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[IDEOLOGICALLY CORRECT SOVIET DRESSMAKING] Kroyka zhenskogo plat’ya [i.e. Dressmaking]

Blank, A., Gorelenkova, F.

Moscow: Gos. nauchno-tekhnicheskoye izdatel’stvo legkoy promyshlennosti, 1953. Item #1540

192 pp.: ill. 23x15.5cm. In original illustrated publisher’s cardboards. Edges worn. Otherwise in good condition.

Scarce. Second edition.The first edition was published in 1950.

An interesting Soviet edition about ‘ideologically correct’ dressmaking. Written by the Soviet fashion artists and designers Anna Fadeevna Blank (1905-?) and Fekla Gorelenkova (1891-?), the book features information on the basics of sewing patterns for Soviet women’s dresses. In the preface to the edition, the author explains the main goal of Soviet designers: “They fight against the admiration for the fashions of the bourgeois countries and modeling methods based on the formalist trend of bourgeois decadent art.” The book consists of 8 sections: “The Main Pattern of Women’s Dress,” “Dress of a Strict Cut,” “Dress of a Soft Cut,” “Dress of a Cut Created on the Basis of the Classical Form of Russian Folk Clothes,” “Blouses and Skirts,” “Bathrobes and Pajamas,” “Dress for Summer Holidays” and “Suit and Coat.” Each of the sections contains detailed information about the different stages of creating women’s gowns, from taking measurements to designing sketches. The text is supplemented with numerous black and white drawings, showcasing various types of Soviet women’s clothing popular in the early 1950s, including suits, coats, Russian folk dresses, pajamas, skirts, blouses, and bodice patterns with different sleeves. Intended for readers with basic knowledge of sewing and tailoring, the book provides a valuable insight into the 1950s Soviet women’s fashion.

Anna Blank studied at the Model House of the Mosbelye trust in 1938 under Fekla Gorelenkova. Later, she also mastered design at the Institute for Advanced Engineering of the Ministry of Light Industry of the USSR. From 1948 until 1958, Blank was the chief art director of the All-Union House of Cloth Modeling, where she worked together with her teacher Fekla. In collaboration with various colleagues, Anna wrote at least 6 books on the themes of tailoring and sewing between the 1950s and the 1990s. Both Fekla and Anna went down in history as some of the most talented fashion designers of the 1950s Soviet Union.

No copies found in Worldcat.

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