USSR, the average salary of workers and employees in 1940 throughout the national economy was 331 rubles, in 1945 442 rubles a month. The price of the coveted fildepers stockings in the department stores of Glavosobtorg after the price cut in 1947 was 50 rubles, but they still had to be “snatched”, and bought freely at the “flea market”, but already for 90 rubles. In 1947, the order of the Minister of Trade spoke of “female cotton stockings made of kapron silk,” but few people saw them on sale. They practically did not appear on the shelves, and their price, according to the price list, was 65–67 rubles, which, of course, was very expensive. In 1947, a pair of men's low shoes or women's shoes cost an average of 260 rubles, a meter of woolen fabric 269 rubles, a meter of natural silk - 137 rubles, a meter of calico 10 rubles.

A special tailoring workshop and a shop for serial tailoring of a light dress were equipped in MDM. In 1945, for the propaganda of the Soviet fashion The House of Models begins to hold open fashion shows for the public with the involvement of fashion models, accompanied by comments from art critics and talking about fashion trends. Until 1947, the production of clothing was constantly expanding. The creation of such sewing workshops at fashion houses could be a good addition to mass factory production. However, after the liquidation of the commercial trade system and the transfer of MDM from 1948 to state funding, the cessation of small-scale and experimental production of new models followed. fashion clothes.

Small-scale production was more flexible and able to quickly change the range in accordance with the requirements fashion. But in the most difficult post-war conditions, the priority was to saturate the market with mass clothing as soon as possible. Designing fashionable and beautiful clothes is only the first step, the second is putting it into production. It was this problem that turned out to be impossible. It was impossible to sew at a high level clothes developed by fashion designers in the USSR due to outdated and worn-out equipment and the lack of qualified tailoring masters. During the war years, the workforce changed at the garment factories, the qualification level dropped significantly, since during this period the main thing was the production of military uniforms, which required the development of a set of certain operations. The seamstresses had to sew overcoats or military tunics day after day.

They simply could not gain experience in tailoring more complex and varied clothing, requiring a greater number of operations. During the war years, in many garment factories, creative departments were completely eliminated or reduced, which were engaged in the so-called “finishing” of models, making patterns and other work that required modeling skills. In addition, there were big problems with tissues in the country. For these reasons, the factories abandoned the exquisite designs of the House of Models and preferred to produce clothes that were simpler to make.

The rigid plans of the post-war five-year plans, which required the fulfillment of quantitative indicators, also played a negative role. There was a shortage of clothing in the country, inexpensive but good-quality products were in demand, and there were catastrophically few of these. Models of fashionable clothes that were offered by the Soviet magazines very different from what in reality could be bought in stores.

In 1947, officials in the light industry, headed by A.N. Kosygin, who at that time held the post of Chairman of the Bureau for Trade and Light Industry under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, decided to fight the dominance of unfashionable, low-quality items on the shelves. Leading employees of MDM were instructed to conduct a survey and evaluate the products manufactured by clothing factories. This check lasted until 1948. As a result, many products were discontinued. A number of factories were banned from independent modeling. Since 1947, the Moscow House of Models was entrusted with controlling the activities of peripheral clothing enterprises, as well as the system of tailoring for individual tailoring. In the first post-war years, the atelier most often sewed fashionable clothes for customers on trophy foreign fashion magazines. The leadership of the country, dissatisfied with this situation, demanded that the studio work only on domestic developments.

By the end of the 1940s, the MDM actually turned into a kind of Soviet institution. fashion with many services and divisions. In 1948, the Moscow House of Models was reorganized into the All-Union House of Fashion Models (ODMO). By the beginning of 1949, 12 republican and regional Houses of Models had already been organized and they were merged into a single system headed by the All-Union House of Models. Created in the late 1940s, a unified system of model houses headed by the ODMO survived until the 1990s.

The search for their own Soviet style was quite intensive. There were calls from Soviet art critics "not to take foreign fashion magazines and copy, but create your own”, Naumova, a consultant and art critic of the ODMO, proposed a universal formula for Soviet fashion: you need to combine the dream and imagination of the artist with the skill of the designer and modern production techniques. Soviet fashion was supposed to be distinguished by democracy, "mass character", classlessness and general accessibility. “The attention of the artists was directed to the creation of such samples of clothing, in which, in compliance with the signs of global fashion, there would be original features corresponding to the identity of our Soviet woman. Work on the creative transformation of folk forms was the beginning of a large and responsible task to create a Soviet fashion", - stated in the MDM report for 1945. However, it was almost impossible to bring these noble, but abstract ideas to life.

