Women's Fashion in the Soviet Union 1939-1945

                                          Women’s Fashion in the Soviet Union 1939-1945

When one asks the question, what did citizens of the Soviet Union wear during the Great Patriotic War, the answer is, “well it depends.”

The Soviet Union was a vast, wide ranging territory, with a diverse climate, and was composed of numerous ethnic groups. These factors influenced the types and styles of garments that were worn. An additional factor in Soviet wartime fashion were the concepts produced by “Socialist Realism.” These left an indelible mark on the clothing that was designed and sold in more urban markets of the USSR.

In extremely an extremely broad characterization, clothing ranged from traditional garments that had not changed much in a century, to very modern, western influenced, styles. It really depended on where someone lived, what their ethnic back ground was, what their role in Soviet society was, and what the garments purpose was (work wear, as opposed to more business/formal attire). To round things out, a person’s age and gender also played a significant role in dictating they style of garments they would wear.

It would be impossible, in the short space I have devoted to this endeavor, to break down all of the minutia involved in Soviet wartime fashion. Since my blog is primarily aimed to assist the living history/reenacting community, I’m going to focus my observations into two very broad categories urban vs rural, in locations that made up the western part of the Soviet Union.


One other thing that’s critical to take into consideration is the size of an average Soviet citizen’s wardrobe at the time the Great Patriotic War occurred. Your average Soviet citizen’s wardrobe was not nearly as vast your average twenty-first century persons. As Petr Mikhin would write, “[in] those days, not every student could boast of decent clothing. For example, I only had one pair of trousers, which I ironed from time to time, and a felt jacket instead of a proper suit.[1]” He was thus elated at being issued a full suit of clothing as an officer cadet. With that in mind, as we go forward, remember that the average person’s wardrobe was small, and sometimes did double duty in terms of what it was worn for.



                                            Fashion as a Symbol of Socialism’s Success

                                                                             

                                                                                      

                                                                                   

You’ll see above, the idealized, fashion trends that were produced by Soviet fashion designers, and shown to the outside world. Whether in TASS press photos, or in one of the myriad of women’s fashion magazines, modern, western European styles (Germany had a significant influence on Soviet fashion as evidenced by the styles pictured) were presented to the women of the Soviet Union as the ideal.

Clothing made from colorful cotton prints (floral patterns predominate), and woolen garments beautifully cut to 1940s European standards are on display. Most of these chic ensembles were capped off with a cute felt broad brimmed hat, or women’s fedora. With images like this, one would be hard pressed to tell whether these were women on the streets of Berlin, or Leningrad.

In the late 1930s, fashion was one aspect of Soviet society that blossomed. Fashion advice appeared regularly in Rabotnitsa, the party opened new fashion design houses, and there were even traveling fashion displays to take these stylish garments to women in more rural areas[2].

This fashion boom had political roots, however. Stalin wanted to counter the western stereotype of an impoverished, plain, society, and show that Communism could produce well clothed citizens, as well as the Capitalist west could[3]. Domestically, these images reinforced the concept that while the sacrifices of the 1920s and 30s had been great, the standard of living for the average Soviet Citizen was far superior to what it had been before the revolution[4].

                                                     The Reality: Urban Fashion Trends

                                                                                     

Like many things in the Soviet Union, the image painted by the Party was vastly different in the work-a-day world in places like Kiev, Minsk, Odessa, and Leningrad. While your average Soviet woman, rarely, if ever, wore the ideal put out by the press, certain aspects of it did make it into main stream Soviet wardrobes.

Colorful, cheerful, prints are ubiquitous in Soviet women’s wear of the time, particularly florals and polka dots. Puff sleeves (particularly on short sleeved garments), short jackets, and shirt waist dresses are en vogue amongst women in their late teens and twenties. Even older women are evidenced to have been consumed by the colorful prints that were all the rage, and a few even adopted the puff sleeve to some of their clothing.

This being said, many older styles, and trends held on much longer than they did in western Europe. For example, skirt length tended go well below the knee on many skirts worn in the USSR. This was something that would have been common in the west in the early, to mid, 1930s, but that was beginning to be less widely seen by the time the war broke out.

