I guess it's fitting with this first post to tell the story of how I even came to be writing a blog in the first place.

I've been a reenactor/living history guy since I was a kid. I've always had an interest in the War on the Eastern Front, during WWII, and when a friend of mine moved to Korea at the end of 2019, he offered me up his basic kit for a song. Through the joys of social media, I found a unit, the 9th Guards Rifle Division, and I figured I'd throw this kit on, once, or twice a year, as a break from doing US GI (I had no idea how this thing would snowball).

My wife, who is also a reenactor (her reenacting life revolves around the UK during WWII), grudgingly agreed to join me every blue moon, doing civilian, and agreed to let me take my daughter out with me when she gets older. With that, the seeds of this venture were planted, because I began to start research wartime Soviet fashion. 

I was a babe in the woods, and had no idea what direction to take. Thanks to the joys of the internet, and social media, I was able to make contact with some great people who were able to help me along the way with my initial research. Eventually, I was able to make my wife a basic outfit, which was in line with Soviet fashion of the time, and I figured, "well, that's that, on to the rest of the reenacting season."

Then the Corona Virus hit, and I watched many events I had looked forward to get canceled. I found myself bored, frustrated, and generally annoying the crap out of my wife. After a few weeks, she said to me, "you need a project, because this is going to be a long lockdown if we keep on like this."

Thanks to the help, and encouragement, of several friends, both here in America and in Russia, I was persuaded to take a leap into the unknown. I started the Leningrad Tailor on Facebook, and started hunting down as many photos of wartime fashion, as I could find, and putting them up there. I had a friend of mine in St. Petersburg, hunt down anything fashion, or sewing related and pick it up for me. In short order, I was able to amass a very nice research library of period tailors manuals (both in English, and Russian), and fashion magazines, and soon, I was reproducing clothing for myself and my wife.

From there it just sort of snowballed into an all encompassing passion. For me this is part therapy, part research, part living history, and something I occasionally can make a few bucks off of by selling commission pieces. I'm hard pressed to put a name to it, but the ride has been incredible, and has probably been the most rewarding living history related thing I've ever embarked on. 

I'll close with the question I've been asked the most since I started this venture: "Bob, why Soviet stuff? You're an American, why don't you invest your time, and energy into researching American clothing and fashion?"

While I can't disagree with the logic, for me, like I said above, I've always had an interest in the Eastern Front. Thanks to COVID, I've had a lot of time to read accounts of, and watch interviews with, the generation that fought the Great Patriotic War. When you read their memoirs, and hear their stories, then put it into the bigger context of a war which savaged the Soviet population, and scarred the landscape of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, it really moves you.

I have no love for Stalin's regime, but I can't help but have a hell of a lot of respect for that soldier sitting in a slit trench outside of Moscow trying to stop an enemy from taking his home, the woman working 16 hour days in a munitions factory, on top of other voluntary war work, or the mother who's been told all four of her sons, and her husband, have been killed at the front. To me, it's a story that needs to be told; especially given the less than optimal relations our two countries have had over the years.

By researching the clothing the average citizen wore, and striving to recreate pieces from the time, as accurately as I can, it's a chance to bring a taste of that story alive into the present, and share it with people. When you make something with your own two hands, you have a connection with it, too. By recreating the styles, clothing, and fashion of that war time generation, I feel a little more connected to their story than I do just reading a book.

Perhaps I'm an idealist, and maybe this only makes sense in my own mind, but that's a big part of why I do this, and why this has become such a passion of mine, in such a short period of time. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the ride, as I write about my journey as it continues into 2021.