Among the creators of Soviet fashion in the 40s there were many talented masters, one of them, of course, Nadezhda Petrovna Lamanova's niece Nadezhda Makarova, who headed the Moscow House of Models after the war, Fekla Gorelenkova, Valeria Horowitz, Tamara Faidel, Vera Aralova, Antonina Donskaya, Tamara Turchanovskaya, Valeria Nikolaevskaya and many others worked there. Original toilets were created by the silent film actress Anel Sudakevich, who worked at MDM during these years, and Maria Karagodskaya, who worked at the Glavtrikotazh atelier, fashion designer Elena Raizman, and dressmaker Valentina Solovieva from the atelier of the Council of Ministers.

Solovyova dressed the wives of the Soviet party elite and actress Marina Ladynina. Craftswoman Nina Gappulo sculpted her famous evening and concert dresses directly on the figure. Varvara Danilina, who worked in the atelier of the Artistic Fund in Moscow, dressed movie star Lyubov Orlova, legendary theater actresses Maria Babanova and Cecilia Mansurova, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Olga Lepeshinskaya. The famous Moscow dressmaker Elena Efimova created toilets for Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marina Ladynina and Lyubov Orlova, who, by the way, sewed beautifully herself. Efimova's clients were the wives of major party leaders and military leaders. A simple white dress, decorated with beaded embroidery, made for Nina Eremenko, the wife of Marshal A. I. Eremenko, was so liked by the wife of the Yugoslav leader Joseph Broz Tito, Jovanka, that she came and ordered the exact same from Efimova.

Since the mid-1940s, romantic femininity has dominated clothing silhouettes. Elegant blouses and skirts, summer beach overalls with flared trousers, dresses made of bright printed fabrics, chiffon, crepe de chine, crepe georgette, taffeta, ruffled and smooth silk, canaus, voile, cambric are in fashion. Casual dresses became shorter, but it was still recommended to wear long models for going out. The hat was almost a must-have accessory in the 1940s.

After the Tehran conference, held in 1943, large consignments of food and clothing began to arrive from the USA to the USSR. So part of the Soviet people, who had access to the distribution of the deficit, was able to get acquainted with completely new models of foreign clothing for them, see the quality of fabrics and the level of tailoring. The streets of post-war Moscow showed that people were in a hurry to immerse themselves in a peaceful life, women wanted to be beautiful and fashionable, for them fashion became a kind of medicine for the wounds inflicted by the war. In addition, in a country that has lost a huge part of the male population, women had to compete with each other in order to attract male attention. There were many brides, but not enough grooms.

Buy beautiful and fashionable clothes, which for a while had to be forgotten, everyone wanted. But modest opportunities and insane shortages forced most Soviet women to be content with things acquired before the war. In the second half of the 1940s, dresses were extremely popular in the USSR. Delicate, feminine, most often with a floral pattern, with small collars, bows, cuffs, various stitching, coquettes and frills, with embossed grooves - they became a symbol of the Soviet fashion those years. Often such dresses were worn with a jacket or knitted jacket with buttons. The suit, which was also a fashionable and prestigious thing of the 1940s, many could not afford. In ordinary stores, suits were practically not sold, in commercial and second-hand markets they were too expensive, it was also expensive to sew a good suit, a dress won in every respect, and a jacket, often not distinguished by elegance, reminiscent of a massive men's jacket or a knitted blouse worn over a dress, created some semblance of an ensemble.

It was very difficult to get any clothes in the first post-war year, many hours of queues lined up for shoes or coats. Many rescued the ability to sew. A sewing machine in the house was a necessary thing. Home-made dressmakers and ateliers resuming their work were in great demand. Due to the total shortage, theft in the sphere of trade and mass speculation, nurtured by the Soviet system in the 1920s-1930s, continued to develop successfully, and, as later life showed, more successfully than the garment industry itself.