Another visible difference is in the tailored cut of women’s garments. As you can see from some of these shots, the cut, and the tailoring to the garments, are not as pronounced, or elegant, as seen with western European, or American, clothing of the time.

If I had to pick the most unique aspect of Soviet women’s fashion of the wartime years, it would be the head gear, or lack thereof. It was generally common practice, in the US, Britain, France, and Germany (and most other westernized nation) that a woman did not go outside without a hat on in the 1940s. In the Soviet Union, the opposite seems to be true.

Contrary to the fashion magazines, your average Soviet woman’s headgear of choice was the head scarf. This is a very traditional garment, and also a very utilitarian one if you’re trying to keep warm during a Russian winter, or keep your hair clean, and out of the way, while engaged in heavy labor.

This was not the realm of the old Babushka who moved from the country to the city and held on to this old peasant habit, either. This trend cuts across all age brackets from the tween to the grandmother. Even women serving in the Red Army appear in photos wearing them, as opposed to regulation headwear, when doing work behind the lines.

If Soviet women were not wearing a head scarf, they were wearing nothing on their heads. Berets are sometimes found on younger women, but they are definitely not in the majority. The cute felt hats, and fedoras, of Moda are the white whales of wartime women’s fashion.



                                                        Rural Fashion: Traditional or Chic?
                                                                                     

One of the stereotypes I had to encounter, when I first started looking at Soviet wartime fashion, is that everyone living in the Soviet countryside dressed about one generation removed from the Serfs. Given the isolation of some of these villages, and collective farms, plus the tendency of the rural population to be conservative by nature, I can see where this assumption came from. However, this is far from the truth.

The dress, as a general rule, is more conservative (or dated, if you prefer that term), and is made to be durable, comfortable, and utilitarian. Longer skirts, darker colors (particularly with woolen items, you see a lot of blacks, blues, and browns- very good for covering the dirt you pick up working on a Kolkhoz), and generously cut blouses and overgarments are widely seen amongst the Soviet rural population.

That said, it’s clear that the mobile fashion shows did have some influence on rural clothing. If you look at these photos, you will see many of the younger women have incorporated colorful, printed fabrics, into their wardrobe. Perhaps they’re not as garish as you would see in the city, but they’re there. You also see puffed sleeves on their garments.

This is contrasted with older women, who tend to be seen wearing solid colored garments (though even some of them are getting in on the printed fad). Greys, blues, blacks, and white are common colors used in older women’s garments in rural areas.

One other trend you’ll notice from the photos is the one piece vs two piece construction of garments. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, I was surprised at how older women tend to be wearing dresses that look as they are one piece construction, where as the younger women in the photos seem to be wearing blouses and skirts.

Just like in the city, almost to a woman, the head scarf is being worn. If she doesn’t have a head scarf on, then rural Soviet women are bareheaded. Not even the beret has managed to gain a toe hold amongst young women in the villages and collective farms.

                                                                         Conclusion

This is a very general, and very broad, look at wartime women’s fashion. To quote a friend, “there’s a lot of grey area” when it comes to what women are wearing during the Great Patriotic War. There are so many variables that come into play when picking garments for living history interpretation.

For example, the rapid industrialization, and aggressive agricultural reforms of the 1920s, and 1930s, resulted in an influx of people who had lived in rural areas their whole lives, coming to major urban centers to work. Moreover, it would not be unheard of to have young Komsomol members in rural areas as civil servants, or as professionals (such as engineers, or doctors). These individuals would have brought their clothing, and their styles, with them.

Moreover, this has only touched on the European part of the USSR, and hasn’t even begun to look populations living in Asian republics, or in the far flung outposts like Vladivostok. If I have any advice for individuals interested in portraying a Soviet civilian, it would be this: do your own research and look at photos. See what types of garments predominate, and then choose based on your role, age, and ethnic background.




[1] Petr Mikhin, Guns Against the Reich: Memoirs of an Artillery Officer on the Eastern Front (Barnesly: Pen & Sword, 2010), 5.


[2] Lynne Attwood, Creating the New Soviet Woman (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), 133 & 164.


[3] Lynne Attwood, Creating the New Soviet Woman (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), 164.


[4] Lynne Attwood, Creating the New Soviet Woman (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), 132.