Trophy fashion- This is a special phenomenon of the post-war period. Soviet soldiers who ended up in European countries saw a completely different life, a different way of life, about which they knew nothing. With the return of Soviet troops to their homeland, a stream of trophies poured into the USSR. They carried everything that they managed to get - furniture, household items and art objects, equipment, fashion magazines, jewelry, perfumes, furs, and, of course, clothes and shoes. Some of the brought trophy things remained in the houses, and something went on sale. The flow of imported things filled the commission shops and market "flea markets". Foreign things were a curiosity for many Soviet citizens. Most of the people living in the USSR have never seen anything like this. From ignorance, funny situations occurred, for example, magnificent foreign underwear - peignoirs, combinations, nightgowns and petticoats were mistaken for evening dresses, so there were frequent cases when Soviet women came to public places in underwear, considering it to be formal wear.

The second half of the forties is the time of the boom in fur products. Every fashionista tried to get herself a fur coat, or at least a coat with a massive fur collar and a muff. A very fashionable model of those years was a short trapezoidal fur coat with padded shoulders. But one of the most fashionable things, which can be considered the epitome of post-war fashion, is rightfully a fur boa. The most popular furs of the 1940s were karakul and seal, however, almost no one had a real seal. But fur coats and cat-like jackets made of plucked rabbit were very common, rabbit and squirrel coats, considered the lot of poor women, were also common outerwear, but if there was not enough money for fur, then it remained to purchase a coat with a massive fur collar, which, incidentally, was also not cheap.

The style of Soviet women in the post-war years was greatly influenced by the images of Western movie stars from trophy films that appeared on Soviet screens. The idols who were imitated in the manner of dressing, haircut and makeup were the stars of American cinema Dinah Durbin, Loretta Young and Joan Crawford, the stars of the Third Reich, the Swede Tzara Leander and the Hungarian Marika Rökk, another Hungarian actress Francesca Gaal, the famous Norwegian figure skater Sonia Henie, who starred in the wonderful American film Sun Valley Serenade, the legendary English actress Vivienne Lee. In addition to movies, the images of the beauties of the 1940s, the women of the USSR could see on trophy postcards, in foreign women's magazines and fashion magazines.

Of course, that domestic actresses and singers, who in the 1940s were translators of Western fashion standards, had a huge impact on the inhabitants of the USSR. Women imitated their favorite actresses, tried to dress and do their hair like the heroines of Marina Ladynina, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Lyubov Orlova, Lidia Smirnova, Valentina Serova. The image of Liza Yermolova from the 1943 film Wait for Me, performed by Serova, became a role model. Perhaps there was no such worship of cinema as in the post-war 1940s in the USSR, although, of course, cinema excited the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of the Soviet country in the 1950s and 1960s.

Influenced by trophy films and fashion magazines the way you paint has changed. Bright red lipstick, eyebrows plucked in a curved arch and lined with a pencil, false eyelashes that could be bought on black markets in large cities came into fashion. Images of foreign and domestic film stars and singers were collected, pasted on the walls, creating somewhere above the bed in a communal apartment or hostel entire "iconostases" praising unearthly beauty. It was a kind of era of Soviet glamor, existing only in the imagination of the fair sex, developing in parallel with Western glamor. Movies, magazines and postcards became the ABC of fashion. Images of cinematic divas were examined, memorized, copied, trying to sew clothes “like theirs”, comb their hair and make up “like them”.

The post-war euphoria quickly ended. In 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his historic speech that marked the beginning of the Cold War, declaring that the Western world of freedom and democracy must be separated from the communist world by an "Iron Curtain" and proposing the formation of a "brotherly association of English-speaking peoples" to resist communist tyranny. After such a speech in the USSR, the fight against the "pernicious influence of the West" began. In addition, Stalinist repressions resumed with renewed vigor in the post-war country, people were massively sent to prisons and camps, and shot.

Since 1947 in the world fashion the new bow style, proposed by Christian Dior, dominates. But in the post-war USSR, it was impossible to sew dresses that took from 10 to 40 meters of fabric. Therefore, Dior's style was subjected to the most severe criticism, and Soviet women for a long time went in cropped skirts, modest flowered dresses and jackets with padded shoulders.

True, the West reacted ambiguously to the new direction. Many condemned Dior for reverting to old trends that made women dress too elaborate. Real people in post-war Europe and America dressed differently than on the pages fashion magazines and in advertising publications, and the style of glamor that flourished in American cinema had nothing to do with everyday life, and yet, this “not so” was different than in the USSR. The difference between foreign and Soviet clothes was enormous!

The "new look" style offered a completely new feminine silhouette - without padded coat hangers, with an adjacent bodice and a strongly cinched waist and either a very puffy skirt or a narrow skirt in the shape of an unblown bud. "New bow" assumed the obligatory wearing of grace, raising the bust. "New look" was a style that required women to create a single ensemble. Petticoats, grace, good bras, stockings, high-heeled shoes, gloves, handbags and hats, jewelry should have been present in the wardrobe. Skillful makeup and hair styled in a hairstyle completed the image.

Despite all the prohibitions and ridicule, Dior's "new look" in a roundabout way still penetrated the USSR, albeit with a great delay. This style was finally established in the USSR only in 1956, with the release of the film "Carnival Night", in which Lyudmila Gurchenko is dressed in a Dior model, proposed by him in 1947. Well, in the USSR in the second half of the 1940s, and in the first years of the 1950s, women still wear the same models of the early 40s, and fashion magazines they are in no hurry to acquaint the Soviet people with new world trends.

Men's fashion during the 1940s, it did not change as quickly as women's. In the early 1940s, soft-collared shirts were worn without a tie. The costumes consisted of fitted single-breasted jackets made of worsted suiting fabrics - Boston, carpet coat, leotard or Cheviot and wide-cut trousers, most often with cuffs at the bottom. Fitted short jackets of a sporty style, with patch pockets and a strap at the back, were also worn with wide trousers. A common model among young people was a jacket with a zipper, called "Muscovite" or "hooligan", waist-length, on a wide belt, with two or four large pockets and a kind of wide yoke in front, cut from a different material than the jacket itself. A hooligan could be built at home from several old things; she served as an alternative to a jacket. A new model in 1940 was golf trousers in the form of knee-length wide trousers made of woolen fabric.

Men's jackets and outerwear had massive padded shoulders. Coats with a secret fastener and a raglan sleeve are popular. However, only wealthy people could afford good-quality and fashionable clothes made of good fabrics. The main part of the male population went in whatever they had to. The war pushed men's fashion into the background. fashion magazines wartime wrote about changes in men's fashion, which mainly concerned the silhouette of jackets, made larger due to the increasing padded shoulders. In the second half of the 1940s, men's fashion was dominated by massive double-breasted jackets and wide trousers, huge coats, as if from someone else's shoulder. A common men's ensemble of those years - trousers tucked into boots, a jacket and a cap on the head, in addition, knitted vests and sweaters worn over a shirt under a jacket are also popular. Ties of this period are wide and short, most often made of silk and silk-linen, popular patterns are polka dots and stripes.

Trophy or leather jackets and coats left over from the 20s and 30s were considered great chic. Well, all those who could not afford a new thing wore a military uniform for a long time. The cap was one of the most common headwear in the 1940s. Caps were worn by workers, employees, criminals and petty punks. The most fashionable model was considered a cap made of gray fabric, such as a boucle, with a small visor and a button on the top, sewn from wedges, for some reason, called the "London cap". Such eight-piece caps have been really very popular since the beginning of the 20th century, not only in London, but throughout Europe and America. But with us they were Londoners. In a similar cap in the 40s - 50s, the goalkeeper of Zenit and the USSR national team Leonid Ivanov usually stood at the gate. The fans joked: "Ivanov in a cap - the gates are locked."

The post-war trophy influence was mainly reflected in the cut of jackets, and even in the USSR, felt hats took pride of place in the men's wardrobe. During the war years, many high-class male Jewish tailors appeared in the USSR, who fled from the western territories occupied by the Germans. After the war, the Soviet leadership was dressed by Jewish tailors from Poland and Lithuania. Shoes for the Soviet elite were made by Armenian shoemakers. Fashion in a ruined country, of course, was only for those who could afford at least something. A sign of well-being and exclusivity was a three-piece suit and a soft felt hat in the style of the American actor Humphrey Bogart. Many ordered Boston or Cheviot jackets for themselves, imitating Stalin.

In the post-war years, a Soviet youth subculture arose in the USSR, called "styling". Stilyagi denied the stereotypes of behavior imposed by Soviet society, they did not like the uniformity in clothes, music and lifestyle, so they began to create their own habitat. Styling originated among students, where there were many children of the Soviet elite - high party leaders, diplomats, scientists. The first mention of dudes dates back to 1947. In 1949, the famous feuilleton by D. Belyaev "Stilyaga" appeared in the magazine "Crocodile", after which the concept was finally fixed. Young people listened to forbidden jazz and danced "boogie woogie". The dudes were constantly attacked and ridiculed in the press, satirical feuilletons and cartoons were dedicated to them in the Crocodile magazine. The main time of the Soviet dudes is still ahead - this is the 1950s - 1960s.

Soviet fashion of the 1940s was a mix of touching colorful women's dresses, often sewn at home on a typewriter, over which a jacket was usually put on, unexpected trophy toilets, old-fashioned things that had been preserved from the 30s or even from the 20s, ridiculous skirts and blouses altered from old clothes, worn coats and frilly fur boas . The country dressed very heterogeneously, the capabilities of some were very different from those of others.

Now that the retro theme is in fashion, you can often hear stories about how everything was poor and miserable in the USSR. It was different. Unfortunately, the truth about this time often comes down to clichés and clichés. Fashion always heterogeneous, at any time in any country. Even when there is a clearly defined fashion trend, women belonging to different social groups, living in different regions, do not look the same at all. This is the reality of any era, including the modern one. When remembering the women and girls of the 1940s, the image of an untidy, miserable and miserable Soviet citizen does not arise in the head, but a stately girl in a military uniform with curls on her head, curled in some incredible way somewhere in a dugout, or a romantic girl in a colorful dress with beautifully arranged braids, or a woman in an intricate dress with a fur boa, red lips and intricate styling.

What is fiction, really? What drives the mind, nostalgia for what you will never return, an attempt to find beauty and style in the past, Pushkin's "what will pass, it will be nice"? Hard to tell. Everyone has their own. But remembering our Soviet grandmothers and mothers, their desire, no matter what country they were destined to be born in, to be fashionable, I want to leave reasoning about the state and its politics, about ideology, but just talk about the amazing and very beautiful women of the 1940s!

To be continued ( The history of Soviet fashion - part four 50s )

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World War II was a great test for the entire civilized society. The fashion industry, like the rest of the industry, has suffered these terrible years of loss and destruction very hard. Most European fashion houses have closed, almost all links between manufacturers and suppliers have been broken. The occupation of Paris, as the capital of European fashion, completely stopped the development of costume in Europe, wartime dictated its own rules. The German authorities intended to completely subjugate and concentrate the entire fashion industry in Berlin or Vienna.

Fashion developed and survived only where the flames of war and German garrisons did not reach. Great Britain and the USA have become its main "custodians". Occupied Paris ceased to be a legislator and leader. This caused a great upsurge in the US clothing industry, which became active and began to develop its own industry. American fashion designers understood that they could not influence the aesthetics of haute couture, and they emphasized the development of clothes necessary in everyday life.

Great Britain and the USA, after entering the war, tried to regulate the production of clothing, allowing only sets and ensembles selected at the state level. Plans were introduced to develop utilitarian clothing and restrictions on the use of styles and materials. All these restrictions did not allow the costume to develop until 1945. Until that time, almost all the developments from the late 30s were preserved. During the war, everything was as concise and simplified as possible, as practical and reliable as possible. All the costumes typical of this time resembled a military uniform with its recognizable geometry. Due to a shortage of materials, the British Department of Trade advised housewives to "save and fix," even putting out pamphlets explaining how to mask scuffs, and even cutting coats from cheap army blankets. The beginning of a new round in the development of fashion was the end of the war, it is about this period that we will talk.

The post-war period became very rich for the fashion for new talents. Elsa Schiparelli lives in the USA during the occupation and returns only in 1944, during which time she has many young competitors who manage to take a large share of her market. In 1947, the designer hired a young fashion designer, Hubert de Givenchy. In 1947, such future masters as Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain quit the Lelong fashion house and open their houses. To Dior in the same 1947 comes to work a young designer Pierre Cardin. In this post-war period, the "Era of Cristobal Balenciaga" begins, which becomes the most expensive and sought-after couturier in Paris.

Style colors.

The colors of the first half of the 40s were laconic in a military way, khaki, gray and black prevailed. But after the end of the war, fashion “starved” and the bright palette returned to ensembles and styles. Cristobal Balenciaga used his favorite reds and pinks to give his looks a Spanish twist, drawing on his passion for pictures and history. Dior worked with bed tones, black and beige.

Drawings, materials and texture.

Fabrics were still in short supply, but as demand increased, so did industry. Silk, wool, cotton fabrics were used everywhere. Feminine floral patterns, herringbone fabrics began to come back into fashion, replacing the monotony and simplicity in the ensemble.

Cut and styles.

Until 1947, almost all fashion designers exploited the images of the war years. Wide square shoulders, rectangular silhouettes, narrow waists and slightly flared skirts. In 1945, French couturiers staged what journalists called "a luxurious pappet show." To revive fashion and help those affected, each fashion house donated up to five of its outfits for the exhibition. These outfits and accessories made it possible to dress 170 dolls. This show, after the premiere in Paris, went on a tour of Europe, and in May 1946 the collection was shown in New York.

In 1947, Christian Dior presented his collection to the public, which the author called La Corolle (corolla, dome, cone), but became known to the world as New Look (new image). Many fashion designers have already switched to using such silhouettes, but Dior completely abandoned the styles of the last decade in his collection. Characteristic features were rounded shoulders, a wasp waist pulled into a corset or other underwear, lining on the hips, giving them a rounded shape and a very fluffy skirt with a lot of folds. Dior brought Paris back into haute couture, and with it the glamor that had been lost during a difficult war. With his collection, he determined the look of fashion for at least the next decade.

The whole fashion world switched to New Look silhouettes, all fashion houses accepted and supported Dior's idea, especially since the changes helped the entire industry to develop. One of the first fashionistas and adherents of this style was Princess Margaret, over time she was recognized as a model of elegance and grace.

Buyers from America came to Paris to get the first samples and models of clothes, sewn from coarse tailor's linen (toile) for reproduction in their homeland, and launch for sale in large stores. The New Look fashion spread to Hollywood, with all fashion designers including Helen Rose and Edith Head drawing inspiration from these styles, creating their own versions for movie stars like Grace Kelly. On the basis of haute couture models in America and Italy, simpler stylish everyday outfits were created by such fashion designers as Tina Lesser, Claire McCardell, Emilio Pucci.

In the late 1940s, young people developed their own culture. A new term has emerged - teenagers. Young people imitated the images of the singer Elvis Presley and wore light leather jackets and jeans that were in vogue. In the USSR, such young people were called stillags.

Shoes and accessories.

During the war, heels and shoe soles began to be made from more readily available materials such as wood. The Italian designer and craftsman Salvatore Ferragamo succeeded in making shoes, who made his futuristic models from straw, felt, hemp and even cellophane. Largely thanks to him, after the war, Italians became legislators in shoes. They made shoes and sandals with cut out segments and more defined heels. Sandals without socks, platform and wedges came into fashion. There was a rapid replacement of military practical boots and shoes with elegant models. Hats also remained in fashion, emphasizing the new style. Ferragamo is called the “inventor of shoes”, “the king of shoemakers and the shoemaker of kings”, his talent became a powerful impetus for post-war development for the shoe industry, one might even say that he created all modern shoes.

The revolutionary new look of Christian Dior dominated womenswear from 1947 until the mid-1950s. The waists were suddenly aspen, the busts were high and emphasized, the shoulders were soft and sloping, and the skirts were longer and very voluminous. Dior's hourglass-like silhouette revived tight corsets and petticoats, requiring an abundance of heavy expensive fabric. After the simple rectangular post-war styles, this return to extravagance and femininity led some to bewilderment, others to admiration. But the freshness and charm of these ensembles can hardly be overestimated, as well as the talent of the meter.

look book. Images of clothing style 1940 - 1950.

As always, our stylist Yulia Gogolitsina will help us to make bows in the theme of ensembles of 1940-1950. These bows were compiled using the bow builder of our website. Any of you can register and create individual images. Collect sets from your clothes, or use the catalog of our site for work. We have developed a simple interface that allows you to save and collect bows in your account and share them on social networks.